Huntington Library's Jungle and Desert Garden

The Huntington Library features several Gardens: Chinese Garden, Japanese Garden, Children's Garden, Rose Garden, Australian Outback, Jungle Garden and the Desert Garden. Here are few pictures of the lush and shady Jungle Garden. After traipsing through the hot Australian Garden, we heard this running water and immediately felt cooler. Couldn't wait to reach this garden. There are little benches throughout this shady space to sit and relax.

Look at the size of the roots of these trees. There were also long vines like in the Tarzan pictures that would be perfect for swinging!
Here is a small portion of the Desert Garden. It was the last garden we visited and by the time we reached it, our feet were aching. You seriously need a pair of roller skates, a segway or a bicycle to see all the gardens in one day. If we lived closer, we would take sections at a time, but it is just a little bit too far.
A lot of the catus' were in bloom. It was really pretty, but wow, what a hostile environment! Everything had thorns.

Check out these fat thorns on this tree. Ouch!

These long skinny thorns would totally deter me from picking the flowers.

These pretty little pink flowers covered the hillside of the walk way. So pretty, they looked fake!

There was so much more to see, but we couldn't muster up the energy to walk down the hill to see it, because then we would have to walk up the hill- you know what I mean!

Balboa Park - San Diego

About a 5 minute drive from the Gaslamp District in downtown San Diego, is the beautiful Balboa Park. Shown here is Museum row, but there is a beautiful park attached to this for picnicking and bike riding. There is a Science and Space Museum, Natural History Museum, Photography Museum, Japanese Friendship Garden, outdoor theatre, Shakespearean Theatre, and Conservatory. (There are more museums, but I can't think of them off the top of my head). Beautiful spanish architecture built in the 1800s.





We saw this beautiful bride in her light pink dress being photographed. Believe it or not, she was wearing these huge black clunky tennis shoes under her dress! I guess she just wanted to have a natural, comfortable smile on her face.

The museums are closed on Mondays and during the week, they close at 4:00pm.

Gaslamp District - San Diego

On Monday, my friend Cynthia and I, visited the Gaslamp Quarter in the City of San Diego. San Diego is a short hop north of the Mexican Border is Southern California. It is reputed to be 75 degrees all through the year. It was a beautiful day when we visited.
The Gaslamp Quarter is a historic couple a blocks located in the downtown area. It nestled between the tall skyscrapers, the mall, the convention center and Petco Park. It is within 10 minutes of Balboa Park, the San Diego Zoo and Sea World. Most of the buildings were built in the late 1800's and early 1900's. They totally refurbished this area and there are condos and it has become very trendy area to live.

Petco Park is right in the downtown. It is really cool because you can see baseball games from your condo, hotel room or from the grassy area in front of it. They didn't build up one side and you can take in the game from the grass. This picture was taken from the Omni Hotel right next door on the 18th floor.
The trolley (in front of the convention center) takes you from more central San Diego, right into the heart of the historic district. It also stops on campus at San Diego State and the students can come in and go to games, shopping and dining.
There are a lot of really great architecturally stunning buildings. From the 1800's into the Art Deco era.

The only thing that disappointed me was that there were no boutiques. It was mostly restaurants. It does back up to a huge mall where I guess all the shops are. I would save the Gaslamp Quarter for after you have visited Balboa Park, Sea World, the Zoo etc. because there are a million places to eat!

Laguna Charm House Tour

On Sunday, my friend Cynthia and I, went on the Laguna Charm House Tour.  It is a tour of 5 private homes of different styles and size.  To see pictures of the event please click here:  Laguna Charm House Tour (this is my friend Cynthia's blog, since she already posted, I thought I would be lazy and send you her direction!).  We saw a Mediterranean revival home that has now been turned into a school-Interesting.  We then saw a home that was a small, old theatre that was to die for!!!  This was the home of Cindy Holloway (interior designer) and it was my hands down favorite.  The thing that I saw in this home that I have never seen before was her use of white wash on walls of brilliant color.  She would have a wood wall painted turquoise and then white washed - Beautiful!  (Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures of the inside of the houses.)  The next house was a very modern constructed home with cement, corrugated tin roof and slate siding.  The built-in interior was very modern but the furnishings were spanish rustic.  Very interesting.  It gave the modern home a more homey feel.  We then saw a eco friendly home and a little bungalow that felt like a tree house.  Cynthia has pictures of all these houses.  Please visit her blog for pictures and narration.  http://cyntillatingandjoyful.blogspot.com/2009/05/charm-house-tour-2009.html

Oh, and by the way, when I was shopping in little downtown Laguna, I came across many items that were also available at Home Goods.  I saw about 4 things that I recently purchased at Home Goods that were double and triple the HG price!!!  My friend, Cynthia, suggested that maybe they purchased the items from HG and now had them for sale in their boutiques!

Beautiful Day!

Today was such a beautiful day! My friend Annette took a much needed vacation day and we made a little daycation out of it.  First we went to Roger's Gardens and ooo'd and ahh'd over all their pretty things and usual plants.  Then we headed down to Corona Del Mar.  We walked along Ocean Ave and looked at stunning homes on one side and fabulous ocean views on the other!  Newport Harbor is pictured above.

Everyones gardens looked awesome!  Lots of blooms and in a month or so, there will be a riot of roses everywhere you look!  Only buds today, though.


I really liked this modern house.  Usually, not my look at all, but it just seemed to belong there and it was really interesting to look at.


This little breezeway, patio was open so we took a little peak.  Loved all the details on this house.

Historic LA Walking Tour

Inside the Biltmore Hotel.  Spanish Renaissance.  Absolutely beautiful.

My friend Cynthia and I decided to take a walking tour of historic LA.  The tour took approx. 2 hours and it was very informative and interesting.  Our guide, Ron, was born in LA and his family has been living in LA since the early 1900's.  He had old photographs of the various locations we were at back in 1900s of property his family owned in the Pershing Square area which was the location of the tour we were taking.  The only problem was his voice was not very loud when you mixed in the outside noise and the various buses he had to compete with.  Everytime we would stop, we all had to scoot in close to hear what he had to say.  Forget about asking a question, he could not hear you at all!  You would practically have to yell and stand on his good side for him to hear you.   It just wasn't worth the effort.

Check in with Ron...

Janie: "Its a nice day today"

Ron: "Chile today, hot tamale"  hee hee, we all giggle

Cynthia:  "Hey, my dad used to say that"

End of tour...

Cynthia, "Thanks for the tour, it was really good, we enjoyed it"

Ron:"Yes, it was a nice day, chile today, not tamale!"

Cynthia: "Hey,. my dad used to say that"

Janie to Cynthia:  "Deja Vu"

This is the inside of the Edison Bldg. on 5th street across from the Library and the Biltmore.  It is beautiful inside and has great architecture outside.  Very European.  It is a hidden treasure!

This is Angels flight.  I had no idea what it was.  I thought it was going to be a factory where they made the clothes worn in the disco era of the 70's.  It is actually the shortest railway in existance.  It is kind of like a funicular.  It is currently closed.  The car lost traction and smashed someone to death at the bottom.  They fixed it, but have not reopened.

This is the Bradbury Bldg. One of the oldest in L.A.  Used in alot of films, Bladerunner to name one.  Different and rich in texture and ambiance.

After the tour, we went to Graumann's Chinese Theatre.  I had never been there before and I have to admit, I received a small thrill looking at all the footprints and handprints of the stars.  John Wayne had small feet.  Judy Garland and miniature feet.  R2D2 and C3PO also had there footprints there.  I looked for Marilyn Monroe and couldn't find her.  Only after I got home did I find out that she doesn't have her footprints there.  I was shocked!

We then went by the infamous PINKS hotdog stand.  As we drove up, we saw the line stretched around the building.  I immediately said, we don't have to go (it was my idea), but we weren't starving and Cynthia was game so we waited 50 minutes in the line.  IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT!  The food was so good!  We split a Martha Stewart Dog (onions, tomatoes, relish, bacon, sauerkraut and sour cream - really?  DELICIOUS!!!!) and a Chicago Polish Dog.  I capped my lunch off with a refreshing Strawberry Crush.  It brought back memories of my childhood. We weren't starving when we started, but by the time we got our food, we were!  It was a great day out.  For more pictures of our trip click on the icon on the right.