A few weekends ago, Josh and I checked out Seattle's Japanese Gardens. Luckily, it was one of Seattle's more sunny spring days. We'd worked hard during the work week, and we needed to seek out some tranquility. And we found it.

We'd been to Portland's Japanese Gardens years ago and we were impressed. These were not quite as large, but still very beautiful. It was so peaceful walking around enjoying the gardens. One of my favorite moments was resting on bench and just soaking in the sun for a few minutes. So pleasant.

When you walk into the gardens, a few feet in and you come up to a large pond. The path takes you all the way around the pond.

When you cross over the bridge, you can see all the koi fish - these were big guys. They'd bop up to the surface and look at you. I feel like they are frowning at you. Like they are saying, "stop looking at me, and get off my pond you silly human."

Whereas the turtle was more stoic and looking out upon his pond. He was definitely staking his claim as king of the pond. I wonder how the koi feel about that.

As usual, I enjoyed the flowers. These little red ones caught my eye. It's neat how the moss is on the branches. I feel like it was the spring flowers breaking through the mossy winter.

Or this bright white flower. This one reminded me of Hawaii. I think I have a very similar photo of this flower there...must mean something about me.

And what's a Japanese garden without some stone lanterns. Guess what, there are pennies in the lantern. Is that like throwing a penny into a fountain?

I took a few photos of the lantern and bridge. I could decide which photo and angle I liked better. The one that shows more of the bridge, or the one that shows more of the lantern. What do you think?