More Travels. And a Surprise.

When we left The Family Blackrock, they had done D.C. (well, two places in D.C., anyway) and were gearing up for the long drive home.  On Kristin's birthday.  Because what could be more celebratory of 32 years on this Earth than driving for many hours in the backseat of a car while entertaining a toddler?  I'll tell you what.  Stopping in the middle to tour Longwood Gardens.


Longwood Gardens was the summer home of the extraordinarily wealthy du Pont family.  It is now a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the property and its absolutely astounding gardens.  A. has been there a couple of times, and has always wanted to take me there.  It's about 30 miles from Philadelphia, and not entirely on our way home from D.C., but close enough that not going would have been foolish.

Even in the middle of winter, there is plenty to see at Longwood Gardens.  And that is because of the Conservatory, a.k.a. the biggest damn greenhouse I have ever seen.

Behold:

And a different view, with A. and Cubby for scale.

And inside the Conservatory, there were many, many Christmas trees:

Flowers:

Running toy trains:

And a children's garden that mostly included a whole hell of a lot of water features that rendered Cubby's shirt soaking wet by the time we left.  Didn't matter, though.  He had a great time.

It started to rain just as we left the Conservatory, so we didn't see much else, but just that and the house on the grounds took over two hours to see.  In the summer, when all the fountains are going and the outdoor gardens are at their peak, it would take days to walk around this place and see everything properly.

Although I'm not a huge student of trees--or, okay, a student at all of trees--A. is, and he kept pointing out to me examples of trees that I'm familiar with but would never have recognized because they were HUUUUGE.  Longwood Gardens is actually the home to many of the country's oldest and biggest trees of several varieties.  Magnolias so big they looked like oaks, yew trees so enormous they could be mistaken for pine trees, and on and on and on.  Nothing has been cut down there, pretty much ever, so all the trees have just grown for hundreds of years.  It's a rare thing in this country to see, and very impressive.

In sum, I was completely blown away by Longwood Gardens and would recommend that anyone who finds themselves in even the remote vicinity find a way to see it.  Truly, one of the most magnificent things I've ever seen.

Not such a bad birthday, after all.

And now that I've finally told you all about the last trip we took, perhaps I should inform you that I'm leaving again tomorrow.  I'm going to Arizona to go to my sister's bridal shower.  By myself.

I'll allow that last bit to sink in for a second.

By myself, without husband or son.  This will mark the first time in Cubby's almost two years that I've ever been away from him for longer than a few hours.  I am both incredibly excited and unbearably sad at the prospect.  Not that he'll be lacking for tender loving care, with the combined efforts of his father and grandmother, but still.

I won't think about the missing him part yet.  Instead I will focus on the fact that I will not have to worry about anyone's bodily functions (except, uh, my own, that is) for five whole days.  A heady thought, indeed.

I leave tomorrow morning and get back late Sunday night.  I'm sure I will be sending a shout-out from my parents' house at some point in the next several days, but who knows when and what I'll have to say.  Maybe without the constant companionship of my own small dictator, I'll find I have nothing to talk about.

Yeah, like that'll ever happen.

So hasta luego, poppets!  Catch you on the west side.