Friday, June 19, 2009

The Huntington Library

At the beginning of the month I was able to take the girls (Nelson stayed with my sister-in-law) to the Huntington Library. We went on the first Thursday of the month when you can get FREE tickets. I am grateful to the same sister-in-law who got the tickets and then couldn't use them Thank you so much!! It was a wonderful place to go and we had lots of fun in all the gardens. We started in the Library Exhibition hall where their was an impressive display of very old books. Among these treasures are the Ellesmere manuscript of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales (c.1410); a Gutenberg Bible (c.1455); and many others.
Then we headed outside to the gardens. Here the girls are by a fountain on the North Vista. The Children's garden was the next stop and they would have played there all day.

The fountains were a huge hit. It was really hot while we were there and they loved splashing in the cool water.

This picture is of them inside a topiary house. The walls are all made of plants. It was a really fun playhouse.

After the children's garden we went into the conservatory. It was a bunch of greenhouses with different types of plant life. They loved the rain forest the most! I have to admit that the conservatory was my favorite. There were lots of hands on things to do, and even more plants to see. They got to play with plant nectar and see how much sugar was in each; they saw how different seeds migrate; they got to guess the types of spices that grow in the rain forest by smelling them; and much much more!!!


After the conservatory we went to the Chinese Garden. Here they are looking at the fish.


Then it was off to the Japanese garden. It was all so beautiful. We spent almost three hours there and didn't see even half of the gardens they offer. If you want to check out their website just click here. If you haven't gone and can make it I would highly recommend a trip there! By the way, Nelson only stayed home because we only had five tickets and on the free day everyone has to have a ticket. We felt like he would be the least disappointed to stay behind!!


3 comments:

AB said...

We just went in May on the free day. It is huge and beautiful. Next time I want to visit in a cooler month! Looks like a lovely day for the ladies!

Cookies and Crumbs said...

I went a few years ago with Abby and had a lot of fun in the children's gardens, but we didn't do all the other fun stuff you did! What a fun day.

The Kelley Family said...

Love the pics! I looks like so much fun!! This will definitely be on our list of places to visit when we come to visit!!