Meijer Gardens ~ 4/22/21

It's cherry blossom time at Meijer Gardens and its time is brief. Already today the path and the ground under some of the trees were littered with spent blooms, displaying a beauty of their own.

Redbuds, Azaleas, Rhododendrons, and Magnolias were in various stages of flowering.

But overall, the cherry blossoms held sway over the day.

Take a look while you can.

 

Light Dusting of Snow at Meijer Gardens ~ 12/30/16

It's peaceful and serene at Meijer Gardens in the winter and I took advantage of this with a lengthy walk throughout the park. These photos show a dusting of snow on familiar places and sculptures. Winter changes everything and it's beautiful here, even on a dark, sunless day.

Until next time...

BB King at Meijer Gardens - 6/3/13

We arrived just before the doors opened and had a long line in front of us.

My water bottle was confiscated because it was opened - yeah I reuse them, fyi, but our chairs passed the entry test. It's a great venue but your experience depends so much on your surrounding neighbors. People next to us and behind us were great but those in front, not so much. Constant talking & chair moving...

 The opening act, Vincent Hays Project, was great, as was BB's band.

 Finally the man himself came out, still awesome, but more on talk and less on song.

Getting out of the parking lots was a nightmare, but not as
much as it was for these folks.

Looking forward to more concerts this summer!

If you haven't already bought your tickets, you're pretty much out of luck. 
50% of them are gone to member sales before you have a chance, fyi,
and fifteen minutes into member sales, at least 3 concerts were sold out.
Not sure how that happens...

Meijer Gardens - 4/25/13

The weather was cool and windy, it was a Thursday, and the butterfly exhibit was a few days away from closing so I'm thinking no one will be there and I can enjoy a peaceful walk. Wrong. The parking lot gave me my first clue, packed and full of buses. I ignored the clues and entered the mayhem.

The butterfly exhibit was still pretty active, with butterflies and people. And the humidity was incredibly high, more than I remember. People clogging walkways and camera lenses fogging up drove me out after about 10 minutes.

The boardwalk was cool relief from the crowds and, as elsewhere in Grand Rapids,
showed very high water.

I continued to walk the outdoor paths and ended up behind this snail's paced tram that sometimes moved slower than me, and other times faster. I couldn't shake it and finally turned around.

The Woodland Garden is always a favorite,

and I've never met another person on the walk around the pond.

 Circling on back around, a sky view of the arch, 

Scarlatti, with a close-up of what looks like graffiti but is probably weathering,

On the way out, I stopped in at the indoor exhibit of sculpture by Hanneke Beaumont.

Very cool work but no photos permitted as per usual. But here's one from the butterfly exhibit.

Before I left, I checked out the new Japanese Garden being built

and enjoyed the bit of spring on the way out.

4/27/13 Update: How do concert tickets sell out in 15 minutes?  Something is not right, and good luck to non-members a few weeks from now who would like tickets to the most popular shows. On the average, 50% of summer concert tickets are sold out before they are offered to the public. Just so you know...