A Blast at the Botanical Gardens

              When I heard we were going to the arboretum I was excited. I have been there before and thought it would be a great way to spend a class, then I realized we were meeting there early Monday morning I wasn’t as excited. After my 8 A.M class I rushed up to the H.O. Botanical Gardens. It was a cold morning and of course I was sick to make worse, but I realized that the beauty of the gardens were worth the trip and facing the cold. I guess you could call me an outdoorsy person, since I camp, and hike, but I also enjoy the great indoors as well and have a very girly side.

 After the quick gathering in a beautiful part of the back of the gardens I went off to explore.  I quickly noticed that the gardens had changed since the last time I had been there. One thing that really caught my attention was the sun flowers that were definitely not there last time I was. They were so gorgeous and I was envious that the ones in my garden don’t look like that. As I continued walking i made my way to a small pond with vibrant pink flowers in it. They might have been my favorite since they were such an attention grabbing color mixed in with all the greens of the pond. The pond was a little dirty and the water was so dark you could only really see the fish in it when they swam to the top for a few seconds.

Next, I walked over the main fountain. People and cars passing can see it from the road and it’s usually one of the main attractions when visiting the arboretum. It has bamboo leading up to it that we got an interesting story about… Apparently they grow so fast they will grow through a person if they get tied down over them. Freaky huh? When I got up to the fountain it brought back some of the memories of coming before, once with my high school law class, after visiting the Katz building. Another time was after the Nittany Valley Sprit Rally, a cheerleading competition, with my squad; I could almost see my teammates trying to throw each other in the fountain. I also remembered before my prom my friends and I all going to that same fountain to get our pictures for one of our last gatherings before we all went our separate ways after high school. It was great to go back to a place I had such fond memories at and couldn’t help but smile.

I wander around for a few more minutes trying to avoid the sprinklers that seem quite inconveniently close to the path. I decided I should go since my cold seemed to only be getting worse from the cold and I had a class I had to get to. As I was leaving I walked past rows of trees and the sign that read “the H.O. Botanical Gardens” walking away I came to the conclusion that it was worth risking the cold even if it was just a short trip. The scenery was amazing with the mountains in the background and beautiful plants all around, and even with a stuffy nose I could still smell the sweet floral scent.  I would go back to the arboretum in a heartbeat for the stunning views, and peaceful atmosphere. For those who haven’t been there I definitely recommend it!