Day Tripping: Cal Poly Pomona
Woman in the Middle | July 2, 2012On Mother’s Day we swung by and picked up Youngest Daughter at her school, Cal Poly Pomona. After we went out to lunch we came back to the school and showed the girl’s grandmother (Hubby’s mom) some of the sights of Cal Poly Pomona. I realized then that a visit to the school would make a lovely day out and thought I would share with you some of the things you can enjoy there. Even though this campus is home to approximately 20,000 students, on the weekends it is practically deserted, a nice quite place for a day out.
Turtle Pond
On University Drive is a small stretch of on-street 30 minute parking in front of the La Cienega Center (#59 on the campus map). The parking is right by a small pond which is full of koi, turtles, and a few ducks. The turtles like to get out of the pond and bask in the sun, some times right on top of one another! There are a couple of benches and if you don’t touch or harass the turtles you can get right up close to check them out. Don’t bother the wildlife as it is a campus offence if you do!
Rose Garden
If you turn your back to the pond and look to the left you can see that just a short walk away (on the other side of University Drive) is a beautiful rose garden full of all kinds of different roses. If you see one you can’t live without all of the rose bushes are marked with a stake with its name on it. Lots of other flowers are interspersed among the roses. In the middle is a lovely gazebo with benches if you need a rest in the shade. Don’t pick the roses however, that is not allowed! It sounds like too many love smitten boys tried to use the rose garden to woo their lady-love in years past and they had to crack down on the flower picking.
Japanese Garden
If you leave the rose garden from the side away from University Drive and go to the right on the pathway you will come to the Japanese garden. It is full of shade and water features and has a pond with many multicolored koi fish. Again, very enjoyable to see.
The campus does not keep its shops and food vendors open on weekends so if you want to pick up a picnic lunch head over to the Farm Store, which is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It features campus grown produce, as, at its heart, Cal Poly Pomona is an agricultural school. But it has a selection of other things such as drinks, wine, sandwiches, that you could take on a picnic. It also has a wide variety of plants you can purchase as well as gift items. The zucchini growing in my back yard even as I type came from there. They also have special events such as the strawberry Festival which is held in May every year.
If you go on a weekday you can eat lunch or dinner at the Restaurant at Kellogg Ranch. The restaurant is part of the Collins College of Restaurant Management and is staffed by professionals as well as undergraduate students who are studying to receive a degree in restaurant and hotel management. However, currently this restaurant is open only on a limited schedule so check before you go.
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