Bear Tree Park

We went to Bear Tree Park today and had a really great time.  The grounds and gardens are so beautiful. We were able to meet up with the Mayo and Filmore Family.  The drive from home to the park is a straight drive on the 17 freeway.  The park it literally right off the freeway, with a huge parking lot.  There weren't any cars in the paring lot, except ours, so we had the entire park to ourselves.

We stopped first at the huge Koi Pond.  The grounds were kept up so beautiful and everything was pristine.  There was fish food with a donation box, so we put in 1000 won and fed the koi fish.

There were so many fish in the pond that it was almost scary.  I could imagine falling in and with how many fish there were, I'm pretty sure they would eat me all up.

To get a better view of all the fish and to feed them, the kids went on a bridge over the lake.  They were able to drop the food and watch all the fish just circle around in a fish food frenzy.  When we ran out of food, they poured in some water from their water bottles and got the same reaction from the fish.

Kevin absolutely loves halloween, so when we saw pumpkins that were the size of Monster, I just had to get a picture for him!

After the Koi Pond, we walked through the Welcome House building and went to the Beartree Garden.  The bushes were so amazing because they were cut to look like insects and animals.  There was a thinking man sculpture and the kids got a kick out of it.  Little A kept pointing at it and saying "I'm thinking, I'm thinking", just like in the movie- The Night At The Museum.

Our next stop was the Pet Zoo, not to be mistaken with a petting zoo.  This area had so many different animals.  There was a gigantic cage in the middle with peacocks.  The kids got a kick out of making bird calls at them and getting the peacocks to respond back.  There were dogs, groundhogs, bunnies, a small bear, and mice.  The kids loved all the animals.  It was a little sad to see the animals because there were a million animals in a small area.  The caged area were not big enough for how many animals they had packed in it.

As we left the Pet Zoo and headed up the walkway to the bear section of the Pet zoo, we walked past the neatest trees!  They were each cut and super smooth.  It was like rolling hills of trees, or waves of trees.  It was such a neat site!  I think I loved the trees more then the flowers.

Our next stop was at the bears.  I was beginning to see a theme here- too many animals in tiny spaces, and the bears were no different.  In a small caged area with about six different sections we found the bears below us.  As we walked by them, we started to hear this weird sucking noise.  Upon closer inspection and observation, we found out that the noise was the bears and they were blowing kisses.  The bears have been trained to wave, blow kisses, stand up and reach their hands up to beg for food.
It was cute, in a morbid way.  But honestly, It was sad seeing the bears just sitting there begging for food with no where to go, no water, no trees and no nature.

We did love the bear statue though!  Right next to the bear cages, was a gigantic bear statue.  The kids had fun climbing all over it.

There was a statue park behind the bear cages with a plethora of animal metal statues.  Each kid wanted their turn getting a picture with their favorite statue!

Little A went dancing and hung on a bear statue.

And Monster found a frog that he not only sat on for a picture, but then spent the next 10 minutes actually bring a frog and hopping all over while ribbitting.

The next stop on the map was the Manchurian Black Bear Garden.  I wouldn't call it a garden, unless a garden encompasses cement and metal jungle gym equipment.

This area included the small little black bears with the white necks.  These bears also waved and blew kisses.  There was a sky walk that you walk through that is directly over the bears.  It was a little heartbreaking seeing so many beautiful animals stuck in a cement cage on such a blistering hot day.

The only bears the I really liked at Bear Tree Park were the mosaic bears on the wall!  Now I could look at these bears all day!  I opted to see the mosaic art while the kids looked at the real bears.

It was about this time that we were all starving!  It was an extremely hot day and the kids were beginning to melt, so we were excited that the map showed a cafe and a restaurant straight up the road.  Since you can't bring food into the park, we were banking on the restaurant to get the kids fed.  We got to the food places and they were all closed- sealed shut!  There wasn't a single worker to be seen.  My kids were starving, so we sat down in the restaurant outdoor seating area and my kids ate their sack lunches that we shouldn't have brought in due to the no food rule.  I was glad I didn't follow the rules, because I would have lost the let's-stay-a-little-longer battle, due to hot and hungry kiddos.

While my kids ate, I went and explored the Songpa Pavilion with Alyssa, Valerie and Valerie's sister.

The Songpa Pavilion is this beautiful pond with a gazebo looking structure.  There were bear statues in the pond and beautiful trees all around.

After the kids ate their illegal lunches, we stopped the Bear Sculpture Park and the kids enjoyed climbing all over another bear sculpture. We had a good group of kids today!

Bear Tree Park has the most amazing greenhouses!  We went into every single one of them!  Each greenhouse had a different theme.  The first one was the Tropical Plant Greenhouse.  Monster loves Andrew Mayo and hung out on his shoulders through the Tropical Plants.

When we got to the Bonsai Garden, all the boys were gardened out, and found a granite table and chairs.  They all sat downs and Monster sat down as if he was one of the guys.  The boys taught Monster how to play rock, paper, scissors.  Since they were all resting, I was able to explore more of the greenhouses without a monster!

I really loved the Bonsai Garden.  It was so beautiful with vibrant flowers and the neatest bushes and small trees.

Alyssa found me and asked if I had seen the Song-Pa Garden yet.  Since I had not, we walked to that one!  It was just as beautiful as she had said it would be!

The end of the garden even had a small man-made waterfall!

The last garden we saw was the cactus garden.  I loved this one too!  I tell you, the greenhouses and gardens are so amazing here!  The cactus area was super hot!  On an already hot day, it wasn't too enjoyable to be in a hot cactus garden, but I walked quickly through it.

My favorite plant was this brown fuzzy plant.  It looked like it could have been an animal with a long tail curled up and sleeping.  I was worried the plant would turn and start talking to me.  It was the most crazy and unique plant in the entire garden!

There are so many things to see in Korea, so usually I'm a one and done type of person; however, I loved the gardens and Bear Tree Park is really close, so I have put this on my "come back any time" list!  I don't know if we would venture back to the Pet Zoo and Bears, but we would definitely come and drink in the beautiful gardens! So, Bear Tree Park, until we meet again.