Fort Worth Botanic Garden Mindless Myopic Mistake

Now, what we have right here is yet one more reason why I have come to hold in such low regard the Texas town of Fort Worth.I continue to be baffled by the shenanigans that take place in this town.

For a town with a population rapidly approaching a million, Fort Worth has relatively few city parks for a town its size.

And many of those few city parks have few modern amenities, such as restrooms, and running water. But, plenty of outhouses.

And only a couple public swimming pools. And those with a $6 adult admission fee.

Years ago I was appalled when Fort Worth began charging an entry fee to its largest city park, that being the Fort Worth Nature Center & Preserve. $5 for adults, $2 for kids 3-12.

If I remember right I previously mentioned a scene I witnessed at that Fort Worth park soon before the entry fee came to be. I was at that park's Prairie Dog Town. An old station wagon pulled into the parking lot. A mom and dad and six kids got out of the car. The kids were so excited to see the Prairie Dogs. I could tell this was not a family which made a yearly trek to Disneyland or some similar destination. After that entry fee was added it would have cost this family $22 to see those Prairie Dogs.

No big deal, you say.

City parks are supposed to be amenities a town's people collectively pay for, so everyone can enjoy the experience of a park, Mother Nature and all the good stuff like that.

Modern cities pay for their city parks with taxes, or bond issues, or other funding mechanisms than a fee to enter the park.

It would be one thing if Fort Worth had a plethora of pleasing parks. But it does not.

What about other town's parks with which I am familiar?

Well, the town I lived in before moving to Texas, Mount Vernon, in Washington, has several city parks, all modern with modern facilities. Including one park called Little Mountain Park. Relative to actual mountains this should probably be called Big Hill Park, but Mount Vernon's Little Mountain would definitely be the biggest mountain for hundreds of miles at my current Texas location. Or Fort Worth. Little Mountain Park has a twisty road which takes you to the summit. A hang glider launch pad. A lookout tower. Miles of trails. It is a big park. And it charges no entry fee.

Tacoma has multiple parks, all with modern facilities. One is Point Defiance Park, which is one of the largest urban parks in America. No entry fee charged, despite being BIG, having miles of paved roads, trails, beaches, various venues, even a fort. Something Fort Worth does not have That being. Fort Nisqually in Tacoma's Point Defiance Park.

Or how about South Mountain Park & Preserve in Phoenix. One of the largest urban parks in the world. Miles of hiking and biking trails. Miles of paved roads. Multiple picnic venues. Multiple structures. Multiple rangers. And no entry fee. Or Papago Park, shared by Phoenix and Tempe. Another big park with multiple attractions and no entry fee. Or also in the Phoenix zone, the town of Chandler, where I am heading in a couple weeks, with multiple parks, none of which charge an entry fee.

And in Chandler there is this park, Veteran's Oasis Park, which sort of ties into what prompted this blog post, that being appalled that Fort Worth is going to start charging an entry fee to the Fort Worth Botanic Garden. Chandler's Veteran's Oasis Park is sort of a small version of Fort Worth's Botanic Garden, only with a lake filled with crystal clear water, and fish. With multiple modern restrooms, including one in an interpretive center with live critters, like snakes.

And no entry fee.

To enter the Botanic Garden Fort Worth is going to charge $12 for adults, $6 for children 6-15, $10 if you're over 65. And various limited schemes with entry fee discounts. Or free times, like for an hour in the morning, or an hour late in the day.

This entry fee has come about after much lamenting about millions of bucks needed for improvements, and to fill a budget hole of over a $1 million.

Read The Fort Worth Botanic Garden will cost you in July. Here’s how to go for free article for all the disturbing details.

Among the many reasons this seems so odd to me, besides the fact that funding for something like a Botanic Garden should just be part of a city's budget, which is the way it works in towns in modern America, there are other elements which are disturbing.

For instance. Fort Worth's Botanic Gardens has had revenue generators as long as I have known of this location. A fee to enter the Japanese Gardens. A fee to enter the big glassed greenhouse, which apparently has been long closed due to needing repairs. I do not know if it is still there, but when I last visited there was a restaurant by the Japanese Gardens.

There is a big building at the entry, with multiple meeting rooms of various sizes. And a large theater. I have attended events at this location. A revenue generating fee is charged to book one of these rooms. Weddings take place here, receptions take place here. All sort of events take place in these venues. All of which generate funds, unlike what takes place in other town's park, which charge no entry fee.

And then there are events in the Botanic Gardens such as Concerts in the Gardens. Do those events not make money? I remember years ago paying $15 to attend Star Wars Night.

So, something is way off here. Why is this park suffering such a funding shortfall? How was that well done Botanic Garden boardwalk through the trees paid for in this cash strapped park?

As is the norm, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram The Fort Worth Botanic Garden will cost you in July. Here’s how to go for free article generated zero comments, at least when last I looked.

However, on Facebook, via the Star-Telegram's Bud Kennedy, and another posting about this latest Fort Worth numbskullery there were dozens of comments which caused me to realize I was not alone in how I have reacted to this latest instance of the town of Fort Worth shooting itself in the foot. More on that foot shooting problem in a followup posting, but let's end this with a selection of comments from those aforementioned Facebook posts...

Kelly Cash: It makes me sad. It's not that much $ for one if not the wealthiest cities in the world, and the value of nature to mental health and well-being is just now being discovered. Botanical Gardens are different from plain parks. They ARE like libraries. They should be free. Especially in Fort Worth, a place that values art, nature and culture.

Ike Renfield: These exceptions are terribly limiting. All those little chopped up bits of time. A full three-day weekend just once a month (with rain dates) would be preferable to a few hours here, an hour there, albeit more frequently.

Wilson Armstrong: How much are we spending on the still-dry downtown pond front real estate development project? 17 million isn't that much for the city to cough up or put in a bond package.

Mariann Mitchell Taccia: We would not have to be returning "it to its former glory" and charging fees if it the Botanic Garden had not be miss managed in the first place and that fault falls on the city council.

Holly Behl: That’s a shame. Thinking back on all the visits I’ve made, I wouldn’t have made any of them if I had to shell out $30 to bring a friend in.

Michael Dallas: My family spent a lot of time in the parks and gardens of Fort Worth when we didn't have money to do anything else. Makes me sad that others won't get to enjoy the same.

David, Theo & Ruby Refuse Visit To Fort Worth's Botanic Garden

A couple days ago I blogged that David, Theo & Ruby Won't Climb Or Swim In Any Fort Worth City Park.

In that blogging I made mention of the fact that Fort Worth, population over 800,000, has zero public swimming pools, while Tacoma, population a little over 200,000 has multiple public swimming pools.

Thinking about how some towns in America are modern, whilst other towns in America seem to be more what one might expect to see in a not so modern, advanced country, had me also wondering how some towns manage to have modern city parks, with running water, and no outhouses, whilst no running water and outhouses are the norm in Fort Worth's few city parks.

At some point whilst writing the blogging about Tacoma's pools I found Wikipedia has a long article about Tacoma's Point Defiance Park. In that article there is a section about the Formal Gardens in Point Defiance Park.

Point Defiance Park's Formal Gardens reminded me of Fort Worth's Botanic Garden, a location which I have long thought is the one and only thing about Fort Worth, other than the Stockyards, that is well done and tourist worthy.

So, yesterday I asked David, Theo and Ruby's mom, my little sister Michele, if at some point in time in the near future the kids might go to Point Defiance to take some photos of the park's gardens. I also asked if Tacoma charged an entry fee to the Point Defiance Park gardens.

A response arrived quickly, with photos taken over the years, when the kids were younger. Along with those photos the possibility was mentioned time might be found to take some new photos. That time was found and new photos arrived later in yesterday's afternoon. Those photos are what you are seeing first, followed by older photos when David, Theo and Ruby were younger.
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At the top you are seeing David, Theo and Ruby at the gate to enter the Rose Garden part of the Point Defiance Park Formal Gardens. There is no one charging a fee to enter. You just walk on in. In the next photo the kids are inside the Gardens, with the boys traversing a small pond whilst their sister watches.

The Japanese Garden is what you are seeing here. The Pagoda in the Japanese Garden is the location where David, Theo and Ruby's parental units got married. Can you find the kids in the above photo?

Recently those in charge of badly misgoverning Fort Worth decided to start charging an admission fee to gain admittance to the Botanic Garden. Doing this appalled me. Just like years prior when I was disgusted and appalled when Fort Worth began charging an admission fee to the Fort Worth Nature Preserve.

When that entry fee was imposed the preserve was not a heavily visited location. I have seen no followup investigating in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram as to what the attendance numbers are for the Nature Preserve, pre and post fee. How much money is raised. How much it costs to charge a fee, as in paying someone to collect it.

Another look at the Point Defiance Park Japanese Garden.

I have never returned to the Fort Worth Nature Preserve since an admission fee was charged. My personal protest. I probably have blogged about my disgust about this previously, but I do not remember doing so.

I remember being at the Prairie Dog Town part of the Fort Worth Nature Preserve and a family showed up, dad driving an old station wagon, six kids. I could tell they were not too prosperous. And that the kids were having themselves a mighty fine time. It was this family I thought of when I read Fort Worth was going to charge a fee to enter one of its parks.

I looked at the Fort Worth Nature Preserve website and saw it cost $5 for an adult to enter. A discount for seniors and kids. I do not know what $ figure has been arrived at to gain entry to the Fort Worth Botanic Garden.

Above is the last of the photos taken yesterday. What you are seeing here is the marina at the east end of Point Defiance Park. And the more interesting thing is the almost completed walkway which will connect Point Defiance Park to Point Ruston and the rest of the Tacoma waterfront. This will be a fun new addition to an already impressive development.

Point Ruston is a massive private development, well there may be some public help, what with it being the location of what at the time was the most expensive Superfund cleanup in EPA history. I do know that no local politician's unqualified son was hired to be the executive director of the Point Ruston development, hence this massive project is a growing, completed HUGE success.

Seeing this was one of the highlights of my last visit to the PNW, back in August of 2017. I blogged about my Point Ruston experience at the time in Point Ruston Ruby, Theo & David Surrey Survey Of Tacoma's New Waterfront Development.

Fort Worth's embarrassing Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, which has boondoggled along for most of this century, has not reached the point, if it ever will, where ground pollution triggers an EPA Superfund cleanup. Though there has already been a chemical leak, or two, into the Trinity River, from ground work on the Boondoggle's imaginary island.

Continuing on we get to the older photos of Ruby, Theo and David in Point Defiance Park's gardens.

In answer to my question asking of a fee is charged to enter the Point Defiance Park Formal Gardens, my sister said "The only thing that costs at Point Defiance is the zoo/aquarium." Later amended to add that a fee is charged to rent a venue for an event, such as a wedding.

In the blogging from a couple days ago about Tacoma's pools in which I mentioned Point Defiance Park I also made mention of the fact that none of Fort Worth city parks were Wikipedia article worthy. However, this morning I did discover there is a short Wikipedia article about the Fort Worth Botanic Garden.

That article, in total, and please note the irony...

The Fort Worth Botanic Garden (109 acres) is a botanical garden located at 3220 Botanic Garden Boulevard, Fort Worth, Texas. The garden was established in 1934 and is the oldest botanic garden in Texas, with 2,501 species of native and exotic plants in its 21 specialty gardens. It is open daily. An admission fee is charged for the Conservatory and Japanese Garden; the other gardens are free. 

Someone needs to edit the Wikipedia article to add that soon the other gardens will no longer be free to visit.

Now, that is some Ruby and Theo garden cuteness above.

Among what gripes me about charging an admission fee to a city park property is someone opining that it makes sense, why those who actually use the park should be the ones paying for it. Well, simplistically that may make sense to someone simple. But, all the citizens of a town help the town raise money to pay for city services, such as parks.

Fort Worth takes a piece of every cent paid in sales tax. Then there's the various ways everyone pays property tax. Even if you are a renter you pay property tax, though not directly via property you own.

A well managed city, like Tacoma, Wichita Falls, and many others use funds raised via various methods to pay for city services which add to the city's livability. If one feels the need to take a break with the kids at a city park one should not have to feel like it's a trip to Six Flags, paying an admission fee.

In other words, in my humble opinion, a city's parks should be readily available to all of a town's citizens, no matter how much discretionary income they may have at their disposal.

I do not know by what magic Theo and Ruby are levitating in this area of the Point Defiance Park Formal Gardens.

Fort Worth already cheaps out on its few city parks, what with already minimal services, such as not providing running water and modern restroom facilities.

This scene looks a lot like one one might see in Fort Worth's Botanic Garden. I think Ruby, Theo and David are waving at us, but I am not sure about this.

Fort Worth, as represented by its elected officials and the town's newspaper, semi-regularly deludes itself that the town might somehow successfully attract a corporation to re-locate its headquarters to Fort Worth. Such as Amazon HQ2. Or like when Intel was looking for a place to build a big development.

Intel checked out Fort Worth. Fort Worth offered incentives. Intel instead chose to build its enormous new plant in Chandler, Arizona. If you have visited both Fort Worth and Chandler you have seen why Fort Worth would not be the chosen one.

Don't those who run Fort Worth so poorly, in what is known locally as the Fort Worth Way, realize how bad it looks to a business looking to locate in Fort Worth seeing the town's few city parks so lacking in basic amenities. And no public pools. And streets without sidewalks. And any park with any semblance of being a decent attraction charging a fee to enter.

Such things do not leave a good impression on a town's few tourists.

It's all way too perplexing. What I got out of thinking about all this is I am looking forward to my next visit to Tacoma...

Heading West To Fort Worth's Best Tourist Attractions & Uncle Julio's Enchiladas With Boondoggle Bridges

I dropped in on Fort Worth's two best tourist attractions today, those being the Botanic Garden, before visiting Uncle Julio's on Camp Bowie, and then the Fort Worth Stockyards.

I came across multiple Asian tourists enjoying the Botanic Garden. The language being spoken was Asian, but I can not tell what brand, be it Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Korean or any of the other Asian flavors.

In the photo you are looking at a guy who had caused a herd of turtles and koi fish to get all excited taking bites out of the piece of bread he was holding above the water. On the 5th and last slice a big turtle snapped the entire piece out of  his hand, which caused a frenzy in the water as turtles and fish battled  for bread.

Why are the Botanic Garden's turtles and fish so hungry?

Fort Worth's Botanic Garden is the first thing I discovered in Fort Worth, soon after I was exiled here, which I thought I'd never seen anything like it, done so well. The Botanic Garden really is a gem. A lot to see and explore.

Today I came upon a memorial to Charlie Company that I'd happened upon for the first time way back in 2009. Eventually I got back to my computer where I soon learned I'd blogged about my previous visit to the Botanic Garden's Charlie Company memorial in a blogging titled Charlie Company Memorial in Fort Worth's Botanic Garden. It is a rather poignant memorial.

Leaving the Botanic Garden I headed west to Uncle Julio's. My new form of mechanical vehicular transport informs me what direction I am heading. But, I already knew I was heading west. I have not yet figured out why being informed of the direction I am heading is of any use.

Arriving at Uncle Julio's a half hour past noon I was not happy to see a lot of vehicles parked on the road and in the parking lot. I figured there would be a long wait, which would have had me going somewhere else. But, I figured wrong. The interior eating zone was packed, but the outdoor patio was not.

You can  see the unpacked Uncle Julio's outdoor patio above, with Big Ed being very uncomfortable due to two blondes insisting on sitting on his shoulders. I don't understand why more people did not opt to eat outside. It was very pleasant, with overhead fans making a breeze, and, as you can see, plenty of shade.

After an hour with Uncle Julio I headed back east, intending to see if I could find any evidence of America's Biggest Boondoggle's three bridges being  built slow motion over dry land. This coming October it will be a year since bridge construction began with a TNT bang.

Well. I drove past what I think will eventually be a big traffic circle. I saw a few pier like things coming out of the ground which may be bridge supports. But, is this all there is after this much time? Driving through that area  I have no clue where the ditch will go that will go under the three bridges. Where are the other two bridges? I found no other construction activity.

Continuing on I drove through Fort Worth's #1 tourist attraction, the Fort Worth Stockyards, which I think is the best tourist attraction in the D/FW zone. And is the only thing I take out of state visitors to that impresses them as being something not seen back in their own home zones.

Fort Worth really should put more effort into improving the Stockyards. I saw there has been some sidewalk work done since my last visit. The lighting at night needs a lot of work. And get rid of any boarded up eyesores, like the New Isis Theater, which has been "Opening Soon" since before I arrived in Texas in the last century. And demolish that ugly Wells Fargo bank eyesore. How did that get construction approval?

There were a lot of tourists touring the Stockyards today. And Riscky's BBQ was packed. Made me want  to stop for the all you can eat beef ribs. But, I had just been to Uncle Julio's and was not hungry.

Leaving the Stockyards I headed north on Highway 156, also known as Blue Mound Road. My initial location in Texas was in Haslet, a tiny burg way out in the country, at that point in time. Early upon arrival  in Texas, when getting our bearings, we did not yet remember place names, so, heading to downtown Fort Worth, one would ask what route you taking? The Freeway or Tijuana? Yes, we referred to Fort Worth's Blue Mound Highway 157 Road as Tijuana. None of us had ever seen such a road with so much delapidation in full view. This was before we discovered other roads in Fort Worth, like Lancaster and Berry.

I digress.

So, it has been years since I have driven by my original Texas location. Two things shocked me. One was Tijuana, in even worse shape than it was when I first saw it. The other shocking thing was to see how much of what had been open land is now covered by houses. Houses as far as I could see.

I drove past my first Texas abode with very little looking  familiar. I continued on to Golden Triangle Boulevard. West of I-35 Golden Triangle is still  a potholed mess, despite all the new houses and side roads. East of  I-35 Golden Triangle has been turned into a modern boulevard.

With landscaping.

Crossing under the freeway was like leaving a third world country and re-entering America. When I lived in Haslet  the drive east on Golden Triangle was lonely. Not a busy road. This is no longer the case. The closest grocery store upon my arrival was Krogers in Keller. Now there is an Albertsons on Golden Triangle well before you get to Keller, along with a lot of the usual fast food joints and other developments.

Continuing on into Keller I headed south on Rufe Snow Road, which has been totally rebuilt since I last drove it from Keller.

The remainder of today's road trip was over ground I've been on in recent times.

So, what is the deal with The Boondoggle's bridges? Anyone know? Anyone know exactly where that flood diversion ditch is going to be dug? Almost a year after that big TNT bang celebrating the start of the building of three bridges in slow motion and what I saw today is all there is to see?

Bizarre. And just a little pitiful.....

Big Ed's Botanic Garden Birthday With Uncle Julio & The Search For Imaginary Bridges Over Nothing

In the picture you are looking at Big Ed in Fort Worth's Botanic Garden. I do not know about what Big Ed is talking to the group of shaded kids.

Big Ed and I had been at Uncle Julio's on Camp Bowie in Fort Worth for Big Ed's annual happy birthday Mexican food pigout

After overeating at the annual happy birthday Mexican food pigout I felt the need to be vertical.

The Botanic Gardens is a nearby location with a lot of shade where it is possible to be vertical and moving and not get too overheated after overeating.

Fort Worth's Botanic Garden is the best such thing I have ever seen. As in it is actually something in Fort Worth which might cause other towns to be green with envy, if such a thing was something any town, other than Fort Worth, actually was able to be.

I was impressed by the Botanic Garden the first time I walked through them well over a decade ago, and have been freshly impressed on every return, including today. The boardwalk through the trees, which was added a few years ago, was a good heat shade today, which a lot of people were enjoying.

As I walked around the Botanic Garden I was on the lookout for Miss Julie, to no avail. Miss Julie is an expert grammarian who taught me how to whence and hence properly and who spends a lot of time in the Botanic Garden.

After giving up the search for Miss Julie it was off to the eminent domain abuse zone of the Trinity River Panther Island Vision Boondoggle to see if I could find the three non-signature bridges being built over the imaginary flood diversion channel.

I saw nothing which looked like construction. I did see what was left after the destruction of all the property which was taken by abusing the legitimate concept of taking private property for the public good, you know, things like highways, hospitals, schools.

I did a quick drop-in at Cowtown Wakepark and a saw two guys wakeboarding. Basically this was the only activity I was able to find today of something going on in the Trinity River Panther Island Vision Boondoggle.

Below is a 360 degree video look at one little section of Fort Worth's Botanic Garden....

The Segway Experience With CatsPaw In Fort Worth's Botanic Garden

CatsPaw surprised me today by letting me know that, via Groupon, she'd signed us up for a Segway tour of the 109 acre Fort Worth Botanic Garden.

Are Segways able to go off-road? On trails?

Before we are led on our tour we get personal instructions on how to operate the X2 Segways.

I have been all over the Fort Worth Botanic Garden. I may be wrong, but I don't think there are all that many areas where something like a Segway would be allowed, just like how a mountain bike or golf cart would not be allowed.

And then there are the elevation changes. Do Segway's easily navigate elevation changes?

The information that comes with the Groupon says that riders must be able to make motions such as climbing and descending stairs without assistance.

Climb and descend stairs? What does one do with ones Segway whilst climbing and descending stairs?

Also the Groupon ad says riders must weigh between 100 and 275 pounds. I guess I need to lose some weight before I get on a Segway.

It will be interesting to see how this Segway ride through the Botanic Garden works.

Early Morning Texas Thunder Booming Thinking About Singing The Billion Dollar Boondoggle Blues With J.D. Granger Tonight At Fort Worth's Botanic Gardens

Looking through my patio prison cell bars you can not tell it is raining before the arrival of the sun on this 2nd Wednesday 12th day of October.

Thunder began booming sometime around 3 this morning. Some of the lightning strikes were so close the flash and the boom occurred at the same time.

After a few explosions the downpours started.

And the wind.

My computer was being a bad girl, overheating whilst running some Microsoft Security Essentials thing that seems to be the worst virus/infection/malware annoyance I regularly experience.

So, I decided to walk away from the computer before doing my morning blogging duties and go swimming instead.

I'd not gone swimming since Sunday morning in the rain. The rain had ceased by the time I hit the surprisingly warm water this morning.

Tonight, at 6:30, at Fort Worth's Botanic Garden's Conservatory's Lecture Hall I may be singing the Billion Dollar Boondoggle Blues with J.D. Granger. See you there.

Charlie Company Memorial in Fort Worth's Botanic Garden

Last Fall I walked all over Fort Worth's Botanic Garden looking at the Fall Foliage which was being particularly colorful. Tucked away, way off the beaten path, I came upon a lonely, neglected memorial.

It being Memorial Day I thought I'd tell the story of this Fort Worth Memorial to Charlie Company.

Way back in August of 1967 an 18 year old soldier named James David "Shorty" Haas sent a letter home from where he and his group of fellow U.S. soldiers were hunkered down deep in the steaming jungles of the Central Highlands of Vietnam.

The troops were war-weary, had suffered months of sleep deprivation and constant enemy fire. They were getting discouraged. The letter James Haas sent home asked for some sort of encouragement, some token of acknowledgment to raise the morale of his comrades.

Somehow the letter soon found its way to DeWitt McKinley, the mayor, at the time, of Fort Worth. He was touched by the simple humility of the hometown soldier caught in the throes of war, asking for nothing but a glimmer of hope.

The mayor and the people of Fort Worth responded. In September, Fort Worth's answer to the letter began to arrive in Vietnam. Duffle bags stuffed with cookies, cakes and letters of support arrived weekly. Among the many letters sent to the soldiers was one proclaiming that the City of Fort Worth had officially adopted the soldiers, formally known as Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade.

For the soldiers, this flood of reassurance came at a particularly difficult time. One soldier later commented, "You have no idea how that compassion turned us around."

Thirty-four years later, on July 6, 2001, 21 surviving members of Charlie Company met in Fort Worth's Botanic Garden to again say "Thank You" to the people of Fort Worth. Sadly, among the missing, was James David "Shorty" Haas, who's letter had touched so many.

The First Saturday of December at Fort Worth's Botanic Gardens

Fall colors are being spectacular this year in Texas, due to several factors, like low humidity, a drought and no hard freezes. Last week I read that one of the best places to see a wide variety of colorful leaves was Fort Worth's Botanic Garden. The Botanic Garden is located in what Fort Worth calls its Cultural District.

I'd not been to the Botanic Garden since October of 2001, if I remember correctly. So, on Saturday I thought it'd be fun to walk around Fort Worth's best gardens.

There's been a huge new thing added to the Botanic Gardens that is very impressive. It's called the Texas Native Forest Boardwalk. Which describes it well. It's in Texas, it's a boardwalk and it's surrounded by native forest.

The purpose of the Texas Native Forest Boardwalk is to educate kids. In a fun way. It's also designed to be fun and educational for grownups. I'm grown up and I found it fun. There is education and fun off the boardwalk, that is also part of the Texas Native Forest exhibits.

You can walk balance beams, crawl through hollowed out trees and visit a log hotel. On the Boardwalk there are several listening tubes where you can whisper to someone at another section of the Boardwalk.

For me, the coolest thing on the Boardwalk, other than how cool the elevated Boardwalk itself was, was the "Name That Tune" exhibit. There were 10 buttons to push that when pushed a bird would warble. You guess what type bird it was and then lift the flap to see if you are right. The only 2 I had a clue about were the turkey and the owl. The cool part was how realistic the chirping was. It sounded like it was coming out of the trees, in stereo. Very well done.

A slightly weird, yet somehow amusing thing on the Boardwalk was one of the questions posed. As you walk the Boardwalk you come to signs that pose questions. You lift a board to reveal the answer. The slightly weird, yet somehow amusing question was "Do Trees Poop?"

You can see me revealing the answer to the "Do Trees Poop?" question on the right.

The Fort Worth Botanic Gardens has several totally landscaped, not natural, formal type gardens that are very well done. The formal or demonstration gardens are the Japanese, Rose, Perennial, Fuller, Trial, Four Season, Water Conservation and Cactus Gardens.

In addition to the landscaped gardens and the Boardwalk, there are several totally natural, unpaved, for the most part, trails, like the Pecan Promenade Nature Trail and the Sugarberry Nature Trail. One of the 'nature trails' was paved with flagstones, but still managed to be very natural. The flagstoned trail is called the Rock Springs Trail. It's the location of the biggest pecan tree in the Botanical Garden.

So, if you live somewhere within driving distance of Fort Worth and want to take the kids and Grandma to a fun outdoors experience that manages to be good exercise for both the body and the brain, you should haul yourselves to the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens.

The Botanic Garden is very easy to find. They are about 1.5 miles west of downtown Fort Worth. You can just follow the signs to the "Cultural District." Or get off Interstate 30 at University and head north on University Drive. You'll soon come to the first entrance to the Botanic Garden. Take the second entrance and it will lead you to the Garden Center where the Conservatory is located.

The Conservatory is like a greenhouse on steroids that contains a tropical garden. The only entry fees charged in the Botanic Garden are for the Conservatory and the Japanese Garden.