Why Missouri?

This has been a fun question to answer! I love watching all of your faces as you navigate asking what we were thinking in taking this trip.  Yes, there is a National Park. But the deal maker was MoBot -- the Missouri Botanical Garden. 

The Garden was created by Henry Shaw in 1859. It has about 80 acres of different gardens and research facilities. Fun fact: One of us used the MoBot plant finder in her job on a daily basis. You can too!: Plant Finder  In the perfect Spring Break world that we dream of every year, it's NOT March, and it's warmer, and in this case, there would be many more plants in bloom. Not so.  I give you March.  In Missouri.  

It was soooooo cold today. Well, it wasn't so much the temperature as the biting wind. We headed first to the Climatron as that is a big old bubble of warmth. It has around 1,500 plants from the lowland rain forest. Obviously I'm parroting some printed information here. Ha! All I know is that it was warm, and there were some HUGE plants.

I'm quite sure all of these plants have wonderful names, both scientific and common. And I don't know a one of them! But I travel with a walking plant encyclopedia, and she'd love to share. :)

After the Climatron, we headed to the Japanese Garden, which was really beautiful, and balanced in all the ways that Japanese Gardens are. It's really quite striking to be in a place where you can feel the harmony, where each branch and rock serves a design purpose. 

And after the Japanese Garden we wandered into the Chinese Garden. One thing I learned today is that Chinese Gardens are built, meaning they include architecture as focal points, and Japanese Gardens are grown, meaning they focus more on the natural elements. I sort of learned that today. I've recently had help remembering. Ha! :)

And the first day would be remiss if I didn't include a picture of the inside of the Linnean House, named after Carl Linnaeus. I didn't have to look that up! He is the father of modern taxonomy, the naming of animals and plants. I won't forget that as there was a minor familial skirmish over the spelling of his name. Ha!

And then, miracle of miracles, we found high tea at the London Tea Room. Right here in St Louis. If there's a better way to warm up than earl grey and scones, we don't know of it!

Bonus, there was a retail side to this tea shop. We came home with clotted cream in our suitcases!