Consider this little guy as your greeter to the beauty that awaits inside one of L.A. Country’s treasures, the Arboretum. And lucky us, we live just a few minutes away. We’re also near the Huntington Gardens, and you’ve already seen some shots from Descanso Gardens. Let’s see if I can orient you, especially those in other countries. 

Los Angeles is about 16 miles southwest from Altadena. You can easily see the downtown skyline from certain vantage points, as we’re in the foothills. As L.A. is crazy for freeways, there are a lot of them. One, the 210, runs east/west more or less through miles of L.A. suburbs. It’s along/near this freeway path that Descanso Gardens, the Huntington, and the Arboretum are all located. And it’s just a few minutes’ drive between each of them.  If you started at Descanso in La Canada/Flintridge and drove east, you’d pass JPL/Nasa, the Rose Bowl, through Pasadena (Huntington is in San Marino, Pasadena’s ritzier neighbor), and end up at the Arboretum, located across the street from the famous Santa Anita Racetrack. Check out Google for more detail.

So barring any natural or unnatural disasters, we’ll be taking a walk through the Arboretum over the next couple of weeks. Enjoy! Just wish you could smell the fragrances and feel the energy.

I’d love to see this train engineer smile once in a while. He has the most fun job ever–driving the miniature train around Descanso Gardens.

But maybe after doing it a million times–especially as a volunteer– it loses its charm.  I’m just grateful he’s there because it’s sure fun to take a spin around the park.