So, after our family was thoroughly wowed by the big Giants in the Mariposa Grove, we drove to visit Mr. Friendly’s aunt and uncle in Fresno. That’s where we changed from being national park tourists into shameless Tennessee google-eyed tourists!
I mean, everyone’s a tourist in the park–you expect that. But, to whip out our cameras in an ordinary backyard–well, that’s probably crossing a line somewhere! But, what we found so amazed us that we just couldn’t help ourselves!
Bright orange and yellow balls hung from trees like Christmas ornaments. Indeed, that’s what they reminded me of. I am not used to such brightly-colored oranges, anyways, having grown up eating Florida navels, which are much paler, and not so uniformly-colored. Oranges, tangerines, lemons, mandarins, and across the neighbor’s fence, there were pomegranates–growing right on a tree! This truly was unreal to us–and all in November, almost December! And it was seventy degrees!
After the initial shock of seeing such wonder growing right in the backyard, we enjoyed catching up and spending time visiting with Daddy’s aunt and uncle at their comfortable and inviting home. We truly had a nice time sharing good memories from past years and walking, cooking, and eating together. And Aunt S. really was a good sport to try some vegan dishes, which she survived, I do believe. 🙂
On Sunday, Aunt S and Uncle W took us to a really neat place they had found in their city. It was called the Underground Gardens, and the whole thing really blew us away. I won’t entirely describe it here, as Wikipedia does a pretty good job, but since that site is kind of dry, here’s a link to one that shares some reviews, which are fun.
A man actually excavated the whole underground structure by hand, and what an amazing job he did!! As we explored the fruit orchards that grew underground and stretched up to greet the sunshine above, you can bet that Mr. Friendly allowed his mental gears to crank into overdrive with ideas of what he could try. You never know until you try, do you? This whole underground house/garden is an example of that fact.
Here are the Little A’s favorite memories:
Little A #1: ORANGES and Fuyu persimmons
Middle A: ORANGES (and the Underground gardens–because of the growing fruit)
Littlest A: ORANGES (and the Underground gardens–seeing the fruit and going through it)
Little Bit: hiding under the bed
(can you see a theme of this family? Food seems to impress the Little growing A’s the best!)
The time whizzed by too quickly, and soon we had to head back to winter. 
But not without our good memories, and even a generous gift of those orange and yellow beauties that so amazed us!
YUM!!
Lessons...and lessons 
This is so amazing! I would love to live there!
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It was pretty neat to see all that fruit.
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