A friend and I got to visit the Meijer Sculpture Garden this week. The conservatory building was all decked out for Christmas, which is why we planned our visit.

There’s been lots of expansion to the building since I was there, notably a huge room with giant marble sculptures of faces on all four walls.

But the main attraction were the Christmas trees, each decorated as they might be countries from around the world.

They were all beautiful, and it was so much fun to stop and examine them.

All those trees, lined up or tucked into corners sure got me into the holiday spirit!

And then we wandered in the desert room, filled with catus and seasonal poinsettias…

…and the tropical room filled with jungle plants and more poinsettias….

…and watched a model train wander through a village filled with iconic Grand Rapids buildings made out of natural materials…

…surrounded by more poinsettias.

We even spent some time trying to figure out a couple of art installations.

Even after reading the notes on the wall we didn’t really get it. But it was fun trying.

We stopped at the gift shop, where I stared at a bag of marbles for a long time, remembering all the games we used to play back a few decades when I was in grade school. I still like the way marbles feel, and almost bought this bag, just for fun.

But I didn’t. We bought lunch instead and then headed home, taking the back roads the better to find some barns. Of course we found one…

.

..or two…

…or three.

So fun!

Thanks, Linda, for driving us around on our latest adventure. Let’s schedule the next one soon!