This trip to Bellingrath Gardens, in late 1954, is one of my earliest memories. (NOTE: the date was confirmed when I found a booklet of unused photos from the trip that was dated!) I was quite taken by all the beautiful flowers and the amazing landscaped environment. (If you want to see what the Gardens are like today, here is their website.) Given Momoo's (as well as Dad's) intense interest in flowers and gardening, I'm sure the whole family enjoyed the trip. I do not know if we were already living in Georgia and met the Houstonians at Mobile, or if we all traveled there together. The appearance of azaleas in some of the shots indicates a spring visit, which would be while we were living in Georgia. (However, the dated photos recently discovered (see above) indicate a fall visit—year-round azaleas?) But however the group came together, we were lucky enough to have both grandmothers and Popoo there with us, as these pictures, unfortunately discoloured with age, show:

Dad couldn't resist lots of sister shots, and with such stunning backdrops and adorable children, how could you blame him!

He also took some with none of us in them, that are quite lovely anyway:

However, the two areas just above were also used as kid backdrops (see the black and white photo above which uses the walk on the right)....

Here are the rest of the Bellingrath images. The one on the upper left certainly seems to be showcasing azaleas, so perhaps our trip was taken later in the spring than I originally thought. The foliage in some of the scenes above must be showing flowers, rather than fall color, as it looks at first glance.

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