Today Charlie and I went to the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens with Lola and Lourdes! Aunt Julia sent us a message about the Huntington’s “Corpse Flower” and with a name like that, we had to check it out. Luckily, Lourdes happened to be up visiting Lola. When I told Charlie what we were doing, she ran to the door screaming happily. She said several times on the way there that we were going to see the “big flower” or the “stinky flower.”

The flower, unfortunately, has not bloomed yet. They thought it might be today but as the guide told me, it’s being shy. At any rate, it’s still amazing. It is over 6 feet 7 inches tall! When it opens it can be up to 4 feet wide. It towered over pint-sized Charlie. We got a wiff of what it smells like at the exhibit: Lourdes and I decided it was kind of like stinky feet…really rotten stinky feet. It is originally from Sumatra and is extremely rare. So we may just have to go back in a couple days when it blooms because who knows when another one will come along.

After we saw the Corpse Flower (what the people in Sumatra call it), we went through the rest of the rainforest exhibit, a bog and onto the Children’s Garden. Lourdes and Charlie had tons of fun running through a tunnel and playing in the water fountains. Charlie loved the water and would have stayed there all day I think. On our way out we saw a giant fountain/waterfall and Lourdes pointed it out. From then on Charlie was talking about seeing the “water-hall.”

Charlie had a fantastic time. She loves flowers, she loves water and she loves running around. And she got to do a lot of everything.

Click here for more pics at the Huntington.