Explore: The Huntington Library & Gardens

I’ve been lucky enough to travel to fun cities and places lately, and I want to share them with you all, so moving forward I’m going to categorize these posts under explore instead of a “Travel Guide.” While I understand the point of titling something with “Travel Guide to..” I don’t feel that a quick trip to someplace gives me enough experience to warrant a complete travel guide. I may eventually do one for Grand Rapids, Michigan because I lived there for 6 years, but its a small pet peeve of mine when bloggers share their “travel guide” to a specific area that they spent 4-10 days in. (end rant)

With my explore posts I’ll be sharing restaurants, shops, and any activities I did in the area as well as recommendations I received before traveling there.

A few weeks ago my friend Danielle and I headed out to the Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens. We lucked out with the most beautiful weather (75 & sunny), and the gardens were absolutely wonderful. We arrived around noon and had lunch in the 1919 Cafe. They had many different choices (sushi, salads, sandwiches, pizza, etc),  and I was amazed at how busy it was! We saw kids in school uniforms, moms with babies in strollers, and many different groups of adults. The gardens are technically located in San Marino, just southeast of Pasadena and are surrounded by gorgeous homes and a quiet neighborhood. Definitely a nice escape from the craziness of LA. (or just the craziness of driving to LA).

There are 3 separate parts of the Huntington, the Botanical Gardens, the Art Collections and the Library. We stuck to the gardens, but you could easily spend an entire day there and check out all three aspects.  If you’re somebody who loves statistics (like me) then you’ll appreciate the:

• 12 different gardens
• 15,000 plant varieties
• 650 paintings
• 440 sculptures
• 420,000 rare books
• 7 million manuscripts

…that the Huntington houses. If you’re ever in the Pasadena area, I would recommend bringing a friend, your mom or a date and enjoying the gardens! Below are a few photos I snapped while we were there!

Happy Hump Day!
xo, Maddy

PS. I found this dress at TJ Maxx about 2 weeks ago and it was under $30 – I looked EVERYWHERE online but can’t seem to find it. If you like it scope out your local TJ Maxx!

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