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| Covered in bee |
Disappointed in the lack of retail opportunities at the “fair”, we consoled ourselves with purchasing tickets for a ride in the Grand Tram. Now this was more like it. No “little tram” for us – oh no, it was the full monty 2.3 mile extravaganza Grand Tram Shuffle round the full perimeter of the gardens. The tram (OK – it was basically a big electric golf cart with 3 long carriages attached to it – Mumsie and I bagged the back seat of the very last carriage!) was driven by this awesome black lady who didn’t take any shit from no-one and who had no hesitation slamming the brakes on, and telling the Korean tourist who’d just gotten up to take a picture while the tram was in motion (gasp) to sit the hell back down! It was awesome. I felt like I was on a ride with my Mum. Oh. Wait. That’s right – I WAS! I have to say, though, that our little lady driver had Mumsie beaten with all the various homilies and Southern expressions that she sprinkled throughout her commentary. Fortunately for Mumsie, I can’t remember any of them (nothing new there, then) so Mumsie is Still Number One Homily Queen.
It was a great trundle round – I don’t remember what all the various bits of the park were called that we drove through or past, but it was a really good way to get a great overview of the whole thing (without the effort of having to walk round it ourselves) and to get oriented. If you are interested, here’s the link to the tour that we did and our route:
http://www.chicagobotanic.org/tram. Here are some pics from the tour – its a Vision in Green.
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| Japanese-style garden island |
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| Reminded me of those Cornish trees, bent by the wind! |
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Looks like hail, but these were actually seeds
covering the ground – like the ones you get from
dandelions |
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| Hikers in the prairie style garden section |
After our Tram Slam Dunk, our next adventure on our botanical magical mystery tour was the Butterfly house. Only open during the non-glacial parts of the year (good plan, butterflies, to die off before the winter – you aint missing much), it promised lots of flappy happy, so in we went! Now, there’s not really much you can say about butterflies (they’re like the insect equivalent of fireworks I guess – lots of “oohs” and “ahhs” but not much else) but these were very pretty, with one particular beastie the size of a side plate! If that one decided to flap at ya, you’d know about it! Mumsie managed to pick up a hitch-hiker for a little while – she said she could actually feel it land on her leg, it was that heavy! But, other than that, we managed to get round the Butterfly house without incident or accidental splattage or instinctual swattage. Here are some pics from our favorite Lepidoptera:
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| Either a very smart butterfly or one who’s just tempting fate… |
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| Stowaway!! |
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| Yes. It really was THAT big. A pukka big Bug-ger. |
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| Sleepy butterfly, just woken up.. |
The final activity on our frenzy of fun was a visit to the Railway Garden! Thomas – this one was for you and Eren! This garden was built around famous landmarks and cities – all, of course, powered and supplied by the wonder of the locomotive engine! As with the Fair, again it was time to cue nerds as the whole operation seemed controlled by the..um.. controllers, a bunch of retirees with full on sock-sandal combo, armed with impressive looking remote controls for the trains. As we gazed in awe upon these , we saw one spring into action to respond to an emergency situation with the Amtrak train, which had apparently stopped for no reason (no change there then). With some skillful wiggling and jiggling (and pressing of buttons on his remote control box too), crisis was averted and Fake New York’s commuters were *ahem* back on track.
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San Francisco!! My ex-home town with Coit
tower at back, and Lombard Street zig-zagging
down the front!! |
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Look at the picture closely – the people outside the lodge should
be looking a little more alarmed than they are!* |
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Although I dunno what is up with the fashion of the guy on the far left.
Designer duds and a draped scarf? I think he must have escaped
from the Manhattan exhibit… |
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| Its right above you!! |
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It took me a loooooooong time to drag Mumsie away from
this part of the garden… |
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| Yes. Yes, it does. |
So, with that final homily of the day, our little sojourn at the garden drew to a very pleasing close. We had our little picnic of hard-boiled eggs, homemade blueberry muffins and fresh fruit in the little picnic areas (as you do) before heading back to the car and wending our way home. A most lovely day was had by all.
Next up, Eddie!!!
3 Comments
Didnt we have a great day !Ireally enjoyed seeing these beautiful gardens with Sarah ,she is a funny companion and has that something extra that makes any trip so special… a sense of direction ! nearly 300 acres to get lost in ,a terrifying prospect as anyone who knows me will understand. We slso came away with a baby white cherry tomato plant each ,they must be really special as the neither of the volunteers handing them out had ever seen or tasted one.! The bird life was pretty spectacular,herons ,hawks and many others i had never seen before , and during our oh so healthy lunch i saw my first ever free range chipmunk , cute little fella. Wonderful blog again a some really clever and funny phrases ! xxxxxxxx
what a wonderful day!! me and the boys would have loved all the trees, and the butterflies ( that was a big bugger!) and the trains! laughed at the bio organic chainsaw, and i would er than the really pointless stall, so much betthave loves any pointless stalls we get here on asparagus festival days!!! thanks for the blog, it was lovely and could almost feel the breeze and smell the green and hear the choo choo!!! thank you again for a smashing blog, and so happy you and mumsie having a super time!!! lots love to you both xxxxxxxxxxx
That was not a stowaway, I think it was a butterfly that mistook mumsies brightly coloured sneakers for a flower and was trying to extract nectar from it . or whatever they do to flowers. I suppose that there will be another addition o the Amazon rain forest growing on your balcony in the shape of a chocolate chip bugleweed plant xxxxxxxxxxxx