Better Homes and Gardens Test Garden
The Better Homes and Gardens Test Garden in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, are open for a whopping two hours a week during summer months only, but that didn’t stop me! The gardens are indeed “test” …
Category: Nature
Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden
The Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden (Iowa) were a delightful surprise. At 12 acres, they aren’t the biggest gardens I’ve visited, but what they had packed a punch. The experience starts in the parking lot. …
Nature Scenes in Northwestern Missouri
We spent some time hanging out in the Northeastern corner of Missouri, where we went to two National Wildlife Refuges and stayed in various parks where we did some birding. Again and again we saw …
Myriad Botanical Gardens and Crystal Bridge Conservatory
At 15 acres, the Myriad Botanical Gardens in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, (new state!) are relatively small, which was good, because I was there during a heatwave. I was there early in the morning, but it …
Scenes from Lubbock, Texas
Prairie Dog Town Gotta stop and see Prairie Dog Town while visiting Lubbock – especially since it might not be there for long. It was established in the 1930s by K.N. Clapp, who was alarmed …
Lubbock Memorial Arboretum and Clapp Park
We wound up in Texas in August in a van because Doug had a work event. While he was working, I went to look at flowers at the Lubbock Memorial Arboretum, which is part of …
Roswell, New Mexico is Out of this World!
We went to Roswell, New Mexico preparing to be amused, and we were. It is all aliens, all the time. Want a burrito? There’s an alien eating a burrito out front. Want a car wash? …
Rattlesnake Museum
WARNING: The Rattlesnake Museum is all about rattlesnakes, so if snakes give you the heebie-jeebies, you might want to skip this post! Albuquerque is home to the Rattlesnake Museum, supposedly the world’s largest collection of …
Sandia Peak Tramway
Doug loves his tram, cogway railroads, funiculars, and aerial cable cars, so of course we took a ride on the Sandia Peak Tramway, an aerial tramway outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico (new state!). The tram …
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve is on Google Maps with a location of simply “Colorado,” so I’ll orient it by saying it’s roughly in the center of the southern part of the state, …