Caught in the rain in Shangri La

Sulphur,  LA

Last night it stormed.  We had thunder, lightening, heavy rain and hail.   Was afraid there might be damage but luckily was none.   By mid morning it looked like the rains had moved out so we decided to do some touring.

About 22 miles away in Orange, TX is Shangri La Gardens.

 These gardens were started in the 1930's by a Mr. Stark and family who owned the property.  He started opening the gardens to the public in the 1950's.

Admission for general public is only $6.00/ $5.00 for seniors.

There are a two hot houses, a gift shop, an indoor exhibit of the history of the garden, a learning center and a small cafe.    It takes at least an hour to leisurely walk the paths.

I found this flower most beautiful:

There is a large natural pond home to a variety of nesting birds.

And another man-made pond called Blue Moon Pond.

One of the walking paths:

One of several sculptures:

View of a hot house.  We saw turtles and a too large snake in this area.    (Len believes ANY snake is too large.)

We were there only about an hour when thunder burst and the skies opened up again.   They gave us ponchos at the gift shop.   Doesn't Leonard look spiffy?

The rain came down in torrents flooding the walkways and parking lot.

We even got alerts on both our phones warning of flash flooding in the area.    It was about 1/4 mile to the parking lot.  By the time we got there we were soaked from the knees down.   My jeans could have been wrung out and my tennis shoes did nothing to keep my feet dry.   Too bad, we would have loved to have stayed longer.   Maybe another day.