I happened upon the Bellevue Botanical Gardens by chance. I had no idea this place existed (as I spend most of my time in the more south Puget Sound area). But boy was I pleasantly surprised! The gardens are huge. There's so much going on and so much to see. I recommend wearing shoes (I made the mistake of wearing flip-flops because of the heat) to be able to hike all the trails that they have available. There are little leaf shaped sign posts directing you to different sections of the gardens and different trails. The variety of plants and flowers available is just stunning. The sights, the smells, the sounds. All hard to beat. I absolutely loved it here. To see more photos and more of a report, check out my blog post about my visit here - https://thewhimsikalwolf.wordpress.com/2015/09/25/hikes-and-exploration-3/