Dale Chihuly Exhibit

If you live anywhere within a few hours drive of Grand Rapids, MI you need to do yourself a favor and visit the Frederik Meijer Gardens.  The grounds are magnificent and perfectly enhanced with the many blown glass pieces by  American artist Dale Chihuly.  It's a positively lovely way to spend a day.

There are so many wonderful plants growing throughout the various gardens:

I loved the orchids!

The Chihuly pieces are carefully arranged throughout the gardens and with the beautiful blue sky to light them up, simply stunning:

That's me next to the giant swizzle stick, just to prove I was there.  The other pieces in the bottom collage are permanent fixtures inside the main building of the Fred Meijer Garden.  The rest of the magnificent pieces will be available for you to see only until October 31, 2010 -- so hurry over!

If you're hungry after wandering all over the gardens you can head up the road about 1 mile to the Twisted Rooster for a scrumptious meal.  A woman overheard Sue and me discussing where to eat when we were resting at the gardens and recommended this restaurant to us.  It was deeee-lish!  It specializes in Made In Michigan cuisine, with several Michigan micro-brew beers available.  Since we were on our way home Sue and I didn't try the beers -- wait until next time!