“A mind cannot be independent of culture”.
(Lev Vygotsky)
My Walk into the Future allows me to continue to broaden my life experiences and explore new areas.
I write about my travels, running adventures and things on my mind to name a few. I am always looking for new things to help me expand the Walk into the Future reading catalog.
Being open to new things provides a solid platform to keep living this life and capturing my thoughts and adventures to share with readers. Please note, I pick my adventures and then decide which ones I can develop into a blog article to share with you. I find this process exciting because some adventures prove to be more challenging to capture than others. I do my best to document them but some I just can’t get a good flow to share. This is not one of those! 😊
Ventured down to Delray Beach, Florida which is just over an hour south of Fort Pierce. The attraction was the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens. I heard about this site but never ventured south to experience this cultural treasure that is right in my back yard.
Extremely happy to get down there and expand my knowledge base and experience the history and culture this beautiful garden offers. My goal was to take in the garden and learn as much as possible while touring the gardens.
The peace, tranquility and culture had to take a back seat in the beginning. The first thing I experienced walking towards the gardens was the image you see below. Yep, made it down to see the gardens and there’s a typical Florida scene where an alligator enjoys lunch while tourists gawk. LOL.
This was the only alligator sighting while in the gardens, but I had to get that shot—it is classic Florida.
The grounds are separated into collections inspired by gardens in Japan. This was an amazing aspect to view for the intricacy it took to build each of the distinct areas. I enjoyed each collection but would identify the Bonsai collection as my favorite spot in the gardens. There were several bonsai trees in the collection that are well over 100 years old, and the delicate care needed to maintain these trees is amazing. A funny aspect here is each bonsai tree has a plaque displayed that identifies when it was born. Saw a few trees that are the same age as me—guess that was a good year for us all. 😊
There is a small café on the grounds which specializes in Bento boxes and provides a nice overlook of the gardens. This spot allows visitors to kick back and relax a bit before heading back into the gardens.
The museum is a space to view some unique Japanese artifacts with space to learn more about the culture. This was a very interesting aspects since I spent 2 years on the mainland of Japan and 3 years on Okinawa while serving in the Air Force. The garden and museum were great reminders of my time in Japan. These were great times for me, and this cultural adventure brought back some great memories.
Visitors can sign up for classes and workshops to immerse into the culture.
This was a quick day trip but well worth the drive down the Florida Turnpike for some culture in my Walk into the Future.
What cultural aspects have you added to your walk? Thanks!
Walk Into the Future 