In an effort for the kids not to spend the entire summer holed up in their room on electronic entertainment and to broaden their cultural horizons, we took advantage of the Huntington Library's free day.
They give the tickets away on the first of the month for the following month. I had to fight the hoards on line by hovering over the "get tickets" button well before 9 AM when the ticket agency opened because I discovered the month before that Free Tickets are like Free Money and they were snatched up and gone within 2 minutes of opening. Making me have to try again next time.
And it also happens to be a pretty freakin' long way away from our house. Probably an hour by the time we navigated the freeways (and stopped to let me use the bathroom). Or maybe it just seemed like an hour with all the "Are we there yet?" and "How come it looks like we're going to Disneyland? Isn't this the way we go when we go to Disneyland? Why don't we just go there instead...???"
Eventually we arrived, parked and headed in.
This used to be a private residence back in the day.
I loved this:
Beautiful flowers:
The view from the top of the hill. You can see out into Pasadena.
First we made our way down into the Japanese Gardens:
Love this giant bell. There used to be something you could strike it with but I guess people abused the privilege so it's not there anymore.
They have this beautiful tea room open to look at but you can't go inside:
Zen Garden:
The Bonsai Tree Garden.
These were SO incredible:
We went into the giant greenhouse which was incredibly humid but the plants were beautiful:
The orchids in a cage:
The center dome:
This plant (on the right) is in the process of producing one HUGE leaf that will be 15 foot tall.:
This looks like something out of Dr. Seuss:
They thought this huge leaf was worth posing in front of:
No not go look goofy.....
Smile... stand there and just smile....
Oh never mind....
We finally made it into the main residence which was incredible:
Sarah, Jeff & Jeffery admiring Blue Boy:
Pinky across the gallery:
George Washington:
I couldn't use my flash so this picture is blurry but it gives you the idea of how impressive the galleries were:
Outside looking out at the grounds:
