Quail Botanical Gardens – Chocolate Festival

May 2, 2009

The Quail Botanical Gardens is located in Encinitas, CA, just twenty minutes north of San Diego. There is a special Children’s Garden (The Seeds of Wonder) that opened to the public in April, 2003, as the West Coast’s first interactive children’s garden. Other gardens, covering over 35 acres of exhibits, include rare bamboo groves, desert gardens, a tropical rainforest, California native plants, Mediterranean climate landscapes, the Undersea Succulent Garden, the new Mexican Garden, Landscaping for Fire Safety, a subtropical fruit garden and a Miniature Railroad with a 1920-1930 local Southern California layout.

On Saturday, May 9, there is a Chocolate Festival with children’s activities, chocolate tastings, cooking demonstrations and Mother’s Day gifts.

On Saturday, June 13, from Noon to 4 PM the Public Grand Opening of the Hamilton Children’s Garden will take place. There is no admission fee.

Ongoing Programs from the website:

Ongoing programs complimenting the new children’s garden are rotated periodically. Most are geared toward children ages 18 months through 6 years old, although all ages are welcome. Ongoing programs are free with regular garden admission and pre-registration is not required unless otherwise noted.

Programs for Preschoolers:

2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th Tuesday: Tales and Tunes 10:30am – 12 noon
Children and their caregivers participate in stories and songs at 10:30 – 11:00. Play in the garden and pot plants to take home 10am – Noon.

Every Wednesday: Garden Arts and Crafts 10 AM – Noon
Children may participate in a variety of arts and crafts at 10:00 – 11:30. There will also be plant potting and other fun activities.

1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Thursdays: Plants, Wings, and Crawly Things 10 AM – Noon
Children will discover the plants and bugs that live in our garden. Preschoolers will participate in special science activities from 10:00 – 11am.

2nd Friday of each Month: Friday Fun! 10 AM – Noon.
Children may pot a plant and play in the garden… Presented in cooperation with the San Diego County Department of Agriculture, Weights and Measures.

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Verde Valley near Sedona, AZ

April 27, 2009

Montezuma Castle — many years ago I passed the road sign several times before I knew Grandpa Ron but I never took the road to find out what it was. Then one weekend Grandpa Ron took me to Sedona, AZ, for my birthday so we could explore the luring area. We did follow the sign to Montezuma Castle and began a whole new journey of Native American Indian studies. It wasn’t a castle. It wasn’t built by Montezuma. We explored the Sinaqua ruins that had been abandoned in the early 1300s that afternoon and talked about our impressions all night long.

The next day we explored the nearby Tuzigoot Monument and added to our newfound interest. Since then we have explored many Southwest Indian National Monuments but there are still a lot left to see.

We also enjoyed the Verde Canyon Railroad trip. The station isn’t far from Tuzigoot. The scenery is fantastic. We pointed out many cliffs and caves where the Sinaqua may have lived so many years before us. It was a very spiritual experience.

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Orange County Model Engineers

April 20, 2009

Michele told me about this train ride when she heard about our train activities yesterday. The Orange County Model Engineers give free public train rides on their 7 1/2″ gauge Mackerel Flats and Goat Hill Junction Railroad over 5 miles of track on the second full weekend of every month. They are in Fairview Park in Costa Mesa, CA. Here’s a bird’s eye view of the layout.

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Skunk Train – Fort Bragg and Willits

April 20, 2009

Grandpa Ron and I took the Skunk Train from Willits to Fort Bragg and back several years ago. It is a great family trip through the redwoods. Here’s their photo gallery.

What is a skunk train??? Here’s the explanation from an April 1, 2009, Skunk Train press release:

With the occasional whistles as it chugs through tunnels, over bridges and past open meadows, the train follows the coastal “Redwood Route” as it has since 1885. Built as a logging railroad, the Skunk line began that year as a logical vehicle for moving massive redwood logs to Mendocino Coast sawmills from the rugged back country. Steam passenger service was started in 1904, extended to the town of Willits in 1911, and discontinued in 1925 when the self-powered, yellow “Skunk” rail cars were inaugurated. The little trains were quickly nicknamed for their original gas engines, which prompted folks to say, “You can smell ’em before you can see ’em.”

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Griffith Park Travel Town

April 19, 2009

Today Grandpa Ron surprised me and took me to Travel Town in Griffith Park in LA. He hadn’t been there in a VERY long time. We strolled around all the old steam engines watching the kids climbing all around wherever they could. We rode the train where we sat behind a little boy who was very concerned that we didn’t bring our son with us. We explained we had no sons, just daughters – but we do have two grandsons. They just lived too far away to come with us today!

We visited Walt Disney’s barn and the Los Angeles Live Steamers, too, since it was right next door to Travel Town. We rode around behind the steam engine and enjoyed the trip around that part of the park. We saw Thomas the Train and got some pictures I’ll have to post later.

The visits were free except for the modest tickets to ride the trains.

I’ll write more later….

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