Thanksgiving Point: part 4.

The path eventually led us back to the waterfalls.

A water nymph in a sweet sundress was dancing on the stones on the shoreline.

(Sometimes I have a hard time deciding if I am seeing a fairy or a child when they are sighted in such scenery.)

Food venues lined the top edge of the amplitheater. Strawberry short cake was was a menu item at one little shop; I think they should have given this lass her portion for free. With that dress she was the perfect walking advertisement for the treat.

A few booths were offering jewelry and Dutch treats. One was selling a rainbow selection of parasols. Aren't they gorgeous?

It had been a lovely visit.

It was such a lovely place that both the sun and the moon shone over it!

As we walked to our car we passed people still arriving. The grounds would stay open until eight; I imagine some fabulous photos could be taken of the flowers tinted by the colors of sunset.

(Seeing people with huge camera lenses made me feel very out gunned. On the other hand, this guy is wearing a Dallas Cowboys shirt; everything always has to be bigger in Texas...no wimpy pocket sized camera for them!)

So...where had we gone?

Here's a photo of the ground's map. The amazing Italian fountain that was in yesterday's post is at the top of the map, and believe it or not, I didn't include pictures of some of the stops (like the rose garden-still quite bare) and we missed some places (like the green house).

Now aren't you wondering how this garden came to be?

Amazingly, it is only fourteen years old! The 54 acre property was purchased on Valentine's Day 1996 by Alan and Karen Ashton, a local couple who had wanted to find a means to give thanks for all of God's blessings upon their lives.

Alan created a product that you may have used at one time: WordPerfect, the rights to which he eventually sold to Novell. With the vast profits, he and Karen purchased the land, and began to consider how it could best be used.

Originally the land was a dairy farm; as the couple had eleven children, they at first considered just letting the property become a family farm. Karen had always found gardening to be a great comfort to her in times of trouble, and she wanted to make a garden available to other to enjoy.

Thanksgiving Point now includes the garden, a farm area for children to visit with animals, other hands on activity areas throughout the grounds for children, a museum of ancient life (dinosaur bones!) a golf course, restaurant, and shopping area. An Art Institute offers year around classes as well.

To learn more about Thanksgiving Point, you may wish to visit their website HERE.

Thanksgiving Point is a non-profit organization; events are sponsored by various businesses.

(I personally would like to take a moment here to thank all the pooping chickens who made the tulip festival possible...)

Eventually we had to get back to the rest of our Saturday.

Back to plain old regular Salt Lake scenery.

Yawn...

Lake Utah at the foot of the mountain...need to go fishing there soon.

Fishing...hummm...

Right across the freeway from Thanksgiving Point: The Massive Outdoors Sports store!

Bernie had to get some fly fishing gear. Of course!

(How do the employees think with all those trophy mounts staring down at them as they work?)

Warning to Canadians: Don't honk.

Just roll down your car window and yell!

I wonder if they need a librarian?

I could see me as a Gun Librarian.

I wonder if I would have to wear camo while I worked?

Seeing the ladies in saris at the garden set off an Indian food craving. Obviously with such a busy day I had had no time to cook. This mixed meat dish was amazing; each meat had been seasoned differently and was fork tender as it arrived at our table so hot that steam was still rising from the mix.

By the time we got home we were ready for bed.

It had been a VERY full Saturday.

(and we both took naps on Sunday. We were totally bushed the next day!)