Where smiles grow in Carlsbad

This is a tale of two gardens. One is mine; the other is Ed Frazee’s. The only thing they have in common is dirt.

Every year about this time I look at my garden, with its scruffy winter grass and droopy year-old impatiens, and flee down the coast to see Frazee’s garden, a.k.a. the Flower Fields at Carlsbad Ranch. I tell people I’m going to get planting ideas, but the real motivation is cultivation of my inner garden.

The Flower Fields help me find spring. And they make me smile.

Frazee’s garden, more than 60 years in the making, is a commercial bulb-growing ranch in northern San Diego County. It is open to the public for eight weeks each year when the flowers are in bloom. Vibrant bands of color — yellow, pink, orange, magenta, purple and white — march across 50 rolling acres. Carlsbad has grown up around the ranch, sandwiching the Flower Fields among a shopping mall, an amusement park and acres of California-tan homes and businesses, but suburbia seems distant when you stroll through the rows of brilliant flowers.

More than 150,000 people make the spring pilgrimage to admire the legacy of the master planter, who died last year at 87.

He was 16 when he quit school to cultivate flowers; his choice was the ranunculus, a member of the buttercup family. As the ranch grew, first along U.S. 101 and later near Interstate 5, it attracted the attention of travelers during the bloom cycle. Spring became synonymous with Frazee’s flower garden.

But the winter of 2004-05 caused high anxiety. “We were nervous this year because of the heavy rainfall and erosion,” said Lynne Seward of guest services. “But once it was time, it was like flipping a switch.”

My niece Gaylean and her preschoolers Brooke and Ethan joined me on this trip. I didn’t tell the sprites we were going to see flowers. I told them we were going to nearby Legoland. I probably could have avoided this rash promise, because the offer drew only blank looks.

“Is Legoland a big store?” asked 4 1/2 -year-old Ethan, hopefully. Of course, there would be toy purchases, along with long lines for food and half-hour waits for rides. But it could have been worse; several of the rides for older kids had 90-minute waits.

The 128-acre theme park, with its 5,000 Lego models, is aimed at the 2-to-12 set. Ethan enjoyed the activities and rides, but Brooke, 2 1/2 , didn’t fare as well. Most of the attractions intimidated her. But the park is well-organized, tidy and nicely landscaped, so her mom wasn’t disappointed.

Both Brooke and Ethan were delighted with our hotel, the Grand Pacific Palisades Resort, which faces the Flower Fields and is across the street from Legoland. The kids liked its tot lot, a kiddie water park and the fact that it had plenty of room to play. The adults liked the price: Our nicely furnished two-bedroom, two-bath condo cost $179 per night, included a kitchen and could sleep up to seven people.

We found lots to do in the area. We parked along Carlsbad Boulevard, which parallels the coastline, to run down the steps to the beach and play. Ethan built a fort with driftwood; Brooke dug in the sand. We all chased seagulls, trying to interest them in a bag of bread. It was the first time I’d ever seen a seagull refuse food. Perhaps we were too enthusiastic.

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Button pushers

In the tiny Village of Carlsbad, we found a local favorite, Fidel’s Norte. The 29-year-old Mexican restaurant is one of four owned by the Montañez family of Solana Beach. It has both expected and unusual entrees — I tried savory calabacitas (zucchini casserole) — and features fast, friendly service.

Our explorations also took us to the Museum of Making Music, adjacent to Legoland, which invites visitors to “spend an hour traveling down musical memory lane.” The exhibition focuses on a century of innovations that shaped American popular music. There were more than 500 instruments to look at and many buttons to push. I pressed one to watch Eric Clapton play an acoustic guitar and another to hear a Moog synthesizer.

The buttons were addictive. Before long, I had the Beach Boys singing “Help Me, Rhonda,” the Drifters crooning “Saturday Night at the Movies” and the Byrds rhapsodizing “Turn! Turn! Turn!” I was rocking, but Gaylean was nervous. A docent trailed her and the kids around the museum, probably worried about the damage little hands could inflict on a 100-year-old player piano.

There were no such concerns at the Flower Fields ranch. Kids are part of the equation, with a playground and child-friendly displays. The ranch is now owned by the Paul Ecke family and has added more visitor attractions near the main entrance: There are artist-designed landscapes, a greenhouse of new poinsettia varietals and the Walk-of-Fame Rose Garden that features 170 All-America Rose Selection winners.

In the distance, visitors see the hillside ranunculus fields. Although the day was gloomy when we visited, gray skies couldn’t tame the color. If anything, the bright blocks of flowers seemed more vibrant than they might have in full sun.

We could see some people walking the dusty path to the blooming fields. We decided to catch a ride on a farm wagon pulled by a vintage tractor.

“This is a 1948 John Deere,” our driver-guide said when asked about the mottled-green vehicle. “It may not look like much right now because we just got it, but wait a few months and it will be a beautiful sight to behold.”

The tractor popped and wheezed, and I wondered aloud if it didn’t need a little work right now.

The tractors and wagons belong to the Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum in nearby Vista and are driven by volunteers, who charge $3 per passenger to raise funds for their museum.

Our Johnny Popper popped and bounced along the path to a distant field. The ranunculus are planted in blocks with their bloom times staggered. Because we visited early in the season, only distant blocks were in bloom. As the season progresses, flowers closer to the entrance bloom.

We left the wagon and meandered along a pathway, passing thousands of flowers, their blooms nodding slightly in a gentle breeze. Some of the plants were as tall as Brooke.

I could have stayed all day. But after three hours of tractors, wagons and flowers, the kids were famished. So I asked for a recommendation.

“Tip Top Meats,” was the answer.

“Uh, we want to sit down and eat,” I said.

“Yes, Tip Top Meats. It’s great and tourists don’t go there. Only locals.”

We drove a couple of blocks and spotted a sign that read: Tip Top Meats European Delicatessen. The parking lot was nearly full. Inside we found a market and deli, and a German-style restaurant with a variety of fare — both American and European — for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You could order pancakes, a sausage plate or a hamburger. Sandwiches were about $5, and dinner entrees just a bit more.

We found a table and congratulated ourselves on our luck at getting such a great recommendation. As Brooke and Ethan wolfed down their sausage and eggs, I asked what they’d liked best about the journey.

It would have been nice to hear that they’d come to appreciate the Flower Fields as I do. But I braced for the answer to be Legoland.

“The hotel!” said Ethan. “Can we go back and play on the slides?”

I sighed. Maybe it was time to go home and plant some new impatiens.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Feast for the eyes

Expenses for four on this trip:

Lodging

One night at Grand Pacific

Palisades Resort & Hotel with tax $209

Meals

Fidel’s Norte and Tip Top Meats

European Delicatessen $70

Other meals $77

Entertainment

Admission to Legoland, Flower Fields

and Museum of Making Music $130

Total $486

Distance from Los Angeles 90 miles

WHERE TO STAY:

Grand Pacific Palisades Resort & Hotel, 5805 Armada Drive; (800) 725-4723, https://www.grandpacificpalisades.com . Child-friendly resort with hotel rooms and condos. Rooms from $104.

WHERE TO EAT:

Fidel’s Norte, 3003 Carlsbad Blvd.; (760) 729-0903.

Tip Top Meats European Delicatessen, 6118 Paseo del Norte; (760) 438-2620, https://www.tiptopmeats.com .

WHERE TO PLAY:

Flower Fields at Carlsbad Ranch, Palomar Airport Road and Paseo del Norte; (760) 431-0352, https://www.theflowerfields.com . Open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily through Saturday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. April 3-May 8. $8; seniors $7; children $5. Free for ages 2 and younger.

Legoland, One Legoland Drive; (760) 918-5346, https://www.legoland.com . Operating hours vary. $44.95, ages 3-12 and seniors $37.95. Age 2 and younger free.

Museum of Making Music, 5790 Armada Drive; (760) 438-5996, https://www.museumofmakingmusic.org . Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Tuesday-Sunday. $5; seniors, students and children $3.