Atlanta Botanical Gardens - Garden Lights (Fulton County, Georgia)

 
It's a cold night a few days before Christmas. Each year, the Atlanta Botanical Garden puts up a barrage of holiday lights around their park and we thought it might be something that my mother would enjoy visiting. After the drive downtown to the garden, we had to wait in line in our car for about thirty minutes before we could gain entry, even though we had purchased timed tickets in advance. It's just that popular, I guess. Eventually, we got parked and headed into the gardens.

The initial area was sort of a brick courtyard with a number of trees decorated troves of green, blue, and purple lights. Lots of attendees wandered around the area. From there, we walked up to a slightly elevated terrace where a number of model trains were running through more decorated trees. As we exited this area, a fellow attendee offered us an extra drink ticket she had and after some discussion, I walked down and grabbed a whiskey-spiked eggnog and a warm cider for us to sip on as we continued our stroll through the event.

We wandered for a while down lines of rainbow colored tree sculptures, along another courtyard with lighted geometric shapes (probably made of plastic or glass) in the general shape of small trees and shrubs, and through a number of tunnels lit with strands of colored lights. From here, we dumped out near a fountain with giant floating lotus blossoms. On the other side of the fountain, a stand offering ingredients to make smores over some nearby fire pits tempted us, we opted not to partake.

From there, we entered a building meant to represent a tropical rain forest at night. Inside the humidity was almost unbearable in our winter gear, and so, we made a quick walk through. Sounds represent the night calls of the jungle ring throughout the room and green laser lights, presumably meant to simulate lightning bugs, dance on every surface as we make our way to the exit. It was interesting, but just too uncomfortable to spend much time in.

Finally, we make our way past the Ice Goddess Fountain and through the canopy among Nature's Wonders. The Ice Goddess is a giant statue set behind a beautiful water feature. Her hair is made of several lines of green and blue lights, providing a divine scene. The canopy walk takes us through a forest where long streams of colored lights hang like the tracks of raindrops from the tree tops. These streams are light activated and change patterns in coordination with numerous pieces of orchestral music blaring from loud speakers. It's a fantastic display and a great way to end a fun evening. My mother seemed to really enjoy herself; mission accomplished.