Archive | March 2013

in CA, Photography, San Diego, Sightseeing, Tourism, Travel, Vacation
5 Comments

The Flower Fields Are Ablaze With The Beauty of Color – Carlsbad, CA (San Diego)

Spring is in the air, flowers are everywhere! Or should I say the hills are alive with the beauty of flowers? These flowers are like music to my soul, and they bring joy. They also bring much joy to my little angel, Chandi.

Here is the Princess of The Flower Fields (I nominate her for that):

The Flower Fields, Carlsbad, CA

Here’s Chandi dreaming of more flowers.

Flower Fields, Carlsbad, CA (San Diego)

Here she is, ever so content with all the flowers around her.

Flower Fields, Carlsbad, CA (San Diego)

The Flower Fields, Carlsbad, CA (San Diego)

Flower Fields, Carlsbad, CA (San Diego)

I should tell you a little more about the Flower Fields – they mainly grow ranunculus flowers here – and the early ranunculus blossoms resembled Poppy blossoms. Here’s a little more history on this:

Ranunculus Flowers, Flower Fields, Carlsbad, CA

Here’s some close-up pictures of the ranunculus flowers

Little kids love to come to the Flower Fields – they get to meet others their age, see fish in the little lily pond basins

They can play in the playground

Flower Fields, Carlsbad, CA – Playground

They will see see hens and will even see some fresh laid eggs on the ground!

They will love taking a ride on the wagon that goes around the fields full of flowers, and have a narrated tour. Most of all, if they are just like Chandi, they will like to be out in the fresh open air, smelling the sweet smell of Spring, and seeing flowers everywhere!

Here are the fields ablaze with color

Flower Fields, Carlsbad, CA

Here are some people picking the flowers (most likely employees) – these flowers could surely brighten anyone’s home, and will likely find their way into the stores.

Flower Fields, Carlsbad, CA

Here’s me and my baby enjoying some Mummy and me time!

Who wouldn’t like to bring their little baby here, and see their face light up with joy? Chandi’s face lit up with joy, is all the happiness I need. Here she is once again, Princess of the Flower Fields.

Also, let me tell you where Carlsbad is in relation to San Diego…..it is a 40 minute drive up north from downtown San Diego. Take the Highway 5 North and exit Palomar Airport Road, then make a right onto Palomar Airport Road, make a left onto Paseo Del Norte, and make a right into the Carlsbad Outlet Mall Shopping Area, and then make another right and head into the parking lot close to the Flower Fields entrance.

Prices: $11 for adults, free for kids under 3 years of age, and kids from 4 to 11 – $6

Also, don’t forget – locally grown strawberries are for sale right here at the Flower Fields, and don’t forget to try a yummy Strawberry Milkshake or one of the other scrumptious desserts made from strawberries.

Flower Fields, Carlsbad, CA

Also, don’t forget to visit sometime soon, as the flowers will only be in bloom up to a certain point in April, so hurry fast and visit Carlsbad, CA – part of greater San Diego.

**This is an addition to the post. Went back to visit again on March 30, 2013 (last week I visited on March 23rd) – there’s a big difference in just a week as far as how much the flowers have bloomed. Here’s what they looked like today, however, these pictures were taken from a distance – we did not get right into the fields like we did last week.

The Flower Fields, Carlsbad, CA – on March 30, 2013

The Flower Fields as of April 20, 2013

The Flower Fields from a previous years:

April 16, 2011

The Flower Fields, Carlsbad, CA – San Diego

April 19, 2009

Flower Fields, Carlsbad – San Diego

March 21, 2013

in CA, England, Italy, London, Photography, San Diego, Sightseeing, Tourism, Travel, Turkey, Vacation, Venice
2 Comments

Social Media and My New Pinterest

I just had to add a new interest, or should I say Pinterest? Pardon the pun………if my kids knew that I just said that, they would get mad at me. I am always having fun with word play, much to their consternation. Well, to go back to Pinterest – I don’t know what took me so long to get into it. All, I can say is it’s a lot of fun. All the pictures don’t have to be your own, you can like other people’s pictures and pin them on your board, and others will hopefully like what you pin, and re-pin. It’s a bit like retweeting on Twitter, and you can like pins too – now you’ll be reminded of Facebook. You can also pin videos, so hence YouTube can be brought in……now you have all your social media played out just in Pinterest.

I like to divide up my travel or my interests (such as on empowerment, or the British Royal Family, especially Princess Diana) into boards, it’s a little like having photo albums all sorted out, and not lumped together. I have one album, more appropriately called “board” on Pinterest for London, one for Izmir, one for Istanbul, one for Italy, one for San Diego, and one that I named Travel Repins when I didn’t really know what I was doing, and still don’t quite know what to call it. This board is where I just put pictures that I like taken by other people into one big collection, and this one isn’t at all organized – it has pictures from all over the world in it.

I still have to do more on Pinterest, I can’t just leave only mostly my pictures on my boards for instance – like the ones on Izmir or Istanbul. My board on London has many pictures from others who have taken pictures of that amazing city. Just like with all social media, it’s about sharing. After all, there are so many other pictures to discover out there in the world, we have to go beyond ourselves, and share the work of others.

I have to find more time, and have been lacking time lately…..life has caught up with me. Now just living day to day leaves hardly any spare moments to even dabble in social media, unfortunately. However, my emails from Pinterest even when I’m not active myself, have shown me what people are interested in, and I’ve noted with much curiousity, that people are really into London, and why not? London is one of the best cities in the world, if not the very best. However, I would like to add some interest for San Diego, especially since I now live here. So, I will work on my board on San Diego, and on some of the other boards, where I might only have my pictures.

Lastly, you know I like to have pictures in my posts…..so here are three pictures taken by me in three of my favorite cities and of course on Pinterest.

First, one of my favorite destinations….beautiful Venice in tantalizing Italy.