When Mardi asked me what I wanted to do for Father’s Day, my first response was “something that will inspire”.  I really needed a respite from the normal daily grind, so an escape was in order.  Mardi and I would have loved to have spent the day at a museum, but the girls would have been moaning after 20 minutes.  So a day mixed with outdoor walking, indoor nature centers, inspiring gardens all finished with ice cream fit the bill!  A quick search of local gardens helped us to settle on a visit to the Cylburn Arboretum, a Baltimore City park in the Mt. Washington area of the City. We were very impressed.

With a brand new visitor’s center, Victorian-era mansion and sprawling gardens and grounds, the Cylburn Arboretum is a great day trip for families in the Baltimore area.  Even though not open to the public, the mansion is a very typical Baltimore Victorian-era mansion.  Surrounding it were different types of gardens for different conditions – shade, sun, rose, mixed vegetable – all sensibly set out to inspire you to try your own.  Sometimes, public gardens a way too intimidating in their scale and complexity.  It was nice to see the Cylburn’s gardens experiencing some of the the same challenges that we see in our own. 

The Cylburn Mansion	Looking towards the Allée

The Carriage House contains a small, but nice nature center where the girls were intrigued for quite a while with the menagerie of animals and fossils.  The gardens were a mixture of formal, semi-formal and woodland, all in a state of subdued order – just like our yard! 

There was a lot of work that needed to be performed by the arboretum volunteers, but, for a volunteer staff, they were doing a pretty good job.  All in all, the visit to the Cylburn Arboretum was a great way to enjoy the company of my girls, in a learning and inspiring environment.

So, what more can you do to top off the day?  Ice cream treats at Uncle Wiggly’s in the Mt. Washington area of Baltimore…

Uncle Wiggly’s	She loves waffle cones!	And she loves sugar cones!

…followed by a steak cookout at home!  It was a great day!

Rib eye with grilled red peppers, leeks, zuchinni and mushrooms!  Delicious!

Be sure to click on the photos above for more photos, or head over to the full photo gallery for all the shots from the day. Enjoy!