My expectations were high when my husband and I first visited the Arboretum ; were the expensive tickets worth a day with trees? Couldn't we do that for free somewhere else? After 40 minutes of waiting in line to park our car in a field, I was almost ready to turn around.
Surprisingly, Morton exceeded all my expectations. Aside from the huge crowds that had gathered for a harvest event at the main visitor's center, we managed to walk a few minutes off the beaten path to complete seclusion. We enjoyed a picnic lunch in a grassy clearing and saw a maximum of 10 people over the course of an hour or so. We traversed many trails with international theming (trees of China, trees of Japan), and it was wonderful. Morton keeps a good record of most of their trees, although it seemed as though every tree we wanted to identify had no tag.
The festival was great, too. Free wine tasting and plenty of family-friendly activities. Take a Sunday afternoon in the fall and go visit the Arboretum; it's well worth the time spent waiting in line to park.
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