Botanic Garden and Chihuly Exhibit

One of the first things we planned for our visit to Phoenix was a trip to the botanic gardens to see the Chihuly exhibit. I didn't make it to the exhibit in Chicago in 2005, so I was very excited to see this one. The tickets were purchased a couple of months in advance, and were limited in time to 4 to 9 PM; they sold way too many tickets! The gardens were so crowded you could hardly see the plants, much less the glass, and it got worse as the evening advanced.

After that complaint I do have to tell you that it was worth it. The glass was amazing, and the plants were beautiful. Again, I took many more pictures than I can show you here, they are all on my Flickr page, if you are interested.

This was at the center of the entry plaza, called "The Sun." I thought that was very appropriate for a garden; none of this would exist without the sun.




I couldn't decide between taking pictures of the glass or of the plants, so I did both. I was amazed by the color of this prickly pear, and the flowers are so beautiful!




This glass mimics the shape of ferns. You don't see too many ferns in the desert, but they still seemed to fit.





This sculpture is called "The Moon."



This one was just a couple of steps away, and is the only one you can see from outside the garden. It is very tall. The tubing that makes up the sculpture is neon, and it lights up; it was very striking in the twilight.



These are my parents. I think we wore them out. My dad is having his 80th birthday this summer, stay tuned!



Sunset in the desert. The weather was lovely the whole time we were in Phoenix. We liked it so much we are considering retiring there, at least part of the year. I don't think I could live that far away from my kids and grand-kids all the time.



This was the exit area; the most difficult thing was trying to get a picture without people in the way. The shape mimics the Agave plant you can see silhouetted in front of it, but much taller.



The gardens were lovely.