Cheekwood Estate and Gardens

More Fountains at Cheekwood

Here’s a look at a few more of the cool fountains we encountered at Cheekwood Estate and Gardens:

I think animal fountains are my favorite, but anything in a beautiful setting appeals to me!

Tortoise Fountain

I love a cool fountain, and when we travel somewhere, I’m always on the lookout for something unique. I think this turtle fountain at Cheekwood Estate and Gardens fits the bill!

Stay tuned for more cool fountains at Cheekwood!

Lego Rabbits

The one thing I didn’t cover in my Nature Pop! post was the collection of Lego rabbits in the exhibition. There are about 20 of them, and I thought they deserved their own entry!

They’re located near Visitor Services in Cheekwood’s Color Garden, which is appropriate, because they are a very colorful collection of rabbits!

I like how there are both solid and patterned rabbits hiding among the plants:

Sean Kenney did an excellent job designing these creatures. He captured the look and movement of actual rabbits so well, they really look like the animals you might find hiding in a garden!

Nature Pop!

The first time we visited the Missouri Botanical Garden, it was to see the Nature Connects Lego exhibition by Sean Kenney. When I heard that he had a new Lego exhibition, Nature Pop!, being hosted by Cheekwood Estate and Gardens in Nashville, I knew we were going to have to use our reciprocal membership to see it, too.

Let’s start with my very favorite piece from the installation…the Dodo bird. Not only do I love the way he designed the bird and baby, I also love that the colors of the sunset are used as a metaphor for extinction.

There was a wide variety of wildlife represented, with most of the pieces being found in and around the Children’s Garden.

Some of the pieces really need to viewed from all sides to fully appreciate them:

This deer family was another of my favorites. I especially like the way the colors from both parents are incorporated into the design of the baby…and the colors themselves are amazing!

This was an outstanding exhibition, and I’m really glad we had the chance to see it in person! Stay tuned for a look at the Lego rabbit collection in the Color Garden!

Road Trip Wrap-Up in the Time of COVID-19

Our travels this summer might not yet be back to what they were in pre-COVID times, but we did actually go somewhere this year! Since we weren’t quite as busy as we have been on previous vacations, I’m just going to take a look at the whole trip instead of going day-by-day.

On Monday, we left for a short trip to Bowling Green, KY. Any visit to Bowling Green includes a meal from Zaxby’s. Fortunately, we have always done carryout, so that wasn’t even any different from our usual dinner.

On Tuesday morning, we drove into Nashville to visit Cheekwood Estate and Gardens and see the Nature Pop! Lego exhibition by Sean Kenney. Both the sculptures and the estate were breathtaking!

We also drove down to the Cumberland riverfront to get a look at the Nashville skyline.

We were going to get lunch at Hattie B’s, one of the locations in Nashville known for hot chicken, but the line was unbelievably long, so we went to Chaney’s Dairy Barn and had ice cream for lunch instead!

Our day ended with a beautiful double rainbow!

On Wednesday, Bunny and I went with her grandparents to tour Western Kentucky University, where she is planning on attending after she finishes at community college:

And on Thursday, we visited the Aviation Heritage Park in Bowling Green, where we saw not only an authorized replica of Marine One, but also an aircraft flown by every astronaut who walked on the moon!

We also had an early birthday celebration for Bunny that night:

We were up early on Friday morning to head home, but we did stop for donuts at the Donut Bank on the way:

It was a little challenging coming up with fun things to do outside in the summer heat, (I wanted to go to a Bowling Green Hot Rods game, but between the temperatures and the fact that I’m still a little hesitant to be in a big crowd, even outdoors, made me table that for the time being), but we found something to do every day, and it was so nice to get away for a bit!

Chickadee Thursday

We actually went somewhere more than 90 minutes from home!

On Tuesday, we visited Cheekwood Estate and Gardens to see the Nature Pop! Lego exhibition by Sean Kenney. We also stopped by the Riverfront Landing so we could get a good view of the Nashville skyline.

It was so nice to get away from home for a few days!

Classic Cars in the Courtyard

While we were at Cheekwood Estate and Gardens in Nashville, TN, to tour the Dressing Downton exhibit, we decided to see as much as we could at the estate. One of the things I had heard about that I knew Turkey would enjoy was the “Classic Cars in the Courtyard” display.

There were two cars being presented, in what used to be the Cheek family’s garage. I can only dream of having a garage so fancy!

Now, I’ll be honest. I’m not a car person. I love looking at old cars, because they were so elegant and had so much character, but I don’t really know what’s what. So I hope I have the right years/names with the right car, but if you know I don’t, please let me know!

There was a black 1925 Chrysler Standard Touring car. This is the car most easily associated with Downton Abbey, as the show’s times period ended only a year after this car came on the market. I loved both the gorgeous details on the car, and how well cared for it obviously is!

The 1931 Chrysler Deluxe Roadster is a bit of an anachronism compared with Downton Abbey, but it still has that feeling from the time period, and you can easily imagine that some member of the Grantham family may have eventually ridden in such a vehicle. This was also my favorite of the two cars…there are so many amazing details to take in!

I love helping my children make connections to history in any way I can. Seeing how people used to get around is definitely a great way to do that, even if these cars are almost as foreign to us as a horse and carriage are!