120. The Secret Garden

It's always fun to run in a new place.  You see the world differently when you're running than when you're walking or driving to a particular destination.  I have fantasies of running some of the best American landscapes at different times of day, á la Forrest Gump.  The mountains and the desert in particular are calling my name.  For now, it's mostly me, the lake, and the skyline. 

But last month while I was on vacation with my family I got to explore some new terrain.  I was running along the main commercial street to and from the resort where we were staying when I passed this thing off the side of the road.  I hadn't noticed it the first two days, but on this day it caught my eye and I decided to check it out.

Once I got up the first set of steps, it got pretty interesting.  You can't see it in the picture, but from here I could see a statue in the middle of the structure, facing away from the street.  I still don't know what this place is, but I figured it was some kind of awesome public garden.

It turned out to be a statue of a woman.  I assumed it was the Virgin Mary, can't say for sure.  I was a little disappointed that the area inside the structure wasn't kept better.  I thought if it had been tailored in some really precise way it could make for a pretty hallowed experience.

This was the view off behind the statue.  I didn't realize I was so close to the water when I was running, but I headed down the stairs to see what I could see.  There was a simple fence at the bottom that didn't open out onto the bay.  I supposed I coulda hopped it, but I wasn't up for that.  There's a little alter/gazebo at the bottom of the steps in the middle of the picture.   Imagined that it would be a lovely place to get married, if someone were into that kinda thing.

This is the view from the top of the stairs, looking back across the street.  The garden continued on the other side of the road.  I could see fountains and pools of water off in the distance.  It really was lovely.  I'm not sure if the land belonged to one of the resorts, or if it was public space. Either way... good stuff.