Cheekwood + Chihuly = Surreal

My sister came to visit for ten days.  She left on Saturday so now I have time to write about our adventures.  It's always good to have visitors because 1) it's fun, 2) the house (usually) gets clean, and 3) it motivates Howard and me to do some sightseeing.  Two Saturdays ago (9/18) the three of us discovered Cheekwood together.  

In 1896, Leslie Cheek married Mabel Wood.  Around the same time, Joel Cheek, Leslie's uncle, developed a new blend of coffee that was sold at the best hotel in Nashville, the Maxwell House.  Ring a bell?  Joel's extended family, including Leslie and Mabel, were investors. In 1928, Postum (now General Foods) purchased Maxwell House's parent company, Cheek-Neal Coffee, for more than $40 million.  Can you imagine what $40 million in 1928 would equal today!?!  It's inconceivable.

Leslie and Mabel later built a mansion on 100 wooded acres in West Nashville and named it Cheekwood - a combination of their last names.  Since 1960 Cheekwood has been open to the public and often hosts art exhibits.  When we visited, we were very lucky to stumble upon a Chihuly exhibit.  You're thinking - what in the heck is a Chihuly?

Dale Chihuly is an extremely creative glass artist with a unique and grandiose vision on how to display his stunning work.  If a Chihuly exhibit ever comes to your area, make sure you see it!  I think he had an exhibit in San Francisco not too long ago and we completely missed it!

The foundation for "Saffron Tower" cost 

$1 million to build - there's usually a guard nearby.

Hundreds of pieces had to be assembled.  If you look 

closely, you can see each tube is tied into a support.

Howard's eye for framing photos has really improved.  

I love how he 'captured' the Sphynx woman admiring 

Chihuly's work over her shoulder.

 

This piece is called "Sun", but I think it should be called

"Medusa".

Purple Herons

 

Look at how Howard caught the reflections of "Mille Fiori".

 

Blue Herons

 

Sisters

The only other stat that I can remember from the tour was that the Chihuly exhibit arrived in FIVE semi trucks, each piece individually wrapped.  Howard and I will have to go back to hear all that info again.  We bought annual passes so we're good to go.  We can take three visitors for free each time we go.  If you come to visit us before October 31st, you can experience Chihuly at Cheekwood too.  Book your flight now!  The guest room is ready, mostly.  My sister helped paint and furnish it while she was here.  We only make family work when they visit ;o) 

Thoughts on annual passes:  In each place we live Howard and I always seem to end up with an annual pass to somewhere.  In San Diego it was the San Diego Zoo.  It's no fun paying $30 (now a whopping $37!) for a one-time zoo visit and forcing yourself to stay there all day (until you're exhausted and can't walk another step) just to get your money's worth.  With the annual zoo pass we could go for only a couple hours (guilt free) to make funny faces at the monkeys, admire the hippos, and get a little exercise.  In Massachusetts, we had passes to Old Sturbridge Village.  We loved this place.  It's a living museum with characters dressed in period costumes who demo daily New England life in the early 1800s.  In the Bay Area in California it was Filoli.  Howard frequented this place and took lots of inspiring photos of the gardens there.