Monday, June 24, 2013

Birthday Recap Part II

The second day of my birthday celebration my mom and I started in Woodside, California. What's in Woodside? The famous national landmark estate, Filoli.
I had mentioned wanting to go visit Filoli because it was the home featured on the 1980's classic television show Dynasty. When I found out that Filoli was the estate used for all the outside filming I knew I wanted to visit it. I did some research and found out that the home is open for tours and located only two hours from my house. I was sooo excited to visit it.

The outside is exactly as it looks on television. It didn't seem as big as it does on t.v. but that always seems to be the case. The inside of the house is just as grand as the outside. The  furnishings are what Dynasty loosely based the interior on and everything is antique. 
What's really great about Filoli is that you can walk around the entire downstairs of the house and explore each room for as long as you like. Certain areas of each room are roped off but you can literally right up to the couches, chairs, mirrors etc. You can also take as many photos as you'd like minus the flash. Besides just the great interior of the home is the beautifully, landscaped grounds. Filoli is home to multiple gardens and houses some of the most beautiful roses. 
This lovely pink rose is just one example of the many the grounds keepers have manicured. My mother and I saw at least five different rose colors: white, red, pink, yellow and peach. Not only do they have roses but they have other flowers and fruit trees. We also spied this amazing swimming pool. It's such a shame that no one swims in it. 
The gardner told us that the deep end is 9 feet! The water was so clear and I just wanted to take a little dip while I was there. Filoli if you ever need someone to do some laps in it let me know and I'll drive right over. After we got done touring the rose gardens and the pool area we made our way over to the infamous sunken garden. The sunken garden was the thing I was most looking forward to seeing in person. It's also the home of the famous cat fight that happened on Dynasty. 
As you can tell, I was pretty excited to be there! 
I'm hoping the pond water was a little cleaner on the cat fight day than it was while I was there. That water was pretty green! I didn't see any frogs on those lilly pads either. I can't explain how wonderful of a place Filoli was to tour. If you ever get to San Francisco make the trip down to Woodside. The tour can either be guided or on your own and it's only $15.00 for admission with free parking. Plus your admission helps pay for the estates upkeep. 

6 comments:

Unknown said...

That's really cool that the show used the outside, and based their sets on the inside of the house. Does the family who owns it have a lot of drama in their past? Looks like you had a good time!

saucyminx410 said...

So pretty there! I love touring old homes!

Why Girls Are Weird said...

What a fun tour!

Deidre said...

I love touring old houses like that, it looks beautiful! And the grounds are spectacular.

Selma @ Crazy Little World Of Mine said...

Sounds like a fantastic visit! Never knew it was this close to you, would have told ya. ;)

Carol {Everyday Delights} said...

What a fun way to spend your birthday! And looks like it was a beautiful, sunny day!