Free Admission Day! – Descanso Gardens

It’s been quite a while since I’ve ventured into Descanso Gardens, and what a better time to go back than on a day where they offer free admission! So every 3rd Tuesday of the month, they offer free admission from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm. This obviously is a great deal especially if you have that day off from work or work independently.

Descanso Gardens also have something new. They now have Extended Summer Hours where you can also get in for free. These are on Wednesday from 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm…and of course, during the summertime.

My friend Vanessa and I went on a Wednesday to get a few “Outfit of the Day” shots of her. Considering we were on a mission, we didn’t get to walk the entire grounds but I did manage to get a few shots.

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Upon entering the grounds, you’ll see a mini set of tracks. This is the Enchanted Railroad where they take children around the gardens on, yup you guessed it, a mini 1/8th-scale replica of a diesel train. Considering it was after hours, it was done for the day.

Walking past the tracks to the left was a nice pond. We stopped a did a few shots at this location.

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The pond was feed by this little waterfall. I tried to do a long exposure but didn’t have my tripod with me. Not bad for being handheld, don’t you think? Right next to the waterfall was a trail that leads up to the top. The sun was setting and creating such great shadows.

We ventured up past the waterfall and entered the Rose Garden. Since the last time I’ve been here, they really upgraded this section. They added these metal trestles offering the vines a playground to wind through. Off to the left, was a water fountain that provided a great backdrop to shoot some more “Outfit of the Day” shots.

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Heading out of the Rose Garden there was a Bird Observation Station where you can do some bird watching.

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Going back down this route towards and past the entrance, we made our way towards the Boddy House. It was closed since it was after hours so we couldn’t go in. But this house was built for the founder of Descanso, E. Manchester Boddy. I’ve been in here before and they had a lot of interesting furniture and decorations from the 1930’s.

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By the time we got up to the house and back down to the entrance it was 8:00 pm and time for them to close up. I will definitely come back and go through the rest of the grounds, especially now that I know of their free admission days.

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