In March, I planned to make my way to Albany, Georgia, to visit Radium Springs Gardens. However, life would have it that I had to cancel those initial plans to visit with the spring with my friends. After taking a hiatus from my travels and finding September and my birthday only about a month away, I made the decision to knock out my last two wonders and do a solo trip to Albany. I enjoyed spending time with my friends on the other trips, but I wanted the ability to just go without trying to coordinate all the schedules of others after not having visited any parks in a while. Honestly, my personal life had been filled with other family birthdays, busyness at work, physical therapy from a car accident all summer, an impromptu trip to NYC, and maid-of-honor duties for a wedding the week after my birthday, so I was eager to just have some time to myself. On the drive down, I found myself grateful for the time to reflect and simply bask in the fact that I was existing. I noticed the blueness of the sky, the whiteness of the clouds, and the way the edges of clouds start to look a little like the colors of the rainbow when they shift in front of the sun. I rode down listening to whatever felt good to my soul at the time from gospel to T.I. I felt grateful. I felt energized. I felt ready to seize the day and embrace the adventure that lay ahead.
As I came to the end of my three-and-a-half-hour drive, I began to feel another feeling, anxious. The road had gone through a neighborhood and hit a dead end with only an old white fence in front of me. I saw no other people around. I was so sure that I had come to the wrong place that I went to a gas station up the street to buy a snack and regroup. After googling the address for Radium Springs Gardens multiple times and seeing the same address, I decided to return to the place that I had just left. Once I got to the dead end, I turned left and went into the parking lot by the old fence. Upon pulling in, I saw one other car with 2 people getting out; so I assumed that I was at the right place since at least someone else was there. Next to them was one other car, which I discovered was the park monitor was sitting in waiting until closing time. I did this adventure solo, so you can imagine how nervous I was after driving 3.5 hours only to come upon what seemed to be some abandoned park. However, I began to walk through the gravel parking lot through an old white gate and into a plaza. (Note about informational signs)
After looking around the small plaza, I headed towards a set of stairs. As I walked down the stairs, they opened into the most beautiful park scenery that I have ever scene. Ahead of me was a large spring with a small floating island in the middle with a small bridge connecting it to the rest of the park. The water was as blue as the sky. One of the informational signs even referenced that the spring water used to be called “skywater” because of this. The inside was such a great contrast to the underwhelming appearance of the fence from the outside. The site used to be home to a casino and resort along the spring, although gambling was not allowed, so many of the structures were there as refurbished remnants from this facility including the walk ways along the spring and gazebo on the lawn. Multiple fires lead to the closing of the casino, which led to the site being turned into a botanical garden for visitors to enjoy.
It was so peaceful at the garden. In this moment, I was even happier that I had come alone. I wanted to take it all in silence. Appreciate every beautiful bit of scenery. The park also was not large at all. Honestly, I could have walked around it all in 30 minutes, if that. It was a place that you observed, read the signs, and just sat in nature. I stayed for about an hour. Meandering across the lawn, making my way over the bridge to the small island, and back. I even spoke with the only two other visitors. I thought they lived in the area, but it turns out they were a mother and daughter originally from Russia. They’d move to the states, and the daughter brought her mom to Georgia to also visit the 7 Natural Wonders, but they were doing so in a week. Her mom did not speak any English, and she wanted her to be able to see more of the beauty that America has to offer. I was excited to meet someone else with my shared goal of seeing all 7 wonders and felt inspired that they’d picked my home state and seemingly little adventure to represent the beauty of America to her mom, who was making her own adjustments to being in the U.S. I would also end up seeing Anna and her mom at the Okefenokee Swamp, so it was pretty cool to make an acquaintance along the way. (They were also kind enough to take the only pictures I have of myself actually at Radium Springs Gardens. Thanks, Anna!)
As I sat in the park looking at some of the flowers in the last few minutes before it closed, I was so grateful that I had not given up on finding it when I thought that I had encountered a dead end. I had found this beautiful, seemingly hidden gem in the middle of Albany, Georgia, at the dead end of a neighborhood. There was more than meets the eye here, and I would have missed it if I had looked to hard. I was grateful that I had chosen to come here solo.
What are some things that you enjoy doing alone?
If you do not go out alone, what assumptions have kept you back from doing so?
How can you challenge those assumptions?
Read more about my challenge to see Georgia’s 7 Natural Wonders: