The Corpse Flower started to open Wednesday afternoon, so Thursday morning we trekked back up to the Huntington to see it. By the time we saw it, it had already started to close up a little, so the best spot to see the purple coloring was from the balcony above it. The stench reached us where we were on the balcony and kept getting stronger as we wound our way down to the bottom of the conservatory. I asked Charlie if she could smell it and she stuck her nose up and toward the flower and made a sniffing sound, but I couldn’t tell if she was inhaling or exhaling. She nodded that she smelled it though. It smelled like a mix of stinky feet and rotten eggs.

There was a crowd of people standing in front of the flower, all trying to capture their perfect shot. I just wanted a picture of Charlie in front of it, so we could see the 6′9″ flower tower over her. But she’s so tiny and I couldn’t let go of her because she would have either gotten lost in a see of flower obsessed people or fallen in the mud. So I took what I could get.

After the stinky flower, we went to the children’s garden again. This time, Charlie was mostly focused on the stone fish pots where water shoots up out of the ground and into the pot. Although she did take a couple detours to the tunnel and the water fountains. And then fell asleep in the stroller on our way back to the car.

Click here for all the pics from our Huntington visit.