Fresh Pick: Volunteer Park Conservatory

Rain gotcha down? Me too. That's why I headed off to the Volunteer Park Conservatory—a little happy patch of jungle-slash-desert at the northern end of Volunteer Park on Capital Hill. It's open almost every day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.—and it's free. Stroll through all five houses: Bromeliad, Palm, Fern, Seasonal and Cactus. Some crazy flowers are in bloom right now, including plenty of prickly things in the Cactus House and a few carnivorous plants in the Fern section. The conservatory was completed in 1912 as part of 45-acre Volunteer Park designed by famous landscape architects, the Olmsted brothers. Volunteer Park Conservatory, 1400 E. Galer Street, Seattle. 206.684.4743.