Thursday, April 17, 2008

Who would have guessed? A Tulip Festival with NO tulips!

For the record, I had a great time at the Gardens this morning, but if I was going only to see tulips, I would have been sadly disappointed. Really, no tulips when they are touting 250,000? This could be one of the worst examples of false advertising I have ever witnessed. Well, maybe I over exaggerate. There are plenty of tulips, but none are in bloom yet. I saw lots and lots of tulip leaves and the occasional tulip that has braved the nasty weather in Utah, but even the ones in 'bloom' weren't looking so hot. There were possibly two spots where we actually saw tulips. One was right underneath the main building (it was the last thing we saw on our way back from our loop around the gardens) and the other spot was not even IN the regular gardens; it was actually up in the Children's Discovery Gardens. So we found this about an hour in when we should have been surrounded by sights such as these the entire time.



Like I said though, I still had a great time. There are plenty of places to walk around and discover. I can imagine that when the season is in full bloom, the place must be beautiful. Right now there are many hedges that look dead, and the rose garden was less than impressive. But the girls followed the map and we went to many interesting locations. My favorite by far was the 'Secret Garden.' I don't think it was called that, but you had to walk under a trellis to find some wooden doors that led into a walled garden with a lovely fountain. It was just darling and I could easily bring a book and a lunch and spend an entire day there.



There are some other areas that have a Greek feel with columns and benches. If you look behind the girls in this one, you can see some of the lovely leaves that will probably be tulips someday.



Here again is a beautiful area with a fountain running down the middle. The hill side is covered in soon-to-be tulips and I can imagine it will be spectacular in a couple of weeks.



I feel a little sorry for Thanksgiving Point. I spoke to one lady who said they had to schedule the dates for the festival a year in advance. I certainly wouldn't want to be the person who guessed wrong about when the tulips would actually bloom. But in the meantime, they really should tell people as they walk in, "You are about to spend $10 to see tulips, and you may be a bit put-out when you find there aren't any." But no, not a word! I have the membership, so we got in free, but I heard a few conversations from irate patrons. Apparently the same thing happened last year. Ouch! That can't be good for business.
I was even a little disappointed by the Children's area. The best thing was the cave with the bear. There are actual bear noises that come from a speaker somewhere, and I was pretty convinced that there was a bear that might come out at any moment. Ivory was so convinced that she would NOT get out of the stroller at that point. I asked if she wanted to touch the bear, but there was emphatic head shaking and clinging to me. So I took a picture of the other girls with him.



I didn't get any pictures of the water falls, because I was busy making sure no one fell in, but they are pretty impressive. And like I said, I really enjoyed walking around with the girls and I had a good time. Just, a very badly named festival. I therefore now dub thee the long-walk-in-a-parkish-area-with-sporadicly-placed-flowers-that-could-
bloom-at-any-moment festival. Much more accurate.

p.s. Thanks to Sunny who called today to warn me that there were no tulips. That makes me feel special that you were looking out for us. We should go together and enjoy the lack of color.

10 comments:

Stacy said...

Just when I go in to comment on a post, you have already put a new one up! When the gardens are in bloom, they are spectacular. My sister Jamie took tons of pictures there last year that are just beautiful. So got back in a little bit and you will be fully satisfied with the surroundings....

¡Vieve! said...

I would love to be the person standing out front, telling people not to waste their money. I wonder if they'd be mad or grateful...

Anonymous said...

I should inform my mom because she'll probably try to go see it....and she tried to tell me I should stay another week so I could see the tulip festival - boy, would I have been pretty irritated! I would LOVE to see them in full bloom, but won't make it. I'll have to tell her not to waste her money right now and to wait a couple weeks to go. If I see a post on here again with more than just the little row of tulips, I'll let her know it's a good time to go. I'm glad you at least it wasn't a waste of money for you guys!

buhlersdayoff said...

that stinks!! My moms' tulips are blooming beautiful but they are trying to survive through these crazy days while the weather is trying to figure out what it is doing.

Erica said...

I had such a great time yesterday, even though there weren't any tulips : ) Thanks for letting me come along!
Also, Livy's name with flowers, paints, and ribbons included was only about $8. The wood connection has some really good deals. I think the letters were .49/ea and flowers .99ea/ I just got the paints and ribbon at Roberts where they usually have coupons. Not too bad. Just thought I would let you know.
Sweet Tomatoes is in Sandy by the South Towne Mall

Beth said...

note taken! No Tulip festival for us! :) And by the way I love your new stroller!

Cindy B said...

That is hilarious that you went to the non-tulip tulip festival. What a bummer! I guess it's only hilarious because I wasn't the one to drive all the way there not to see flowers. I mean, if I want to not see tulips, there are lots of places I could go for free!

Kim said...

Thanks for the heads-up... I wanted to go to the Tulip Festival too, but I'll wait a couple weeks! :-)

Deanne said...

I enjoy your new given name for the festival. You should submit it to Thanksgiving Point. At least the patrons wouldn't be upset about false advertising! It looks like a fun outing, though!

Emilie said...

Wow, I would have been disappointed too. I will NOT be going this year, thanks for the heads up!