San Diego Botanic Garden, Encinitas, California

Good afternoon, my friends. It's our last day here in Escondido. Tomorrow morning, we will head east again, stopping in Arizona for a couple of days, and then continuing on our journey to the middle of Texas, where we will hope to see the solar eclipse. 

My morning started with some slow stitching. I filled what was in my hoop, and now I've moved my hoop up to begin stitching the kitten's face and the flower.

We'd purchased tickets to visit the San Diego Botanic Garden today. Tickets are purchased with timed entry. I suppose the timed entry would help with crowd control, but on a Wednesday in March, it wasn't at all crowded there. When we left the RV, Sadie put out the "do not disturb" sign.

Smitty was settling in for a morning nap on his catio.

It was about a half-hour drive from where we are, and there was plenty of parking.

It was lovely there, and perfect weather. It was warm but not too hot. So I have tons of pictures since I took pictures of every blooming thing. Not everything was marked with an identifying placard, and so I don't know most of them. If I know it, I will tell you. If I don't, I'll just keep quiet and let you look.

These were lining the area where we showed our tickets. I love this technology that allows ticket sales ahead of time, producing a QR code that is scanned as you enter. It sure cuts down on wait times at a gate.

Just inside was an atrium. Some of the plants here were for sale. To the right and outside the frame was the entrance to the gift shop.

There, I picked up a refrigerator magnet. Pretty, huh?

And then, we were ready to do some walking. The garden is huge, and covers 37 acres. Here's a link to a map of the place. We wandered through, trying to follow the map. Mostly, we were just lost on the maze of trails and sidewalks. Eventually we came to the far side and another parking lot. From there we made our way back nearly to the exit. As we approached, a shuttle came along, and we rode the rest of the way. 

Here are the things we saw along our way:

This is "Springfire." It originates from the South Pacific.

It looks very similar to this "Crimson Bottle Brush." This originates in Australia, but it is ubiquitous here in Southern California.

This is "Dwarf Pincushion Plant." It originates from North Africa.

Beside its placard, this nasturtium was growing.

This was some very fragrant jasmine.

Nearby, this guy caught my eye. I miss the lizards in Southern California. We have some lizards in Oregon, but not many, and mainly in the desert.

There was a children's garden, and some activities for children. Here's a giant tic-tac-toe game.

These could be played. On the right, some flat stones that could be played like a xylophone, and the bamboo hanging from the pipe were different lengths and had different pitches.

This next one was interesting. It's an "Elephant Foot Tree." The trees weren't terribly tall, but their trunks were about 3 feet across at the bottom.

This next one is a giant coreopsis. I've grown coreopsis in my own garden. What I've seen in the past has a flexible green stem, no different from any flower.

This "giant" version has a sturdy wooden trunk, about an inch in diameter.

This is a kind of ice plant.

I don't know the name of this next one, but it was interesting.

This next photo shows its leaves.

Here's our old friend, the Bird of Paradise. I learned these are drought resistant, and that's why they're seen everywhere in the local area.

This is the "Bunya-Bunya." It originates from Australia and produces a cone that looks like a pine cone.

This next one is the Sentry Palm. Its trunk was interesting. It originates from Lord Howe Island in Australia.

We sat on a bench in the shade while Mike studied the map. I noticed this plant growing halfway up the trunk of a large tree. I don't think this is an orchid, but I've seen orchids that grow like this.

This next one is a "Bo-tree." We're told it is sacred to Hindus and Buddhists. It lives for a very long time. One tree, planted in 288, BCE, is the oldest living planted tree on the planet.

These are just some ornamental grasses. I always love watching them wave in the breeze.

This next one is "Kinaboom." It originates from South Africa. Alkaloids from the plant have been used to treat hypertension. It is considered threatened in the wild.

When Erik told us about this place, he encouraged us to find this lookout tower.

Climbing to the top and looking east, we could see homes and businesses in the surrounding area.

Looking west, we could see the Pacific Ocean.

We passed by the upper pool of a waterfall. Penny for your thoughts...

These were interesting. They're nearly bloomed out, but the large end of this trumpet-shaped flower was bigger than my hand.

This is a staghorn fern. It was growing halfway up a tree trunk.

The tree was quite tall. It's a "Mysore Fig."

It had an interesting root structure.

It's fruit littered the ground below, but the placard told us that the tree was prized for its large glossy leaves, and not for its fruit.

This next series of images were all located in the Mexican Garden. They're human figures, playing instruments and dancing. They are all planted in succulents.

The woman kneeling behind this next one was "refreshing" his clothes.

Moving on...

Below is another blooming succulent.

Lavender. I have this growing in my herb garden at home.

These are Begonias.

This was some kind of ground cover. I've never seen it in this color before.

These are Camelias.

Here's another hibiscus.

This is another type of ice plant. We've seen this blooming along the roadside. Nice to get a look at it up close.

This brush-like flower was about four inches tall and perhaps two inches in diameter.

This reminds me of the purple poppies I've grown at home, but the leaves were different.

Okay, and those are all the flowers I have for you today.

Here's an update on the Chocolate Shamrock Bread Pudding I made yesterday. It was rich and chocolatey. If you like a rich, chocolate dessert, then you will like this. It was certainly easy to make.

As I said earlier, this is our last day in Escondido. We'll head out tomorrow morning with Tacna, Arizona, being our final destination of the day. We'll spend one night there before moving on to Benson, Arizona. 

Probably I won't blog tomorrow. Frankly, I'd like to get back to my morning blogging schedule. I've been writing in the afternoon for most of this trip. I prefer mornings when I'm rested and fresh, and there's nothing particularly pressing waiting for me. To be clear, there's hardly ever anything truly "pressing" when we're traveling, but I'm called upon each evening to save a life by making dinner. 

I'll remind you one more time that I will only blog if I have a good internet connection. If I disappear for a few days here and there, that will be the reason. We've been biding our time here in Escondido, visiting with dear friends and getting reaquainted with our old stomping ground. And now, the sight-seeing part of our trip is just getting started. Lace up some good walking shoes, and let's go see some sights.