gardens aglow

With 14 acres of Botanical Gardens and over a mile of paths gloriously lit for Christmas we definitely got our steps in that night.

They called this next section the Aurora Borealis…

Though in actuality it’s the butterfly house during the summer.

Whatever you call it, it was pretty cool.

Having toured the gardens twice, we were done…

Not to mention frozen solid.

Ducking into the cafe to warm up before the long trek back to the car sounded like a good idea..

As did the caroling grandpas.

It was at this point I saw a sign… and realized I’d missed a prime opportunity.

Damn!

If only I’d known this before we started I could have been a lot warmer.

🤣

The Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay puts on a fantastic Christmas light show every year. We went years ago when they first started and having heard they’d grown bigger and better I decided we needed a return trip.

Bigger and better? Yes.

More crowded? Hell yeah. Judging from the steady flow of traffic, I think the entire state’s population was there.

The tiny parking lot had multiplied into lettered tiers and the small entry building had morphed into a massive welcome center.

It was well organized, fully staffed and with advanced ticketing required, had no lines or long waits to enter.

How much bigger was it than our previous visit?

Enough to require a map bigger.

In a word?

It was magical…

I’m not going to write a lot of commentary as it pretty much speaks for itself.

Just walk along with us and enjoy…

Did I mention there were giant wooden trolls?

The show only runs Thursday thru Sunday nights in December and has segmented entry hours. You have to reserve your spot weeks in advance as they sell out quickly. This means the weather is a crap shoot. Since it’s been unseasonably warm we weren’t worried…. until we woke up that day to 14 degrees and 35 mph winds.

Yeah, it was frickin’ freezing and we were bundled up like Nanook of the North and walking around with cups of hot chocolate to withstand the cold.