The Huntington

I am celebrating the long weekend with a little road trip. The advantage of an 'alone' road trip is I can totally geek out during the drive. For this trip I listened for hours and hours to Grammar Girl Podcasts! I doubt this little geekfest will yield any fruit in my grammar or writing style - but it sure was fun!

Speaking of podcasts. I just found out that Grammar Girl has a cousin -- Make it Green Girl. I just added green girl to my ever growing and neglected podcast list. I'll let you know if she is as fun as Grammar Girl.

The main destination for this trip was The Huntington, which is a mix of Library, Art Gallery, Museum and Botanical Gardens. When I did my pre-trip research, the two things that drew me to make the trip were the current Photography exhibit and the Water Lilly ponds.

The theme of the current photography exhibit - This Side of Paradise - Body and Landscape in L.A. Photographs

Over the past 150 years, potent relationships between glamour and catastrophe, sunshine and noir, have fascinated photographers trying to explain an elusive Los Angeles.

The description and web page for the exhibit convinced me it was worth giving up a day at the beach to make the trip.





The exhibit was an eclectic mix of images. They ranged from black and white photos of the early landscape (pre-development) of the area, to pictures of the Watts Riots, the LA Riots, a day in the life photos and colourful modern day glamour shots. There were a number of amazing Herb Ritts photos in the exhibit.

In addition to the gallery photos, there were displays out side all along the path to the gallery.



Normally, I would be all about the gardens and walking the grounds. However, Saturday was an unbelievably hot day! With the oppressive humidity, the air conditioning of the galleries was a welcome relief. I enjoyed the stained glass and it was exciting to see the original Gainsborough painting The Blue Boy.

It was tempting to stay inside where it was cool and just enjoy the galleries. But, I really wanted to see the Lilly Ponds. Sooo, I decided to brave the heat and humidity and go exploring. It was well worth the effort!


Lilly Pad with Pink Flowers


Bench Among Bamboo

It was pretty quite in the outer reaches of the gardens out by the Lilly Ponds. By far, the most popular garden location was the sprinklers over in the Children's Garden!



I spent Saturday evening strolling around Old Pasadena. There were lots of fun shops to meander through. My favourite was The Paper Source. Online they have some fun online craft videos. I like their motto - 'do something creative every day'.

Click here for Photo Stream from the Trip to The Huntington.