I could have included a website link to the gardens:http://www.hilltopgarden.com/content/index/0123/0134 And a reference to their location:http://www.hilltopgarden.com/content/index/0122/0132 Years ago, Judy and I were driving down a backroad here in the Valley and passed by an Aloe farm. It had a really nice entrance and looked like it might be open to the public. We thought it looked interesting. By the time we got around to checking back to see if we could visit though, it was years later and neither of us could remember where it was or what the name of it was. I’ve tried so many times to find it on Google Earth, and have driven up and down all the backroads where I remembered it being, but I was slightly off. I was searching the wrong area. It doesn’t matter how hard you look, you’ll never find it if you’re looking in the wrong place! Well, again working on Google Earth, I re-found it a week ago. A few days ago Henry and I drove past it while we were out birding (without Judy) so I could confirm it. It turns out they are a large organic farm now, they are open to the public, and they have marvelous gardens. So that was my Christmas Surprise for Judy, a visit to a place we’d been trying to find for years. Of course, she figured out where we were going well before we got there. It’s like that with us; secrets don’t last very long. Suddenly one of us just announces “I know where we’re going.” Or “I know what it is.” Like that. It doesn’t matter what it is. One year I got Judy a piece of jewelry to replace one that had been lost forty years before. I couldn’t find the exact thing, so I had one constructed by a jeweler. When Judy asked me if I’d gotten her a Christmas present yet, and I answered yes, she looked at me and knew right then exactly what it was. From Forty Years Ago! Our Christmas Surprise looked like this.
It has a grand entrance.
A five bedroom historical villa for rent.
And over 200 kinds of Aloe!
It has a grand entrance. A five bedroom historical villa for rent. And over 200 kinds of Aloe!