Mostly photos with a dash of travel stories.
Do you have a special local spot you gravitate towards when you need an escape from the bustle of daily life? For me, it’s the Spanish-influenced gardens and artisan shops at the Allied Arts Guild in Menlo Park. Every season brings different blooms and lush green vegetation thanks to our mild California climate.
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Whenever I visit family in Connecticut, the Pond House Café in West Hartford tops my list of places to go for delicious food and inspirational seasonal gardens. Per tradition, after a tasty lunch in the Café with my parents, we strolled through the gardens to admire the summer blooms. Notice how doors and windows are…
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What’s not to love about the Menlo Allied Arts Guild? This lovely property hits the spot with Spanish-influenced architecture and gardens, artist shops, and Al Fresco dining at Blue Garden Café. Shop for handmade items at the Artisan Shop where proceeds go to the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford. Yesterday, I headed to the Arts…
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Timing is everything when visiting a flower garden. Each season in Northern California brings fresh new blooms. Different colors, textures, and moods are created by nature in slow motion over days, weeks, months. Buds appear, and then from one day to the next, sudden bursts of color appear in the garden. In due time, the…
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On a recent visit to Filoli Gardens, I was pleasantly surprised to see an exhibit of fun ceramic, glass, and metal sculptures made by local artists. The sculptures were staged throughout the formal gardens.
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Spanish-Colonial Art Studios, Shops, Café, and Gardens
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Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not. -Ralph Waldo Emerson
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