Iowa has been having a week of warm weather stuck into the middle of our fall so on Sunday I figured I better get out and enjoy the warmth for what could be the last time.  At the end of the week it is back into the 30s for lows and 50s for highs.  Travel Iowa had an article about Reiman Gardens in Ames, Iowa, having a Lego sculpture exhibit through the end of October so I headed over there after picking up my daughter-in-law who agreed to go with me.

I was very surprised to see that Reiman Gardens is a formal place where you pay an $8 admission fee.  Maybe because I had been to Meredith’s Test Gardens (read here) and that was free although much smaller, I wasn’t expecting an entry fee, and I thought the $8 was too steep for an hour of walking around the grounds when most everything had already died.  They did have the Lego sculptures though.  As some of the photos reveal, in a few places the sculpture was just in dirt because the plants had already been taken out of the ground so I think someone should adjust the fee schedule in the fall when the plants have died.  Otherwise, I am sure it is more than worth it to roam amongst the flowers. Since we drove over an hour to get there and I have a fascination with Legos, I wasn’t going to turn back now so we paid the fee and went in to look.

The butterfly garden was only going to be open for a 1/2 hour so we hurriedly stopped there first.  I have never been in one before, so I was just enchanted with this area.

The chair above was a very colorful and interesting place to sit and just enjoy the butterflies flitting by.  I wish I had a video to capture them while in flight.

The grounds themselves are extensive so we set off walking on the trails to view the Lego sculptures that were spread out over the entire grounds.  Here are just a few of my favorites.

Also, as we walked along the path, there were interesting sculptures like the ones below and also there were many unique birdhouses.  Sorry I did not get a picture of any birdhouses though.  The gnome below was the largest concrete gnome in the world.  My daughter-in-law wondered out loud how long that claim could be made since we saw that “concrete” had been added to the sign later, we supposed, to continue to make it a true claim.

I thought the below non-Lego bunny sculpture was interesting with the colors.

It was a great day to be out and see something unusual with my daughter-in-law, and I was glad to support these lovely gardens and Iowa State University.  I’ll be back next year when all the flowers are out because I saw a lot of rose bushes!  I’ll leave you with what I think is my best shot because I like how the fall leaves in the background add a bit to the colors of the hummingbird.