Pumpkin Houses, a Book Review, and Taking Applications for Interviews!

Recently I got a tip-off from my friend Lethal Leprechaun, co-writer and co-producer of the DragonLaffs publication.  Lethal is quite a character, as you can see from his many comments on some of my weblogs.  He's been around and done some things, and provides a great deal of insightful commentary in both comments as well as editorial commentary on DragonLaffs.

A replica of the castle from
Disney's Beauty & The Beast

His input and advice is always much appreciated, and for the email he recently sent with information of the fall expo at the Dallas Arboretum, I'm very grateful!  If you live in the area, or are travelling through the area between September 17th and November 23rd, I urge you to stop by for a visit.  You won't be disappointed!  I'd also advise you to wear comfortable clothing and wear comfortable shoes, because there's a great deal to see and a whole lot of walking to get to each section of the park.  Last, if you like pictures, be sure to have your camera.  I entered the park intending to take a few photos and came home with 117 to sort through and edit for my Hubpages article.  The place is a photographer's dream, and I'm only an amateur.

Mini-replica of an early Texas pioneer home in
the Pioneer Village at Dallas Arboretum.

I've included as many shots as possible in this blog, but, due to a space issue, it's simply not possible to post all of them.  I've also ensured no repeats between here and the Hubpages article so readers can have a fresh shot to view in each place.

One of the pumpkin houses in
Cinderella's village.

There are several areas that remain the same throughout the year, however they host new seasonal architecture and throughout the year.  Each area offers some stunning sights.

The park is situated along the banks of White Rock Lake, so nearly everywhere you walk amongst the 66 acres of floral, water and architectural displays, the White Rock Lake is in the background making for stunning scenery.

An elevated water pool in one of the Dallas Arboretum
water gardens.  The edge seems to blend
with White Rock Lake in the background.

 Throughout the park we found beautiful bronze sculptures situated amongst both water pools, fountains, water falls, flower gardens and other types of foliage.  Both the wild and tame florals in bloom were amazing and the color variations were brilliant.  I'd also advise picking up a map when you enter the park.  I forgot to snag one and after nearly an hour of exploring and snapping pictures, I STILL hadn't found the Cinderella Pumpkin Village.  I had to stop twice for directions.  Thankfully, the park employees and volunteers were very friendly and accommodating and didn't mind a bit to help us find our way to areas we wanted to visit.

One of the many beautiful waterfalls in the park.

If it weren't for my morbid fear of lightening, I'd say the park would make for an excellent outing, however, the majority of the paths are not paved.  If the weather's been rainy, expect some muddy areas.  We encountered very few, and were able to maneuver our way around them to solid ground, but I would imagine if we'd not had a few days of dry weather (which we have, since our last rain), we would have encountered far more mud than what we did.

The Poetry Garden

A sculpture near one of the large water gardens
of tadpoles in a pool with pennies to spend.

Few parks can compete with zoos in regards to holding my interest, but the Dallas Arboretum comes really close.  If you're hoping to see wildlife, they do have some fairly friendly crows and blue jays, as well as some brazen squirrels scampering all over the place.  They also have exotic gold fish in some of their fish ponds.

If you enjoy impressive sculpture that blends with an outdoor environment, they have that.  If your thing is impressive flower and water gardens, they have that too.

Interior of one of the pioneer cabins.

If you renaissance architecture is your thing, they've got you covered.  They've also got you covered if your taste in architecture leans towards 1800s style Texas homesteaders villages.  They have an entire mini-village made up of buildings that are amazing, complete with furnished interiors.

A sod house with thatched roof in the pioneer village.

If you visit in the fall, during the above listed dates, you'll be treated to pumpkins in massive quantities of every sort imaginable.  Not only do they have an entire pumpkin garden that's absolutely HUGE, they've constructed every single building in the village out of pumpkins that correlate with the Cinderella story theme.  You can have a sit in Cinderella's carriage that's drawn by ivy steeds.  The impressive thing about the steeds is, not only are they accurate in size, the main bodies of the horses are green, while their tails are the same type of foliage yet they're silvery-white in color.  I've no idea how they pulled that off, but I loved it!

A garden of pumpkins!

So, if you've got some time, I highly recommend a visit to the Dallas Arboretum.  You can click the highlighted links to get further information on their website which is chock-full of information about the entire park, it's history and annual events.

As I mentioned in my Hubpages article, both the staff and volunteers are the park are wonderful.  If you get lost while you're touring, just ask any of them for directions and they're more than happy to help.

Cinderella's steeds.

They also have an impressive bistro situated at a high-ground level in the park that overlooks White Rock Lake.  There are tables with umbrellas and an impressive display of trees and florals and paths sloping down and away from the bistro's plaza that makes it a great spot to finish up your tour, or to take a break in if you're tired and need a little refreshment.


The only thing I was really disappointed with was the fact that (sigh), we didn't spot a single mountain-bike trail in the entire acreage.  I realize I can't have everything, but one can wish and dream, yes?  If they ever DO incorporate mountain bike trails there, I'll be wanting to visit every single day!

A couple enjoying a break in the tour near
one of the water gardens.

By the way, just so you know, I'm compiling interviews for a book project and seeking folks to interview.  I have two such book projects I'm currently working on, in which the content is dependent on interviews.

Rushing brooks like this one can be seen and heard
throughout the park.

The collection of stories for this project in particular is personal experiences of the super-natural sort.  Therefore, if you, or someone you know, would like to share your experience with me, please drop me a line and let me know.  Has to be your encounter, not someone elses, and not anything based on hear-say.  I can be reached by contacting me here through blogspot (see one of the buttons to contact me on this page), or via my profile page on Hubpages, or on my cycho-pack's blog, or you're welcome to email me at keepitzipped@hotmail.com. 

It's going to be a fun project and readers are already contacting me with a personal account to share.

These two were such sweethearts!
They served us with coffee and soda and
were kind enough to pose for a pic.

This is my third article to write today, and after all the creative writing, trying to not repeat myself, editing and hyperlinking, I'm feeling a bit whipped.

Aside from the sister article on my visit to the Dallas Arboretum, I've also got another new article on Hubpages reviewing author Beth Perry's release of Nine for the Nightlight.

Garden area in the pioneer village.

It's a fabulous book, inexpensive, available for download at Smashwords.com,  Barnes & Noble, and Diesel ebooks.  It provides a great read if you're into young adult hookie-spooky-story-stuff.  It's a great little colletion of nine stories that I was lucky enough to sample on Hubpages, and subsequently bought the book so I could read the whole set.

A small thatched-roof cottage near Cinderella's village.
The back garden has shade trees and benches.  The house opens
in the back where puppeteers perform shows for visitors.

On that note, I'll close this out, and leave you with some smiling faces of a couple of the bistro employees from the Dallas Arboretum!  Have a great week and will see you here next time!