Carlsbad Flower Fields - Bah

So, every year, the Armstrong Nursery in Carlsbad grows these fields of Giant Tecolote Ranunculus. I've seen them my whole life, driving by the nursery, the beautiful hills full of rows and rows of color.

I didn't really know much about them before, my family never really made any effort to go see them up close, and quite frankly, other than seeing them from the freeway, I never knew exactly what time of year to expect them. (The fields just closed for the season as I wrote this blog).

 I got this picture off the internet :)

This year, I had to go to the mall, that's located right in front of the flowers. When I pulled up to park - there they were! AND I wasn't on any time of time schedule, so FINALLY! I was gonna go see them up close!

Or so I thought. Walking up to the nursery, I started noticing these huge fences around the property... Not around the nursery, but in the back, around the flower fields. We're talking 10-12 feet of pure "you cant see though me" glory. Weird.... So, I walked around for about 10 minutes, looking for the enterance (apparently, I started on the wrong side) and when I finally found it I noticed gates and ticket takers. That's cool, ok, what like $5 to see the flowers, not totally unexpected, but I could handle that. NO! It was $11! Its not that $11 is all that much money in the grand scheme - but, I literally wanted to walk up, see the flowers, take a picture, and buy a bouquet of them. That's it, like 5 minutes of their time. Absolutely, not worth $11. Childhood dream, smashed.

On top of that, when I came home and looked up the fields online, I noticed that there was a Photography Rules page.... forms to fill out and usage agreements.

Bah. I was totally disappointed. Luckily, I took all these photos from not their property. So, I'm allowed to post them. The whole thing just seemed a little weird.... a little... sad. I'm starting to think all businesses are taking after the Disneyland model - only the financially well-off get to go. Oh well, I'll get to see them from afar for the rest of forever - honestly, I think their prettier that way anyway :)