One afternoon, my roommates Juanita and Lorraine invited me to go with them on an excursion to Youngstown, OH. We had two options to see: a museum and a garden. Since there wasn't enough time for both we settled on the garden. I had not previously realized how close New Wilmington was to Ohio, but the trip only took a little over half an hour.


Fellows Garden

Fellows Riverside Gardens is a botanical garden and part of the Mill Creek Metroparks system. The first plantings occurred in 1963 and it is a beautiful area along Mill Creek and the Mahoning River.


Gazebo

Juanita visited the indoor exhibits while Lorraine and I walked through the garden. It is a popular place for weddings and other events. We saw what we imagined a bride-to-be with a photographer getting pictures made.


Pathway

The garden is compact, only 12 acres, but it has a variety of formal and informal sections.


Roses

The roses were in full bloom. I was glad I had worn my Portland, OR, Rose Test Garden socks!


Lake Glacier

Lake Glacier provides one of the views from the garden. We could hear, but not see, water flowing over the dam into Mill Creek. Another area of the garden overlooks the Mahoning River.


Fountain

Families with children gravitated to the fountain. One youngster was having a grand time manipulating the spray from a fountain jet. We were glad he didn't decide to spritz us as we walked by.


Fountain

A smaller fountain anchored this quiet seating nook.


Water bottle hanging

One of the fun indoor exhibits that Juanita recommended included this hanging inspired by Dale Chihuly's glass sculptures. This one, however, is made from recycled plastic water bottles that were cut up and hand painted!

It was a beautiful outing.

We had used Google maps to navigate us to the garden. On the way out, the "Google lady" took us by the interstate and through some creepy half-deserted neighborhoods. On the way home, for reasons best known to Google, she took us through back roads. Both trips took the same amount of time, but we preferred seeing the countryside. And we got home in time for the before-dinner group session.


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