Yeah – kind of silly, huh? I’m 33 years old (turning 34 in two weeks). I’ve lived in Nashville for the entirety of my existence….and yet….up until this weekend, I had never made the trip through Belle Meade to Cheekwood to traverse the hills of the city’s renowned botanical garden.
Shame on me – I get it.
But, that changed on Saturday. It was my girlfriend’s birthday on Friday – to surprise her, her dad and niece drove down from New Jersey for the weekend. We were looking for something fun that would allow us to enjoy the beautiful weather, and also properly social distance. Cheekwood fit the bill, so we set out on our excursion for the day.
First and foremost, you better wear some damn good walking shoes. Cheekwood sits on 55 acres, and there’s plenty to take in. We arrived at the welcome center (don’t forget to bring your mask if you’re going to head inside in these ‘ronavirus times), and picked up a couple of maps.
After walking through the welcome center, we walked around through the color garden (pictured below). Vibrant sprouts of color splashed along the trail – it was hard to make any headway on the trail because we kept stopping to look at everything. The view from the top of the hill also provided a much-needed moment of peace. It was as if as soon as we hit the trail, I could feel the stress of everyday life just melt away.
We made our way along the trail, and up the hill to the mansion and museum. They were closed, but we were still able to walk around and take in the views from atop the hill. There’s a certain part of the property that provides a full view of the Nashville skyline. We walked around the back lawn, took in the fountain, the pool at the side of the mansion and the views of the rolling hills of Tennessee in the distance, and made our way back down to the foot of the hill that the mansion resides on.
At that point, we were all breathing a little heavier than usual, so we opted for a quick hydration break (water -AND- beer) at the café on the premises.
After a quick break, we were back at it – heading down to the children’s garden. I’m a big kid at heart, so I had no issue at all with putting my feet and head under the duck fountains. They had some fun obstacle courses that I’m not too proud to say I enjoyed as well. People probably thought, “why is this sasquatch running around the children’s garden?”
But, you don’t know my life. I’m having fun and living my life a quarter mile at a time.
From there, we walked back towards the visitors center. Instead of heading to the right and going back through the color garden, we hung a left and made our way down to the sculpture trail. We did the Hickory Loop before we started to realize that all of our feet were starting to ache because we’d been walking around for almost four hours. Yeah, it was a day.
Longtime friend of the brand, RHog, recommended that we check out James Turrell’s Blue Pesher before leaving, so we decided to make that our final stop. It was an absolute treat.
After sitting there and resting for a bit, we made our way back to the car to call it a day.
All in all, it was an absolutely breathtaking way to spend an afternoon in Nashville. There’s so much to take in that it feels impossible to see it all in one evening. But, that’s the beauty of it – it feels like the type of place you could visit over and over again and discover something new every time. I can’t wait to head back as the seasons change to take in the wonder of Mother Nature. Yes, that’s a real sentence you just read on SoBros Network.
Oh, and please don’t forget – Chihuly is coming back on July 18th.
For more on Cheekwood, check out their website. Subscribe to the SoBros Network Patreon for my FULL 61-photo album of our afternoon at Cheekwood.
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Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD and #BeBetter. “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
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