Flower Fields at Carlsbad Ranch & Legoland Hotel

TRAVEL BY NIC…….The Perpetual Tourist!

The Flower Fields at Carlsbad Ranch

Want to experience Spring?!  Then you gotta see the flower fields of Carlsbad!  Over 50 acres devoted to raising beautiful bright ranunculus!  From the freeway you can see the bright gold, orange, red, purple & merlot colors climb the hill.  However, when you’re at the top of the hill you see the same bright colors and it looks like they are about to roll right into the ocean! 

 

The best time to view the fields runs from March 1 thru May 12^th.  9am-6p.  $11 per person, but if you have a triple AAA card you can save a buck!  Parking is free…..uh…..but good luck!  Luckily there is an outlet mall right next door so of course you can use their parking too!

Be sure to check out their website (theflowerfields.com) because they have events just about every weekend.  They did have some vendors there, a children’s play area (Santa’s playground).  We enjoyed a band playing as we walked the grounds.  Other activities included a sweet pea maze, rose & theme gardens, American flag of flowers, antique tractor wagon rides.  Everywhere you turn you will find picture perfect settings!  The antique tractors are used to give guided tours, we didn’t do that but it looked like it would be worth the $20 per person.

Once you’re off the colorful hill, you’ll find plenty of other flowers to photograph!  I’m telling you, it’s a photographer’s paradise!! 

So here is your history lesson in a nutshell!  Louis Gage started growing the Giant Tecolote Ranunculus bulbs just south of Oceanside.  (Tecolote came from the owls that nested on his property).  The garden passed from Louis to Frank and finely to the grandson Edwin Gage.  Edwin managed to take the Ranunculus bulb from a single petal flower that was only availabe in yellow & red, to a full flower with several layers of petals.  Now you can find the ranunculus in a range of 13 different colors!  Needless to say he eluded his competitors and that left him the only commercial ranunculus grower in the US.  In 1993 Edwin was ready to retire;  Paul Ecke Jr formed a joint venture with grower Mellano & Company to continue growing the beautiful flowers.  In 1999 Armstrong Garden Centers entered a retail arrangement with Paul & Mellano & Company thus The Flower Fields at Carlsbad Ranch was born!

So I say GO!!  It will make you smile!

Legoland Hotel, Carlsbad/San Diego, CA

We were going to go eat dinner at the Legoland Hotel, (just up the hill from the Flower Fields).  The hotel is sooooo cute!  If you have kids, it’s a must see, stay at or just visit!  The outside of the building looks like it was put together with legos.  Of course the lobby is kid friendly!  Everywhere you look you’ll find the professional lego characters displayed all around.  AND, you’ll find lego pits all for kids & adults to start building.

So we found their 2 restaurants, one is a buffet that had a huge selection of food to choose from.  The buffet was $25 per adult & $10 per child and we just weren’t hungry enough to stay.  The décor was very kid friendly, (duh), bright colors, table cloths they could color on and of course the lego creations throughout the dining area.  Right across the hall was Skyline Café, and it was a little more like a lounge, well like a lounge in a kids building if you catch my drift.

Anyway, we ended up at a chain restaurant.  But again, nothing against the hotel!  I say it’s a must see!  If you have kids……It would be a fabulous place to stay!!  BTW, I neglected to mention that Legoland is right outside the door!!  (Sorry, I feel I’ve failed you all as a travel agent….I didn’t get rates!!!  But you know I’d be happy to book you a room if you decide to stay there!)