Santa Cruz Adventure - Day 2 - Garden of Gilroy

When we first started visiting this delightful tourist attraction it was named Bonfante Gardens after its founder and largest benefactor Michael Bonfante, former owner of the Nob Hill grocery chain. When it ran into financial trouble in early 2008, a deal was made with the city of Gilroy and we now have Gilroy Gardens. Below is Jacob checking out the hip representation of Gil.

Ever since Steven discovered Bonfante Gardens and shared the discovery with us, we have loved the place. The pace is slower than at some other attractions. Here, Carolyn and Grandson Michael are enjoying a peaceful swim around the lake with the aid of a pedal equipped Mallard duck.

The kids were all keyed up for the place and it was about all we could do to direct them in the general direction of the next attraction we wanted to take in. Along the way Michael managed to skin his knees. For a while there we had one very sad boy who thought the day was done for him, he'd have to join Grandpa in a wheelchair. We asked an employee where the First Aid was located but she got on her radio and within 10 minutes this young man with all the necessary bandages and lotions appeared and took care of Michael's real problems. His imaginary problems persisted throughout the day.


Speaking of Grandpa and his wheelchair, Ed was kind enough to get a wheelchair for me. It was so nice just to sit and watch the world go by that I had to make a conscious effort to stay connected with the crowd.

While everyone else wanted an Icee, I preferred a soft ice cream cone. Bad choice. You can see how I'm desperately trying to catch all the drips but the ice cream is melting faster than I can lick it.
Carolyn and Ed took care of most of the pushing of my wheelchair which made it really nice. It was interesting to see how much has to be done to provide wheelchair access.

All in all, our family enjoyed the Park so much we were reluctant to leave. That meant that by the time we made it back to Scott's Valley for dinner (since our hotel reservation was there) many of the fast food restaurants were closed. Bruno's Barbecue had been recommended by Steve and Lisa .

We finally ended up ordering sandwiches at the local Subway shoppe.