An Afternoon Among the Flowers and Tanks

Today was one of those increasingly rare warm days -- clear and nearly 70° F. during the afternoon -- so we decided to visit Cantigny Park. The last time we were there was during the full blaze of summer, more than a year ago.

Fall coloration is far along, as it is everywhere else, but the gardens are still lush with flowers. We haven't had a hard freeze yet, and the Cantigny horticulturists must see to it that the gardens feature plenty of late-season bloomers.

Besides the flowers, we also went to Cantigny to see 11 tanks permanently parked on the property, such as this one.

All of them belong to the First Division Museum at Cantigny and are exhibited on the grounds outside the museum building. According to the sign, that's a 48.5-ton M46 Patton. On a day like today, kids (and some adults) were all over the tanks.