Huntingtion Library & Gardens

Last weekend my parents were in town visiting and we took a trip to the Huntington Library & Botanic Gardens in San Marino. My parents are fond of both plants and books, so I figured they would enjoy the Huntington. I was right.

We started off in the Library Main Exhibition Hall. Although I had spent many hours sitting and journaling in the gardens (I had a bit of an existential crisis back in 1999 when I lived in South Pasadena), I had never been in the actual library. It was really interesting. They have everything from a copy of the Gutenberg Bible to Christopher Isherwood's original manuscripts. We spent close to 2 hours wandering through the rooms, which to be honest, was a little longer than Baby M and I would have liked. My mother is one of those people who reads every plaque at the museum, which ensures we always learn something interesting, but means getting through one gallery can take forever.

After the library we wandered through the sculpture garden, rose garden, Japanese and Chinese gardens. All beautiful. Baby M refused the stroller for most of the visit, so we wandered Family Circus style and at a very leisurely pace. We walked through the conservatory, which houses tropical plants and the Plant Lab. The Plant Lab has interactive experiments focusing on different parts of plants. It was a little too advanced for Baby M, but I think it would be great fun for school age kids. Our final stop and the highlight of the trip was the Children's Garden.

The Children's Garden has pint sized arbors for the kids to run through, a bunch of fountains and misters that the kids can play in, a magnetic sand sculpture, a rainbow room and pebble chimes. The whole family really enjoyed playing in the garden and especially appreciated the misters on a hot Saturday afternoon.

At $20 a person (free entry for Baby M) , this was one of our more expensive adventures. The Huntington does have a Free Day the first Thursday of every month, but you need to call in advance to get tickets. Be sure to call as soon as the box office opens, because they sell out very quickly. The tickets for August sold out in 5 minutes.