Made it to Alta Vista

Well, I made it to Alta Vista Botanical Gardens in Vista, CA. And on a Sunday, too! I wanted nothing other than to stay in late in bed, but I knew that was not good for me. I had been planning on taking this trip on Monday (tomorrow), but decided that the sooner the better. We can't take anything for granted, and on Monday, I might want to go somewhere else.

I woke up, ate my oatmeal and got ready. I was on the road by 9:30 a.m., and I arrive shortly before 11 a.m. to the site. It is perched high on a hill in a city in northern San Diego county which has grown massively, and is no longer the quaint rural area that it was. It is a sprawling suburb that is eating up more and more of the available landscape, and while there are a few open areas, like the Beatles' lyric goes, "It won't be long now, yeah, yeah, yeah" before we see them gobbled up by developers in their insatiable appetite. 

There is a country club as well as a park facility, so one has to drive around all of that and drive up. There was no one in the desk in front so I just put in my $5 donation in the can and drove up. There were other cars, and I was worried it might be crowded on a weekend, but it was fine, there were only a small number of people. 

One of the attractions are the sculptures. One sees the dragon snake almost at the beginning, in the children's garden. The light was hitting it all wrong so I had to work to get an angle for it. I am not uploading that photo here, but rest assured, I have an IR photo as well as a slide photo. (I took my 4x5 Travelwide, my 6x12 Kraken loaded with slide film and my cellphone. I am only uploading a few cellphone photos in this post.)

It is a little wild but I can see that they are going for the wild look. Redundant, I know. There are many paths, so there is no worry about finding your way. There are nicer, more manicured bits, but I love the wild spots, and I love the sculptures which look as if they are massively rusted. I would not touch them.

There was the dragon snake, giraffes, horses, dinosaurs and others. They do look rusted, though, as I mentioned before. I took photos where I could.

I love the pond, it is a beautiful, beautiful area. There were turtles lounging on a rock. Why do they do that, exposing themselves to the heat? Is is because they are reptiles and need the heat? 

I will return, I want to see if the trees change color in the next few weeks. 

Beautiful pathways, take me home.

I know, a green scene that isn't particularly noteworthy, as some connoisseurs might sniff, but who cares? I loved it enough to also take a shot with the 6x12. I'm not sure I got an IR shot.

The whimsical sculptures of the garden. I think the artist's name is Braceda. They are listed with recent dates. 

The lake with the paddle. Well, not really a paddle. There is a rock with a group of turtles off to the side.

The desert plants are here. I wanted to get a better angle but there was a small family unit with about 4 boisterous kids, and they were camped out here like they were homesteading, so I left after a few minutes.

Here is the lake again. You can see turtle rock next to the pole.

This is called the Labyrinth. Wasn't there a film in the 80s with Tim Curry and David Bowie? It made me homesick for the 80s.

I needed a better angle but the other side in the shade was not doing it for me. 

One more with the fronds in the lake. There is a sculpted face in the back, surrounded by red flowers, but the shade of the tree covered up most of it so it did not make it into my photos. 

That was it, two hours at this garden. I have now visited more than a dozen gardens since the start of the pandemic. I have a few more I want to visit, and of course, I want to revisit them as well, especially the Arboretum which, I understand, will have spectacular fall colors. I would also like to go back to the Huntington Library, as well as to make it to Santa Barbara. We'll see.