Matthaei Botanical Gardens
Its been a while since I last posted. A couple of out-of-town travels, Diwali and then some things back home kept me occupied. But I am back and hope to catch up from where I left off.
First weekend of October I travelled to Ann Arbor again to spend some time with Sunit. I also hoped to catch some fall colors which are supposed to be wonderful in Ann Arbor. But as luck would have it, it was still pretty warm in Ann Arbor and Sunit was too busy so we could not travel to the upper peninsula to catch some colors. Hence we compromised for some local gardens itself. We decided to visit the Matthaei Botanical Gardens. We researched on the internet and from what we saw it seemed interesting. It also seemed to have a waterfall and I was very eager to see it.
The gardens were beautiful and well kept in their natural splendor. There was a waterfall all right - the problem was it fell just 1-2 feet. Photography can do wonders indeed and the picture we had seen on the internet seemed to be of a good size waterfall. But the creek we saw was still nice all the same. Here is a picture of what we saw.
The creek we mistook for a waterfall
And then there were all these natural sidewalks one could take and explore the gardens. I particularly liked this wooden bridge that led us to another area of wilderness. Did I mention that the grounds were open to public free of charge. There was a token entry fee for the Conservatory. In a later post I will post some pictures of some strange plants I saw there.
The wooden bridge
Slow and Steady - The Tortoise
There were also some nice widlflowers, a herb garden, a rock garden ( I almost missed this one since it was just a small rock bed and I guess I was expecting something similar to what we have in Chandigarh), a rose garden, an urban garden and I think the folllowing was called Alexander's garden.
Alexander's Garden ?
A trip to MBG makes a good half day trip and I would definitely recommend it for some nice quiet time, a small picnic and a chance to view some exotic and fascinating plants. I was sad about not being able to see the fall colors but these gardens were not disappointing at all.
First weekend of October I travelled to Ann Arbor again to spend some time with Sunit. I also hoped to catch some fall colors which are supposed to be wonderful in Ann Arbor. But as luck would have it, it was still pretty warm in Ann Arbor and Sunit was too busy so we could not travel to the upper peninsula to catch some colors. Hence we compromised for some local gardens itself. We decided to visit the Matthaei Botanical Gardens. We researched on the internet and from what we saw it seemed interesting. It also seemed to have a waterfall and I was very eager to see it.
The gardens were beautiful and well kept in their natural splendor. There was a waterfall all right - the problem was it fell just 1-2 feet. Photography can do wonders indeed and the picture we had seen on the internet seemed to be of a good size waterfall. But the creek we saw was still nice all the same. Here is a picture of what we saw.
The creek we mistook for a waterfallAnd then there were all these natural sidewalks one could take and explore the gardens. I particularly liked this wooden bridge that led us to another area of wilderness. Did I mention that the grounds were open to public free of charge. There was a token entry fee for the Conservatory. In a later post I will post some pictures of some strange plants I saw there.
The wooden bridgeWhile passing over the wooden bridge we looked upon the stream and chanced upon this tortoise resting on the stone. Zoom in on to the rock, it is the little black thing there.
Slow and Steady - The Tortoise
Alexander's Garden ?A trip to MBG makes a good half day trip and I would definitely recommend it for some nice quiet time, a small picnic and a chance to view some exotic and fascinating plants. I was sad about not being able to see the fall colors but these gardens were not disappointing at all.
Comments
I've collected these jokes from internet, I didn't mention the source since these jokes are available on a no of websites & are posted by anonymous persons.
After Looking at where you all have been
I think
I need to get out of my city more often
Abhay
Ciao!
Your snaps are really amazing. Keep clicking and posting more often.
Take care,
-Vibha
And Abhay, I would definitely recommend getting out of the city. I know it gets difficult with the kind of hectic schedules one generally has but travel can be a really fun and fulfilling experience.
Awesome work! All pix and descriptions are wonderful. Keep it up!
-Ritika
And I will try to keep it up or atleast keep up with the posting.
The pics are really awesome. What kind of camera you are using to take the pics in your posts? Also, it looks like you have travelled a lot. Will you let me know where Ann Arbor is and any other places of interest to visit in the west coast of US?
Keep posting more of your travel experiences...Thank you
Sangeetha
Sangeetha
Ann Arbor is in Michigan.
There are a lot of places along the west coast to visit - the drive along highway 1 is awesome, especially around Big Sur and Monterey. Carmel By The Sea is another quiet little town for a weekend getaway. If you are interested in hiking then I really like Zion (you can hike the narrows). Yosemite is wonderful too, if you go at the right time and avoid the rush. Check out my post: http://poojaaggarwal.blogspot.com/2005/05/yosemite-valley.html
Being close to Arizona, I someday hope to explore the Death Valley and the Antelope slot canyons.
I can carry on you know...I really like travelling and my wish list never ends. But above are some of the ones I am really crazy about.