The Tropics in NH

This has been vacation week--we've been virusy and stuck inside for too many days. I thought we'd go crazy with one more day in the house so we went off on an adventure. Where do you go when you've got a chest cold? Somewhere humid! So, I gathered up the girls and our art supplies and took them out for a day of surprises.

We began our adventure by going to the Dartmouth greenhouses. I had always heard about them, but had never visited We discovered room after room filled with banana trees, tea plants, cacoa trees, and coffee plants. Here's Hels holding a coffee bean--it's red!

Their biggest collection is of orchids. There were orchids of every size and color imaginable. The botanist on duty gave us a tour and showed us how to identify them.

We had fun at the greenhouses and then went on to a sinus-clearing lunch at the new Korean restaurant. Lots of chicken soup and spicy sushi.

Our sinus cure continued with a stop (with our art supplies) at the Dartmouth College art museum--you need humidity to keep paintings in good condition. I was most excited to see their new exhibit of Native American basketry--something I collect.


While I was very happy to see the exhibit, the girls weren't so excited about drawing at the museum. Luckily it didn't cost anything to get in (love college art museums!). They wanted to go back to sketch at the greenhouses. Back we went!

Hels decided to paint orchids.

Lou found her corner.

I settled in near this little fountain.

Darwin the Zebra Finch kept me company. I could almost imagine I was in the Galapagos!

These 3 tiny rooms on the roof of the Life Sciences Building were like a tropical fairy world. We sketched for over an hour and came out with red cheeks and cleared heads.


We frequently go off to a greenhouse at this time of year. The beauty of this little one was that nothing was for sale. There was no argument over which plant to buy. The gestures were of appreciation rather than acquisition.

And guess what? No coughing last night!