It's Always Better on Holiday VII, pt. 4: Homies and the Huntington Library

So . . . Friday, post-Disney, I went to the beautiful Huntington Library (but that's the Huntington home, not the library.)

With the beautiful Jane, Casey, and Rebekah (and Dan, that's his head barely poking up behind Rebekah).

(that's what she photographed)

and we had ourselves a look around . . .

I've been going to the Huntington Library my whole stinkin' life so I was acting like a real know-it-all the whole time.



So I was like, "Oh yeah, over there's a Gutenberg Bible."

"and over here's an illuminated Cantebury Tales."

"and here's a statue"

"And here's roses because this place is also famous for its gardens."

"And here's where you pretend to have your hand scanned by the lion.  Or dragon."

My favorite garden, the Japanese Garden, was closed for renovations.



And you can't strike the big bell anymore.  But it's been like that for years I guess.

We could, however, visit the "new" Chinese Gardens which I had never visited before.

Good work, Huntington garden makers.

That's Dan.  He wasn't in the first group shot much.

Hi Casey!

Can you imagine how terrified we were to watch this one koi headed straight for us at full speed from the other side of the lake?  It was like watching an unstoppable aquatic battering ram.

Tiny trees, more peaceful.

Goodbye, Chinese gardens.

Then we visited the velociraptor habitat.

It was hot and jungley in there.  We didn't last long.

I didn't realize we could photograph the art until we were at the American Gallery.

A statue of Brigham Young giving Abraham Lincoln a haircut?!

That guy was contemplating that painting the whole time we were in there.

LISTEN!  Doesn't Pandora look just like she's playing with her iPhone!  That is totally iPhone face and she's totally making iPhone fingers!  Don't say that she isn't!

Don't be scared.  This one is called "Benediction."

Went over to that one lawn until the Library closed down and we got thrown out.

First of a few resting Casey poses you're going to see in this post.  He really knows how to get comfortable.

On our way out: Cactus Sale.

It was hot in the San Gabriel valley so we stopped off at 7-11 for some Big Gulps (and Slurpees, if you're me).  But don't worry!  We did not drink them in the living room!!

Because it was time to party in Grandma's backyard.

Party or post another Casey pose.  Either/Or.

Collin soon arrived from his work day and hurled mighty thunderbolts through the air.

Wait, the caption of that above photo was supposed to be "Balls were thrown . . ." and this one was going to say ". . . and balls were leaned on."

Take a knee, Casey, for one last Casey pose.

Then we went to Grandma's church for a Patriotic Music celebration.

I did not mean to be smirky-faced during the National Anthem.

This fellow narrated the first few Revolutionary War songs.  He was not short on Revolutionary War information to share.  We wished we had Jeff Butler with us to have a History Battle (or friendly History-Sharing exchange) with him.

After the music: A visit to the boat!

For my second chili burger in two days.

And the cheesebread that I like best.

Collin unwraps his chili burger.

The original.

The replica.  Notice the subtle differences.

And then we posed with the Boat's namesake boat.  (Well, not really the namesake boat as the Boat isn't really named "The Boat" but Clearman's Galley.)

Another Casey pose.

This one's called the "Hi, Casey"

Feel free to play along from home.

Oh no!  C3PO!  What have the Ugnauts done to you?!

Before leaving we poked our heads into the North Woods Inn because, you know, what's the deal with that place anyway?

And that was Friday.  I can't remember if we did anything after dinner.  Probably everyone just went home to rest up for the next three amazing days.

And for those who might be interested, here's my post about my 2005 trip to the Huntington Library with my family.  It's a pretty fun post with a lot more pictures of paintings.