contrasting garden glow

This date after Thanksgiving our crew remained a bit more local, visiting the Festival of Lights at Powell Gardens.  The experience is quite a contrast with the effort last year in St Louis.  

Many of the displays stand out nicely, as do a few very intentional arrangements in random locations.  They are well-placed for interaction and photographs. However, sidewalks lined with lighting stretch in random directions without any sort of guidance, seemingly without intent or construct.  

The paths occasionally intersect, sometimes through tunnels of light, which is the highest level of interactivity.  Treats are available for purchase at multiple locations, but only one contains enough warmth to encourage folks to linger any length of time. Other fires pale in comparison, making the only other temperature refuge beyond the main building, Santa's workshop.  He was very busy there, enjoying the company and a photo shoot among the younger crowd.  

The whole thing feels time a bit spread out at times and auditorily empty. There is music at only one display and the journey out to the chapel is a long, cold trek across the arctic tundra.  The remote location does offer a relatively warm place to linger and allow circulation to return though, prior to risking exposure again on the return trip to the main building.  

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While this display stands out as no minimal effort, the occasion seems a bit over billed (pun intended) in contrast with the spot inhabited last year.  We look forward to returning again someday, when more effort is apparent, and the situation more organized.