Luminarias at the Wildflower Center

Last night Jason and I went to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center for their special Luminations: A Winter Celebration festival. We had a bunch of fun! It looked magical with all the luminarias and lights!

I took a ton of pictures with the digital camera hoping that some would come out. These were all done hand-held — I didn’t want to fuss with a tripod, especially in the dark with all the people and kids — so I cranked the “film” speed up to ISO 1600 and had at it!

Here’s one walking to the courtyard area from the demo graden — what a pretty sight! There was a stage setup in the courtyard and different muscians entertained the crowd all night. We heard Civil War music on the way in and carolers on the way out. There was also a gentleman playing bag pipes — he was really good!

We paused for a while near this cedar elm and listened to guy playing a mandolin — it was so beautiful.

The night started getting cooler and I was glad I had Jason’s old jacket on! And I Jason got me a hot chocolate too — yum!

We ran into several friends and got to visit with them — it’s always good to see “plant friends”!

We stopped in the Carriage House to see the display of antique sleds and tobbogans — it was funny reading the signs that described how they came to be in Austin — most were from Indiana, Pennsylvania, New York and other places where there’s snow!


No trip to the Wildflower Center is complete without climbing up the tower — so that’s where we headed next! There was a sign saying that those who went to the top would get coal in their stockings, so we took that to mean that the last flight of stairs was closed and stopped here.

What a great evening! I love being at the Wildflower Center at night — it’s so peaceful. Hope we get to go to the festival next year!