Huntington Gardens

How have I lived in Los Angeles for 10 years and never visited this place?!  Why don't more people talk about how gorgeous it is????  And I only saw about 1/8th of the place?  Just the drive there is beautiful.  And the pathway to the parking lot is lined with jacaranda trees which are blooming now and creating a lovely carpet of lavender.

It is a GREAT place to take kids.  We visited the cafe (which has a great selection of food for kids and adults), the rainforest area, and the children's garden.  

The rainforest area has tons of cool plants and a perfect pond for kids.  Part of the wall is glass and there are stairs leading down to view the fish.

Cool huh?   Now it's time for the children's garden...

Nice misting teepee for a hot day...

I soooo want this in my backyard...

There are a lot of water features that I didn't take pictures of.  This is endless fun for little people.  The kids were pretty wet and dirty by the end of it all, so I would recommend bringing extra clothes.

The plants and trees are just incredible.  I love southern California just for the climate to grow all kinds of kooky things...

Does anyone know what kind of tree this one is?   Yes, it is a tree, you can kind of see the trunk in the middle.  Wild huh?

There was a hill in the middle of the garden with tunnels going to the center from both sides.   The wonderful thing was that the tunnels were lined with jasmine so it smelled like heaven.
The middle was tall enough for adults to stand up in and the ceiling had little slits to the sky that made rainbows everywhere...

I think my favorite part was an area that created a big cloud of fog.  It was so much fun!!

Also not pictured was a concrete bowl of magnetic sand (very cool) and this slot with nails in it that you dropped pebbles through and it made music.  This place is just magical!