The Flower Fields of Carlsbad

Carlsbad, California is an hour and a half drive from Torrance on a good day, and seeing as how I've wanted to see the Flower Fields for a couple of years now, I thought the drive was a reasonable requirement.

The drive wasn't too bad yesterday and we were all entertained on the way by various virtual companions: I Love Lucy episodes for the children and a Starbucks and new audio book for me.

By the way, this audio book I bought yesterday might very well have changed my life and the view I have of a little life I help nourish. It's called The Dyslexic Advantage. The book describes the processes of a dyslexic brain compared to that of a non-dyslexic, why their processes makes other functions (like reading and writing) a challenge, and writes heavily on the great advantages a dyslexic brain holds (eg. 3D visual perception, global thinking, episodic reasoning, and design ability). The book almost lost me yesterday as it talked neurons and procedural this and rote-memory that, but the book is not only fascinating, but the best encouragement I've received so far. And I almost screamed in delight this morning when I saw the institute has a free podcast!

Back to the Flower Fields... the drive was manageable and we were soon hugging our dear friends, the Bogars, who had agreed to me us for a long-distance play date. Now, were I a journalist specializing in travel I would warn you that it cost me $53.00 to enter the gardens and pay for five wagon rides! Fifty-three dollars! Looking back we might possibly have lived a very satisfied life not spending $53.00 touring these spectacular gardens, but one can only say such a thing in hindsight.

The pictures rather fall flat compared to the beauty of the real thing, but here we are at the rose garden where we got to smell the unique aroma of the roses and marvel at the variation of color and their inspiring names, like Belinda's Dream, Julia Child, and the Sweet Francis. 

 

I very much enjoyed their succulent garden and the many different colors and shapes of fat, water-filled leaves, but seeing boots filled with succulents and a sign instructing us not to try the boots on was possibly my favorite part.

The children appreciates the color and variety of God's creation in the husbands of different plants we saw that day.

The boys especially were fascinated by the bees working in the fields. Here Simon is convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt he's watching the king bee. They also spotted a couple of lizards, one of which Simon took it upon himself to explain in detail to an older woman resting in the area.

There was a poinsettia green house housing poinsettias I had never seen before.

Should we choose to see the sight again I would attempt to visit earlier in the season. The 50-acres of ranunculus were already being decreased as the flowers wilted and whole fields were being dug up. But we did see our share of fields filled with color.

All of the children had an odd intrigue with the irrigation ditch. They were fine tramping in the empty gutter until the goal became to fill it clumps of mud and sticks, at which point we had to stage an on-the-spot intervention and threaten bodily harm if they dared to kick more dirt in the ditch.

While the children, especially Nathan, commented on the long drive, they all said the garden was worth it. I'm glad they thought so, because I can't promise we're doing that next year.