My Trip to Huntington Gardens

by Devil Bear
Photos by Daddy

To start off the new year, we went to Huntington Gardens in San Marino. Huntington Gardens is big, planty and colorful. It has plants from all over the world.
Mommy says it's called "botanical gardens" but I call it a "plant zoo" because I can't remember the other thing. This one also has an museum with old portraits from when everybody dressed like George Washington or Marie Antionette. There's even a library with really old books that no one can read anymore because they're in glass cases, (but the big swirly writing is cool), and a fancy restaurant where people pay lots of money to drink tea and eat really small sandwiches.

The Huntington has lots of old outdoor statues and fountains. Some of them are naked, but Mommy says it's okay, because they're "neo classical", whatever that means. One part has a nice lawn surrounded by Gods and Goddesses of ancient times. I liked it because it reminded me of that episode of Battlestar Gallactica where they go to Caprica and find the maproom to Earth, surrounded by the Lords of Kobol. Daddy said maybe I watch too much television.




If you ever saw Clash of the Titans you'll know this guy is Perseus, and he's a Greek hero. I think the sculptor failed to capture Harry Hamlin, because this guy looks nothing like him. As you can see he just cut off Medusa's head because she was being mean and turning everyone to stone with her stare. She had snakes for hair, which I'm sure was no fun for her stylist.







Some of the statues are scary, like this fish fountian.



Daddy thought this fish looked prehistoric. I thought he looked hungry, and I didn't stick around to see what he ate.

The gardens are divided up like you're in different parts of the world. They have an Australia section that has gi-normous cactus plants and twisty trees, and a Japanese Garden. There's even a giant glass bubble building for plants that come from tropical places like rainforests.

One of my favorite parts was the Japanese Garden. It has fancy Japanese buildings where the roofs curve up on the corners.

To get there we headed down this long tunnel covered with vines. I looked it up later on Martha Stewart.com. It's called a pergola. Mommy says you can always ask Martha - she knows everything.


The Japanese Garden has a bent bridge that is so round it's blocked off so no one can go over it. I thought that was kind of dumb. Why have a bridge if people can't even use it?


Mommy said it's to protect people, and that the bridge is there for "aesthetic" reasons - that means it's just there to look cool.





I have to admit it looks pretty cool.

Swimming in the brook were some crazy looking fish that were orange, gold, or had black spots. Daddy thought they were giant goldfish. Mommy thought they were catfish because of their whiskers.
I sat down by the pond and the fish came right up to me. “Sorry guys, I don’t have any food,” I told them, but they didn’t stop begging. I didn’t mind. I just liked watching them. They were shiny in the sun, and even seemed to sparkle. “Well goldfish-catfish… whatever you are, you sure are big and beautiful,” I said.

"They're called Koi!" I looked around and there was a little girl with her friend. She proceeded to tell us all about Koi and how she has some at home. I was glad to learn about Koi fish, but that little girl was so loud and Miss Know-It-All she got on my nerves. Mommy said maybe she'll grow up to be a teacher. Daddy said she would be an actress.

We walked up the hill to see what was in the Japanese houses. That was where we found out about Bonsai trees. Bonsai trees are like miniture dogs, only they're trees. Japanese gardeners do something to their roots so when they grow they look old and grown up only smaller. I think they do this because they don't have room for big trees in Japan. Blitzen really liked the Bonsai trees.



I think it's because his antlers look like their twisty trunks. Maybe I'll start calling him "Bonsai Blitzen!"







This is a big, white sandbox. Okay, the sign said it was a Zen rock garden. I wanted to play in it, but Mommy and Daddy wouldn't let me. I didn't get it. What was it for? Mommy said Buddists use Zen Gardens to meditate. I meditated on the fact that it looked like a big sandbox and I couldn't play in it.









After we left the Japanese Garden we stopped in the Jungle Garden for a break. Behind us were these big shady jungle trees. No sign of Tarzan, though.












In front of us there was a pond with the tallest bamboo I've ever seen!


















We rested on a shady bench in the middle.












Blizten and I like sitting on our matching bandanas.












This is a beautiful cactus flower that was growing nearby. I learned the hard way that you should never try to smell a cactus flower like this one or it will prick your nose.




After our break we headed over to this big glass bubble. Mommy said it's called a "rotunda."


It was like being inside a giant terrarium! Inside it's steamy and hot like a suana room. The plants like it that way. I called it the "plant spa" because the plants in here seem pampered like rich people at spas. Even though she knew it was good for her skin, Mommy didn't want to be in there long, because it was melting off her sunscreen.







This is a happy flower at the plant spa.









At the end of the day we went to the Huntington Gardens store. Daddy found a safari hat for Mommy to add to her collection. Blitzen and I thought it looked silly, but it made her happy so we kept our mouths shut.











I hope you enjoyed my trip to Huntington Bo-tan-ical Gardens!






To plan your own trip there go to http://www.huntington.org/. Tell them Devil Bear sent you!