Jeremy and I took yesterday off work (mostly) and took my parents to Longwood gardens, about an hour west of Philadelphia. This is a place that I personally had wanted to visit for a while now, and I wanted especially to take my parents as well as I thought they would like it too. I had wanted to go during the holiday season, but the timing never worked out (my father had cataract surgeries) and it was very cold and the tickets were always sold out, so we decided to postpone it until spring. It was a beautiful day yesterday, I love going on the weekdays because it’s not so crowded – I did not need to buy any tickets in advance or make reservations for lunch. They just renovated an enormous glass conservatory and rebuilt the restaurant, so I was excited to go and check it out.
One always worries that the long drive (about 2 hours) & expense (both in time and money) would not be worth the attraction in the end, but Longwood did not disappoint at all. It was delightful, fun and though Jeremy needed to be back home by 3ish for a meeting, we did not feel rushed – we saw only about 30% of the grounds, though we saw 100% of everything under a greenhouse.
There are two main conservatory buildings – one old and one new. The old one was fantastic and unbelievably lush and full grown.
I loved the children’s area where everything was pint sized and I got to brush a statue’s teeth. There are lots of fun fountains in the children’s area and we saw a few very wet, very happy toddlers.
This seemed to be a quarter mile of green wall which is the *hallway* for the bathrooms.
The highlight, for sure, was the orchid room. They have a few thousand orchids in their possession and a few hundred are on display in the orchid room where they do get rotated daily.
Then we went to lunch in their newly renovated restaurant and had a great time. Both the food and service was delightful and excellent – we started with this elegant cheese plate. And then we took a walk around the grounds to help with digestion and take a look at a field of crocus (which pretty much were the only outdoor flowers in bloom).
Overall, a delightful and wonderful day trip. We timed it so that Jeremy would slide right into his 3 pm meeting at his desk, but we did hit traffic on the way home, so at about 2:30, I switched with him driving and he started his meeting in the car and then I dropped him off first at the house and then dropped my parents off at their house.
On another note – I’m completely enchanted by this outfit that I put together which included rented pants and this ponco of my mother’s that she gave me and I remember her wearing a lot when I was about 5-10 years old. It thrilled me to wear this combination which I did not realize was possible until the morning I got dressed.
Jeremy, good husband that he is, about 10 minutes before we left to pick up my parents, went into his closet to change into his yellow shirt which also delighted me. We are goofballs that are ready for spring.
