text: Another place that is really serene and makes you forget you are in a large city! I really liked the Desert Botanical Gardens and I am totally not into flowers or botany!  We had been to DBG once before for Luminarias, but it was so dark that we couldn't see much. I'm glad we returned in the daylight.\n\nWe took my inlaws yesterday after brunch and they absolutely loved DBG. My father-in-law is totally into photography, so DBG was awesome for him. We saw tons of people with cameras, so it is a photographer's haven.  I really had no clue there were so many types of cactus. There are hands on activities scattered throughout (probably for kids on field trips) and boards with information, which comes in handy on the Sonoran Desert Trail when you want to figure out which mountain in the distance is Camelback, Piestewa, Four Peaks, etc.  We saw little lizards, hummingbirds, quail, and ground squirrels while wondering around as well.\n\nThere is much to see and you can get through the gardens as quickly or as leisurely as you would like. We spent about two and a half hours there, which I think is a perfect amount of time. You see everything and are ready to leave by the end.  A very nice place to take visitors on a nice day.