Lights! Camera! Action!

Ok, I'll admit it. That was probably one of the dumbest titles ever, though it is technically all true. There were lights, I did have my camera, and - let's face it - anywhere Canon is, there's action. I don't just stretch to make titles fit - I grande jete to make them werk.

Ahem. Anyway...

One of our family holiday traditions has always been to visit Bellingrath Gardens in Mobile, AL to view their amazing light displays. You can view past years here and here, but the gist is that Craig and I visited there on our first date, were engaged there, and have returned each year since to enjoy the Christmas display. Upon moving to Georgia, we were pretty disappointed that we wouldn't be able to continue that tradition, but I was determined to find something comparable. There are several options pretty close to us, but we decided to check out the Atlanta Botanical Gardens for our first shot at trying to keep pace with previous Christmas seasons. Of course, we simply couldn't let Canon miss out on all those lights. It's ALL for him of course. And so, the Garden Lights Holiday Nights tour began.

We had never visited the Atlanta Botanical Garden so I was just as enthralled with their lobby as I was the lights display. I am determined to go back this spring to see the grounds in full floral glory, but these huge metal leaves on display were a cool alternative to the flora we didn't get to see that night.

The blown glass sculpture wasn't too bad itself.

However, it didn't take long to find out the true stars of this show were the millions of lights on display throughout the grounds.

This may have been the coolest thing I have seen in a long time. All of these orbs were on timers that would change colors with the music that was playing, resulting in a light show a la this. We watched them, mesmerized, for quite a while before realizing that we had miles to go before we finished viewing everything and grudgingly moved along.

These guys looked as if they were flying through the air, as their wings floating up and down. Against the pitch black sky, it was really a cool sight.

Unfortunately, I couldn't capture just how cool this sight was with the skyline of the city behind all of the lights. Suffice it to say that it is worth your time to see.

The blown glass sculptures were displayed throughout the gardens - one of the greatest placements being in this fountain.

Apparently, I really liked these guys. Also, we were standing in this spot for quite a while as I waited for the inevitable 5 year old potty break. Lucky for me, he is a growing boy which means he wants to go to the gentleman's loo. That translates to 'daddy's turn' while I get time to take pictures...of dragonflies. That whole paragraph sounded a lot more fluid in my head.

I will leave you with a shot of this lovely lady. She was probably my favorite spot in the entire display. A true stunner.

So okay, it wasn't Bellingrath. We didn't get to visit the spot where we got engaged. We didn't get to see the crawfish jumping out of the pot or the alligators in the water {both are displays there that Canon loves}. We did, however, expand on our tradition and saw some new and exciting things. We all really enjoyed our time and I am excited to continue to explore more places the longer we are here.

Aw shucks, GA, you've beat my expectations again.