Nat Your Average Story: Autumn Afternoon Adventure

The sun came out...the sun came out...the sun came out! You can imagine me singing that with wild abandon while spinning in the midst of nature (if you'd like) because that is how I felt when I woke up this morning and finally saw some sunshine! Oh my goodness.

It has rained and rained; at least six out the past eight days have been gloomy and gray. I couldn't resist the sunshine today though and as soon as I'd finished my lunch, I loaded Watson into his car seat and we headed about fifteen minutes up the road to the Virginia State Arboretum and then on to Long Branch Plantation. Today was just a day for being outside, so we took advantage of it!

I took tons of pictures - of course. So I thought I'd share some of them below! Enjoy!

I think his head exploded because of all the nature at his disposal - he ran around like he was on something...

The Tuleyries House on the grounds adjacent to the Arboretum

Starting our walk down the Dogwood Lane - I'll have to come back in the Spring; I'm sure it looks brilliant!

Smile!

So much color!

Bright red berries on the trees..

Such a gorgeous walkway on an Autumn afternoon!

Watson never meets a stranger - which is certainly a good thing, I'm glad he's friendly - and our afternoon trip was no different. As we approached the archway of the Blandy House to wander further into the Arboretum's grounds, we saw an older gentleman seated in a chair, reading a magazine. He smiled at us and said "hey there little fellow" which immediately set Watson's tail to wagging wildly! He gave the gentleman a moment to rub his ears and then he was off again to explore. We also passed a toddler as we wandered out onto the grounds and she happily squealed "puppy...puppy.." and Watson was nice enough to oblige her with a gentle lick on the hand before wandering off in search of squirrels. She grinned and waved at us as we headed down the hill.

Watson thinks...maybe I want to jump that fence...

Talk about a Christmas tree!

The Ephemeral Pond...

Smiling for a photo with my favorite little pup!

He thinks he is human, so of course he hopped right up on the bench to sit by me!

Gazing out from under the branches of the pine trees.

Wild strawberries? Probably not...but still neat.

Y'all - that is a real frog. Watson was mesmerized.

Flowers everywhere...

Seriously - all over the place!

These are leopard plants - & I have no clue why...

The Blandy Farm at the Virginia State Arboretum!

The Herb Garden

Lavender....

The Herb Garden made Watson go a little nuts...

So...this was supposed to be some kind of herb. I definitely thought it was a marigold!

Riding with the windows down on the loop road!

Virginia's very own standing stones...if I touched these, would I end up in Scotland.

As close as I could get to this beautiful house...

Can I tour this please? Please?

The absolutely gorgeous mountains - I love them.

Seriously - pictures do not do this justice...so gorgeous.

Long Branch Plantation - I couldn't resist driving over after we left the Arboretum.

I love this house. It's gorgeous!

Some of the land around the plantation...

The mountains are amazing. Look at all the beauty.

As mentioned, Watson makes a new friend everywhere we go. As we wandered the gardens on the side of Long Branch, Watson decided he'd use the bathroom in the bushes and the gardener said (in a mocking voice) "oh no...not my plants!" I grinned at him and told him that we had our little packet of bags if he decided to do anything more severe than water the plants. He laughed at me and said "oh gosh, I'm kidding..." and then he of course begins petting Watson, which Watson just thought was grand. He must have liked us because as we pulled out of the drive later, he waved at us!