Staff Field Trip, Fall 2000

	Unlike years past, there were no guests. Only the staff. In fact, even Sandra was unable to attend (but she did get a free lunch ). As luck would have it, it was the first Tuesday of the month (Sept 5, 2000), and there was no admission (normally $5). Who knew? Here's the group, minus Joanna who's working the camera, poses at the entrance to Quail Garden.
We broke into a couple of small groups and explored the gardens. One group started with the large bamboo garden that is west of the entrance. In the middle of huge stands of bamboo was this charming lily pond.
	Here's a closer shot, trying to get some of the cute little frogs in the pond.
Gotcha!
	There was an outlook that let you see the ocean to the west, and the mountains in east county. Two of the groups meet on the way to and from the outlook. The camera is facing northeast, and you can see what a beautiful day it was!
It wouldn't be a botanical garden without orchids. Here is a nice close up of one (good shooting, Joanna).
Parts of the gardens were divided according to geographic zones. For instance, these vermilliads were in the South American zone.
	This ham gets in a lot of pictures
There was a second lily pond near the South American garden.

At this point (about 11:30), we all loaded back into the van and headed south to Balboa Park. We had lunch under the tree outside the Spanish Village (see next picture), and the proceeded off to the museums.
The Museum of Man had a special exhibit, "The Inquisition" which dealt with instruments of torture used during the Middle Ages (some up to the present, ugh). Most (all?) of the crew headed there first. It was pretty grim--man's inhumanity to man. Many of the devices simple held the victim in some uncomfortable position until their joints gave out, or their skin chaffed off.
Here's what is left of the crew at the end of the day. That's the Spanish Village in Balboa Park in the back ground.