Friends and Gardens
The hotel we were staying in is under construction, and we decided there were too many noises and chemical smells to stay. Our plan was to book a room in the adjacent sister hotel. The staff bent over backwards to help with the move, and we got an upgrade for the same price. Now we have a little apartment with all of the amenities and are quite comfortable. We are not complaining. 😀
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| We had a fun time visiting with old friends. |
Yesterday, we meet with old friends from our New Orleans days. We have kept in touch sporadically over the years, but have not met in person in 30 years. And you know what? We picked up right where we left off. It's great when it works out that way.
Today, we went to Mercer Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. This was another family favorite when we lived here. Many of the gardens were wiped out during Hurricane Harvey in 2017, but they have rebuilt them beautifully. Here are some pictures from our visit. Yesterday, you saw a lot of animals. Today, you'll see a lot of flowers (and maybe a few animals).
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| Mercer Botanical Gardens and Arboretum is named for Theresa Mercer and her husband. She was an avid gardener and started the garden on 14.5 acres. Today it is owned by Harris County and has over 300 acres. |
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| Ward studying a map of the gardens. This koi pond was a favorite of Wally and Theo's back in the day. |
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| Cypress swamp |
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| Bluebonnets (Texas state flower) |
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| We saw several people using the gardens for a photo shoot. I assume this is for a quinceañera. |
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This nice couple stopped their photo shoot and volunteered to take a picture of Ward and me.
Check out her outfit. Those are laced, leather pants with fur around the bottom. We don't have any pictures of the cheesecake bathing suit shoot that was going on. |
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| On the other side of the park , there were a couple of miles of paved trails that Ward and I walked. I was getting hot near the end. The temperatures were only in the mid-high 80s, but it was very humid. |
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| Then, it was back to the hotel to do some laundry. For dinner, we went to an In-n-Out Burger. I've heard about how great they were for years, but have never seen one before. Our opinion: They were pretty good for a fast food burger, but nothing to write home about. |
Until next time...
Oh it looks lovely! Love the flowers and the pond.
ReplyDeleteKathy
Flowers never disappoint. It was interesting to see that while the azaleas were in full bloom in Dallas, they were finished here.
DeleteLive and Learn
DeleteI can't begin to visualize a cheesecake bathing suit. Hmmm. Meanwhile, your photo-taking couple look cute. She can carry off the outfit like only a young person can.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter would love the turtle and lizard pictures. Me, I like gnome houses. They make me smile.
Cheesecake refers more to her poses. She had on a two-piece bathing suit that showed plenty, but had some coverage. As for the poses, think Sports Illustrated swimsuit models.
DeleteI want photos of the cheesecake bathing suit shoot! There's an In and Out in Kezier close enough to the freeway that I see the lengthy lines of cars waiting to get thru drive thru and wonder what the big deal is. I like that pond and the little bark house.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to take a picture of the cheesecake women, but I couldn’t figure out how to do it discreetly. She was involved with a professional photographer. We asked permission of the others.
DeleteBeautiful flower beds such a vivid red of the antirrhinums. gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteThere were several different colors throughout the gardens that were stunning. I think I need some at my house.
DeleteOh lovely pictures! I quite like the quinceañera dress, the cheesy photoshoot sounds hilarious!!
ReplyDeleteI have never see anything like the cheesecake shots. I will say that the woman had a nice body that she was showing off.
DeleteI love the picture of you and Ward and your friends. Looks like everyone was having a lovely time. :D
ReplyDeleteLoved the pictures of the botanical gardens, too. Such pretty flowers and I really liked the picture of the pond with the waterfall.
We've lots of In and Out burger places here and they all seem to have a line of cars at all times of the day. We've tried their burgers and I agree with your opinion. I don't see what's so special about them.
We were having fun, so I tried to get emojis showing that.
DeleteThe pond and waterfalls survived the hurricane and were things we remembered from our past visits.
Laundry while on vacation? Sensible but I would have put it off. That botanical garden is beautiful and whimsical.
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely day.
The very hot weather has had us going through clothes faster than we anticipated, so we were going to have to do laundry sometime, unfortunately.
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