A Trip to the Gardens

Last Friday, I took Noni (my grandmother to the uninitiated) to the Thanksgiving Point Gardens in Lehi, Utah, about a 40 minute drive from where I live. Thanksgiving Point is a remarkable place - really the type of place that could only happen here. Apparently one of the founders of WordPerfect (a Utah innovation) and his wife remarked at the beauty of an alfalfa field to the west of Interstate 15 between Salt Lake City and Provo. To save it from commercial development, they purchased the land -- and developed it themselves. They called it Thanksgiving Point, to commemorate the land and the blessings that God had bestowed on them.

As I said the project is quite unique. The enterprise is a not-for-profit company whose stated mission is to provide education and enlightenment to anyone who comes by. To this end, the project includes a couple restaurants, a movie theatre, a great interpretive archaeology museum, a model farm, exhibition and meeting space, a golf course, and these gardens. The whole effort possesses the slight fragrance of Mormon noblesse oblige. The gardens are too new to be spectacular, but in a generation or so, given the proper care, they will be. Here are some photos of the first annual Tulip Festival at the Gardens at Thanksgiving Point. Enjoy.