Field Trip to the Norfolk Botanical Gardens

Recently Quirky and I were able to visit the Virginia Beach and Norfolk, Virginia area with Dork. Dork was busy most of the day with work so that just left Quirky and I to entertain ourselves. The beach was way too crowded for Quirky or my taste, but lucky for us there were some great fieldtrip opportunities nearby. The first morning we were there we went to the Norfolk Botanical Gardens.

It was a beautiful day for us to visit, warm and sunny but not too hot. We walked along the trails seeing, smelling, and enjoy more beautiful flowers than I could ever rename. Quirky's goal was to photograph all of the fountains throughout the gardens. We walked all over the place and I think we found them all, but I can't be sure. I'm
not sure how many miles we covered, but most
of it was shaded with trees so it really was not bad. Quirky's favorite part was the fountains of course, but I think my favorite part was the statuary garden. It had sculptures of famous artists. Be still my art nerd heart. 

Later we sat in the cafe and had an ice cream to cool off. They also offered small lunch items, but we decided that ice cream was the way to go. After sitting and resting, we then took a boat tour of the gardens. There was an $8 charge for the tour but it was well worth it. It was a 45 minute tour where the guide talked about everything from the floral to the animal life. The guide was very knowledgable and Quirky and I were impressed. The boat took us along canals within the garden and then out into the lake. While on the lake we saw a bald eagle and an osprey, which was really exciting. 

For those of you who might want to know more about the gardens, you can find information on their website. There is an entrance fee to get in, but for the size of the gardens and add in the splash park for the kiddos...well it was worth the cost. We had an awesome time.