Turtle Bay Botanical Gardens & Sundial Bridge-July 11

For this leg of our adventure, we rose early in the morning to beat the oppressing heat. I think by 9am it was already a steamy 90 degrees, very warm indeed. The McConnell Arboretum and Botanical Gardens was something I had really wanted to see, so we made it happen. It was worth the heat, the grounds were amazing, and I am already looking forward to a future visit.

A family picture outside the gardens.

This is the overview of all the gardens. Due to the extreme heat, we only covered about half of the  gardens.  It is definitely worth checking out, just not in the extreme heat.

We walked through to the Sundial Bridge, which crossed the Sacramento River. We walked all the way to where the Turtle Bay Museum was located, and then turned around.

We walked along another trail, we saw wildlife and the Sacramento River.

We had parked on the left side (Botanical Gardens), walked across the Sundial Bridge, and then along a trail  near the Sacramento River.

Back across the bridge we went, in search of shade and the gardens.

Some people walking along the trail told us we could go near the base of the Sundial Bridge, and we decided to explore.

We found shade, and a place to cool off, see the river, and look for salmon.

On our way back through the Botanical Gardens, we stopped by the Sounds of Water Fountain, where water and different mediums came together to make various sounds (gurgling, droplets, waterfall, to name a few). It provided a cool, shaded respite from the heat, and we all enjoyed the cool water.

On our way to the Children's Garden, the boys saw a doe. It was walking, munching on grass, and didn't notice us at first. The doe is that small brown image, to the left of the center tree in this picture.

The doe took of racing (right between the bench and tree in the center of this picture, when she saw us.

This is taken from Turtle Bay's Botanical Garden website: The Children’s Garden is home to Mosaic Oasis, a whimsical and fun water feature that includes a drinking fountain, ornamental fountain, and play structure designed by local mixed media artist Colleen Barry. The Children’s Garden and Picnic Grove areas are full of fun and interesting plants from around the world.

The boys thought it was fun to look around and see all the art work, and get water from the fountain. It was one of those places that make you smile, and your inner child comes out. 

This picture sums up how happy my son was in the gardens.