SD Botanic

So this place was pretty spectacular and a lot closer than I thought.  Silly me, I took “San Diego Botanic Gardens” to mean it was IN San Diego, not 30 miles north (closer to us) in Encinitas.

                            
They had some kind of event going on or were prepping for said event, I can’t remember which—this was only six months ago!—so we had to park in the back/overflow lot and enter through the bamboo forest.  I do remember that it was HOT that day but the bamboo was deliciously cool.

                
They really couldn’t have done any better by us, having us enter through the bamboo and water lily pond.  To my mind, this is still how a botanic garden ought to look, complete with brilliant red dragonflies darting around!

             
Froggy friends.  Did you see that one hiding under the water lily?

   
A variety of textures and sculptures create constant interest for your eyes.

                  
Really, there’s just no end of beauty.

                            
Checking out the gazebo and the waterfall overlook.

Can’t you just feel the sunshine?


Now we come to the children’s garden/play area.  There’s a fun music area . . .

              
a digging/building section . . .

 
and flowers, of course.

                        
The three-story treehouse was actually really hard to get a picture of because of its location, size, and complexity.  So you’ll just have to trust me when I say that was pretty cool too.  The second floor of the treehouse had a bridge over to this play area on the hill, where I probably could have left the kids to play happily all afternoon.

Ready, set, roll!

          
There was a multi-sensory alphabet garden too, which I thought was a really neat idea.

And that about does it for this trip!