Find Shangri La in Texas
I love visiting botanical gardens. When I was a kid, one of my favorite places that my parents would take us was the United States Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C. Almost the entire facility is indoors, right within close view of the Capitol building. I continued to go back regularly on my own as a teen and as an adult. We also used to visit the U.S. National Arboretum, which is a more expansive outdoor series of gardens and groves. They have a cool indoor display of bonsai trees and a great herb garden.
Everywhere I have moved, I have sought out the botanical gardens of the area. Some are better than others, of course. Take a look around your own area and discover the gardens that are available to you and your family. Sometimes they are small, like the one I remember in Morgantown, WV, and sometimes they are large and well-known, the like the one Orange, TX.
Shangri La Gardens and Nature Center sits on 252 acres in Orange. The Center is the first project in Texas and only the 50th in the world to earn the U.S. Green Building Council’s Platinum certification for LEED®-NC. That means the design and construction of Shangri La holds to the highest green building and performance measures.
The park was initially inspired by the Shangri-la of James Hilton’s 1933 novella “Lost Horizon.” In the book, the fantastical gardens are located at a Tibetan monetary. Now, though, you can experience a version of the timeless utopia right in Texas.
If you can’t wait to see what’s going on in Texas, you can visit the Center’s website and see a webcam that gives you a real time view of the gardens. Still, a live visit is best. You can enjoy the garden, take educational tours, join in on a number of programs, and even find refreshments in the café.
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