As all of my readers know, I am currently not in Norway but here in Penukonda, India. And I found a place that I want to tell you about.. it is the beautiful Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center. Of course, I bet you would suspect that this is a place somewhere in the ‘east’ from the sound of its name (or at least somewhere that I discovered here in India), but it is not. It is back in my home country - the United States :) It is actually located in the city of Orange, Texas. So for my fellow Americans out there, it will not take a trip around the world to get there!

So let me tell you a little about Shangri La Gardens and Nature Center. Well to start with, the Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center is a program of the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation. This foundation is a private foundation and its mission is to improve and enrich the quality of life in Southeast Texas. But they also aim to do this while encouraging and assisting education. H.J Lutcher Stark was a man with a vision over 60 years ago who developed this foundation to support this mission that still continues today.

If your wondering where they got the name Shangri La Gardens and Nature Center from, well you will just have to step back a moment in time to the year 1933. In 1933 a book called “Lost Horizon” was published. In this book the term “Shangri La” was used to describe a place of beauty, peace and enlightenment. Now in Orange, Texas, they have created a modern Shangri La with the best of both nature and gardens.

Shangri La has also a very special title. They are the 50th project in the world to earn U.S. Green Building Council’s Platinum certification for LEED®-NC. What this means is that the design and construction of Shangri La reached the highest green building and performance measures. Thats pretty cool!

So go to Orange, Texas and check out Shangri La’s Exhibit Hall, Discovery Theater, Children’s Garden, Exhibition Greenhouses, Café, and Garden Store. They have so much more! And have fun :)