It was early November and they were already decorating the Atlanta Botanical Gardens for the Christmas light show.
It was putting me in the holiday spirit even though it was warm while we were there.
Walking through the wooded path, the colors were popping. It felt very different from the color in central Florida (which was still the usual green).
The Atlanta Botanical Gardens still had a lot of color blooming when I was there in early November. Atlanta hadn’t gotten a lot of cold weather yet and it was warm the morning I was there. We were hoping we would get to wear our jackets on this trip but that wasn’t the case.
Beauty in the gardens including the blooming lady statue behind the waterfall.
The trees also had a lot of color. I took a ton of pictures with my phone so more to come on this visit.
It was time for a road trip. We headed up to Atlanta for a long weekend to visit friends. I was also hoping to see some fall leaves but we may have just missed the peak season.
Along the way we passed miles of cotton fields that were ready to be picked. It almost looked like the ground was covered in snow as we whizzed by.
As we got closer to Atlanta I could see lots of color. There was still a lot of yellow, orange and red in the trees so we didn’t miss the season completely.
Passing by the iconic Olympic torch tower. This replica was built for the 1996 Summer Olympics that was held here. At the time you were able to climb the stairs and see all around Atlanta but it has since been closed. We were living here at the time and my sister and I spent many nights down at the Olympic park during the games.
The parking lot at our hotel was like a fairy tale with all of the bright colors.
An early morning walk before heading out for the day.
We stopped at a friend’s house for lunch and her camellia bushes were still blooming.
She also had some little green critters hiding in her garage.
More to come on those fall leaves.
Boston in the rear view mirror (or should I say from my window seat).
The sky from my window seat including a ring around the sun.
Almost home to Tampa. I could see south Tampa and the Davis Islands yacht basin.
Right before landing we flew over south Tampa.
The penguins were so much fun to watch.
Up close with some pretty fish.
The best was the octopus. It was awake and moving around. I’ve only ever seen them balled up in a corner. This one was right on the glass, looking at us.
The seals were our favorite though. I think that one seal was making faces at us, telling us what he thinks about us. The seal exhibit is outside with a view of the harbor. They were probably saying “Break that glass lady and let us out.”
Since we were a 10 minute walk to the aquarium in Boston, we spent a few hours visiting before dinner.
Fall colors in the city.
More shots from Boston.
This big mural was near our hotel. It was beautiful to see it up close.
We finally stood in line at Boston’s famous Mike’s Pastry Shop for dessert one night. This was not a long line. We only waited about 15 minutes. Besides all of the cannoli flavors they had listed across the wall, there were cases of other desserts as well. Brett got several different cannolis and I got a slice of Nutella cheesecake. It was awesome!
Heading out for a long walk in Boston.
A statue of Samuel Adams.
Lots of things to see in Boston. We walked all over that city and that was just the first day. After our half day whale watching trip we walked over to Boston Common Park and walked around that area before heading to the hotel to rest up for dinner.
Our first night we had dinner at the North End. We didn’t make it into the famous Mike’s Pastry shop until the 2nd night. The first night the line was several blocks down the street. Instead we headed over to Quincy’s market before heading back to our hotel for the night.
This is exactly how I pictured New England. Sailboats and lighthouses. The big eggs are the Deer Island Sewage Treatment plan.
We took a half day whale watching trip one day and it was sunny and warm when we left the Boston harbor. The farther out we went, the worse the weather got. Dark and foggy and then freezing rain.
I saw my first wild northern gannet. They were pretty far out and would fly off when the boat started to get close. One of the bird rescue sanctuaries in the Tampa area has a few of them that were rescued at some point over years off the coast of Florida but I’ve never seen them flying out in the wild. We saw several during the trip.
An hour and 40 minutes later we found some whales. We had traveled over 40 miles since the whales were moving farther away for the winter. Everyone who had been huddling in the warm cabin came out in the freezing drizzle. There were a lot of whales that were close to the boat but none of them breached and came out head first. Most of the ones we saw were Minke and Fin whales. It was a lot of fun and everyone was really excited. My husband was not that impressed. He said they just look like really big dolphins. He’s not wrong but it was still a fun afternoon.
When we got back to the Boston harbor it was sunny and mild again. Since I have a tendency to get seasick, I had a patch on for the boat trip. I’m glad I did because even though it was sunny and calm in the harbor, it was rough out there away from the harbor and many people were getting sick. They passed out ginger candy as we left but I think many people thought they would be fine since it was calm in the harbor.
We found out towards the end of our visit that Chinatown was really close to our hotel. A 15 minute walk. So our last night there we headed over early to walk around and then have dinner.
Some of the murals. Everything was bright and colorful.
We also found the theater district on our walk back to the hotel.
Built in 1936, this historic lighthouse boat was renovated and was up for sale earlier this year for only $5M. We didn’t hear if it sold.
Views from the northern end of the harbor include the USS Constitution ship build in 1797. It’s docked at the former Charlestown Navy Yard and you can tour it but we never made it over there (gotta save something for the next trip). It’s exactly what I pictured would be sitting in the harbor here.
Bright yellow leaves in front of the North End.
Another view from the back of the boat.
A view heading into Charlestown from our trolley tour.