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Sign up for one or save and register for all three for $399!Chicago Botanic Gardens - Friday, June 14; $139Last summer, we had a short visit to Chicago Botanic Gardens, and you wanted more! This June, you’ll have all the time you need to explore the many different gardens available. We begin our Botanical Bonanza Series with a trip to Chicago, where the many gardens will be sure to have something for everyone. You’ll get carried away on this 2.3-mile narrated tram tour! Learn the history and science of the Garden while viewing highlights including the McDonald Woods, Elizabeth Hubert Malott Japanese Garden, the Regenstein Learning Campus, and others. Enjoy views alongside the Garden’s 81 acres of water. You’ll have lunch on your own at the gardens and time to on your own to explore almost 400 acres of beauty! Jump on the tram to go garden to garden, take photos, or shop. The afternoon is yours before we head back on our comfortable coach bus.
Rotary Botanical Gardens in Janesville - Friday, July 12; $149The second garden in our Botanical Bonanza Series, the Rotary Botanical Gardens, promises to be worth the drive! This 20-acre site showcases both internationally themed and specialty gardens. We’ll begin our visit with a guided tour to see the Japanese and English Cottage gardens, a Wellness Garden which includes a labyrinth, and more. Don’t forget to pick up a little something for yourself in the Cottage Garden Gallery before we head out for lunch! After lunch, we will make a stop at a local nursery to create our own 10” hanging basket with a mix of beautiful annual flowers! After this long day, you’ll be happy to climb aboard our comfy coach bus for the ride home.
Oshkosh Paine Art Center & Gardens - Friday, August 9; $159We’ve saved the best for last in our Botanical Bonanza Series! Our visit to the Paine Art Center and Gardens may be your favorite place in our Botanical Bonanza Series. We have a full day planned, beginning with lunch before we head over to the Gardens. We will begin our visit of this 1948 English Country estate with a guided tour of the historic mansion before we tour the nearly four acres of botanical gardens. During our visit, we will be privy to the Micsosculpture: The Insect Portraits of Levon Biss exhibit! These breathtaking images are displayed as large-scale photographic prints up to 9 feet high, the Microsculpture project reveals the hidden structure and beauty of insects. Each beautifully lit image was created from around 8,000 individual photographs taken under strobe lights, capturing the microscopic forms of insects in striking, high-resolution detail. Examine extremely fine pigmented scales, velvet-like surface textures, saw-sharp mandibles, swirling patterns, and some of the most vibrant, iridescent colors seen in nature. After our tour, we’ll head to the Studio to create our own bug using found objects and modeling clay. Follow the provided directions or take a creative leap and come up with your very own insect! After our day-long visit, relax in our coach bus on our journey back to campus.
