This is the first post, in a series I will be starting called “Milwaukee Spotlight.” I will be highlighting some of the top things to do and see around the city! I have lived in the suburbs of Milwaukee my entire life, but still have so much to experience. My goal throughout the rest of summer and fall is to explore new restaurants, museums, and the downtown life that Milwaukee has to offer. Milwaukee has been working on a ton of new renovations throughout the city (adding a trolley, building the new Bucks arena, opening an Ikea, and more!) so I’m excited to share my experiences with you along the way!
The first place that I am going to share with you is The Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory, more commonly know as The Domes. My sister and I decided to go here just for fun to take pictures and walk around. I haven’t been there since I was around 10 years old so I totally forgot how amazing it is!
The conservatory consists of three unique domes-the desert dome, the tropical dome, and the show dome (which was the floral dome when we went!). The desert and tropical dome remain the same, however, the show dome changes every six to fourteen weeks. Each dome is so different and you will enjoy walking through each one experiencing the different climates and plant life they each have to offer.
The Desert Dome: As soon as you walk into this dome, you can feel the temperature rise, as this is meant to reflect the elevated temperature you would experience if you were in an actual desert. You follow a paved path that takes you around the dome to see a variety of cacti, succulents, and shrubbery. There are even a few birds that live in the dome that you can see flying around!
The Tropical Dome: This dome was extremely humid, and my hair immediately started to frizz up (thank goodness this was the last dome we walked through)! It is so worth it though! You will be able to see over 1,200 species of tropical plants. It feels like you are actually walking through a rain forest on a different continent. Towards the back of the dome, there is a waterfall that flows into a small pond with some fish swimming in it. For an hour it felt as if I wasn’t in Wisconsin haha! Overall, this dome was incredible. Be sure to read the little information cards displayed by each plant, there is a lot of great info you can learn.
The Floral (Show) Dome: This dome is incredible and probably the most aesthetically stunning out of the three. There are five different shows each year. For each ‘show’ a variety of individuals ranging from artists to landscape architects come together to create this phenomenal display. When we went here, it was The Floral Dome. We spent so much of our time in this dome taking pictures of the displays and just enjoying the scenery. We could’ve spent the whole day in there it was so beautiful.
We had such a fun day here! We could’ve stayed longer except our phones were at 10% from taking so many pictures and I still needed to pull up directions to get us home! Overall, it was a great experience and if you haven’t been to the Domes I encourage you to go check it out!
I hope you enjoyed!
XO
Cassie
