Saturday dawned as a bit of a dreary day... clouds, slightly chilly and the threat of rain. Despite that, we decided to have an outing to the Denver Botanic Gardens, what with it being a free day and all. What we didn't know is the DBG had been invaded by Dinosaurs which made it way more fun than usual. (OK, its always fun for me... prehistoric creatures or no.) There was also a lot of construction, the parking lot was a big giant pit (literally... it was a hole in the ground surrounded by concrete) and the front entrance looked more like a disaster area than a metro spot of peace, beauty and tranquility. Luckily after oohing and ahhing at the crane,(the metal kind, not the feathered variety) preventing the kids from scaling the chain link fence and distracting them from staring at the construction workers while they tried to enjoy their lunch we made it inside the gardens where things were just as pretty and tranquil as they've ever been. Although my kids were able to take care of that pesky quiet, tranquil feeling:)
Right off we were greeted with hundreds of tulips in full bloom, as well as dozens of other blooming spring bulbs. All the bright colors immediately started to dispel some of the gloom of the day.red tulips
grape hyacinths
fritillaria
scilla
pretty tulip
more tulips
dutch iris nestled in silver artemesia
daffodills
And there were spring blooming perennials showing their colors.
brunnera macroflora
drumstick primrose
pasque flower
aubretia
anemone
aspens with daffodils
evergreens in the oriental garden
The dinosaurs were made of some sort of colorful material and a few were quite large. Each was accompanied by a plaque that gave information about each dino. The kids were thrilled to run from statue to statue learning a little bit before they darted off again.
I'm not sure what kind of dinosaurs the above are... possibly sillious hammasaurus.
Above are my kids 'acting' scared... yeah they are going to be stage actors, there's no subtlety in their method at all.
there were even dinosaurs inside! As well as a lot of other pretty things. All in all the botanic gardens was a great way to light up a dreary day.