Wow! What an incredible night. We did not expect the experience that we encountered when we randomly bought tickets to see the Moonlight Forest exhibit at the LA Arboretum.
WARNING: LOTS OF PICTURES INCOMING!!
Beware of the dragon.
Since Amanda's father is still visiting from the UK, we were trying to find interesting things to do around town. Actually, it was him who found the Moonlight Forest event. Amanda and I were busy working when he mentioned it, so we suggested that he go ahead and book tickets.
My father-in-Law doesn't really get how difficult it is to get around LA quickly, so he bought tickets for the same evening, about 3 hours later - right when rush hour was in full effect!
We quickly got ready and rushed out the door. Amanda was in a bit of a mood, and I was getting car sick. It didn't help that we had no idea what it was that we were going to see. When we pulled up, it was just getting dark and the doors weren't open yet.
We got a glimpse of some light displays and thought, Oh! That looks cool. We really had no idea at just how big this event was. There were so many people!
The first thing we did when we got there was head to the food court. The food is technically at the exit, but we hadn't had time to eat so we stopped there first.
Next, it was time to go back and have a look around. Man, were we impressed! When we arrived, I thought perhaps there were a few things to look at and we'd be done.
I could not have been more wrong! It just goes on and on. All I kept thinking about was just how much work must have gone into putting all of this together.
Once it got completely dark, it became nothing short of magical. You should have heard the kids! Everyone was just gingerly walking around gazing at all the colorful lights and designs.
The pieces appear to be sculpted, thick wires that are welded together and wrapped with a cloth skin. The lights are dispersed throughout the sculptures very skillfully to create the wonderful illusion of life.
The arboretum is divided up into themed areas that we began to notice as we moved along. There was everything from birds to bears to fish to weird looking emoji thingies.
I actually took over 100 photos here. I just want to put it into context if you think that there are too many images in this post!
I tried to narrow it down to some of the most interesting things to look at. I would really like to know how many people it took to put all of these together!
Apparently, this was the first time that this show has been done. Sadly, it has rained a very uncharacteristic amount here in Los Angeles over the past month. Probably because of the fires!
I don't think that the organizers anticipated the rain, since it pretty much never rains in Southern California.
The downside to the rain was that some of the ink on the artwork was running a bit. Not enough to ruin the experience, but it definitely had an effect.
I did kind of wonder what they will do with the pieces after the show ends. I can't imagine that they will be easy to dismantle and reuse! But who knows.
Another thing that happened during the event was a stage show. Unfortunately, I didn't get any footage of it.
I wanted to get some pictures, but a massive crowd formed around the stage, so it was a bit difficult. No matter! We just went ahead and enjoyed the show.
I don't think it really would have been worth photographing, at least not with my phone camera. It was mostly stunts and it was quite dark outside.
By the time we finished watching the acrobats on stage, we realized that we had actually seen everything that there was to see and decided it was time to call it a night.
We began to head for the exit and took one last look at all of the magnificent creations. I don't know if they will do it again next year, but if they do, I would highly recommend it!
I will leave you with a picture of Amanda and her dad. As always - thanks for stopping by!