The Huntington!

12/19/21

I finally made it back to the Huntington Gardens today! I first visited a few years ago, and was mesmerized by the desert garden (the largest and arguably best I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen quite a few), the Japanese garden, the classical Chinese garden, and the Orbit pavilion. I saw them all again today, plus more. I have way too many photos to share in one post. I’m also not sure how much I’ll be going out this coming week, with temperatures dropping, rain in the forecast, and possible side effects from the booster shot I plan to get Tuesday.

So, today I’ll share a smattering of miscellaneous scenes, and then in the coming days I’ll share more from the specific gardens.

The ride to Pasadena was very pleasant, with mid-60s temps and sunshine. I passed some nice views of trees and mountains, just going through the neighborhoods.

When I arrived at the Huntington, I went straight to the Orbit pavilion. The physical structure is cool, and the music is haunting. When I read the placard (see photo) the combination felt all the more poignant. I really like this installation.

As I walked through the desert garden, I passed several plants with signs next to them cautioning not to eat the fruits. Stymied!!

The Huntington is a large and varied complex. It’s a very impressive collection of gardens, but it also contains a library, a classical sculpture lawn, and more. If you’re ever in the LA/Pasadena area, I highly recommend it.

After the garden, I stopped by a local Target on the way home to pick up a few supplies. While I was there, I saw that the attached pharmacy was offering flu shots, so I decided to get one right then. Luckily, they accepted my Oregon insurance (I didn’t think they would) so it was free to me, and they even gave me a $5 coupon to spend on my purchases in the store, as a reward for getting the shot. That was a nice bonus.

I headed back home as the light and warmth were waning. This time, my route took me up the hill to the condo complex from the other direction. Wowee, was that a hill today! I think it was more like 300’ from this side, instead of the 200’ I climbed yesterday. Today I did need to stop at one point to rest… but I did challenge myself to do the entire climb in second gear, rather than the first gear I used yesterday. (Which I think was the right decision, especially given that I had the trailer yesterday. I might have damaged my knees if I had attempted that in second.) So, despite that one rest, I was very proud of myself for scaling the hill the way I did this evening.

Tomorrow I’ve got a couple Zoom chats scheduled, with friends and potential collaborators, so I’m looking forward to that. If I feel up to it, and if the weather cooperates, I may venture out again as well. I’ve heard great things about Descanso Gardens…

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