Connecting with nature can be difficult, often requiring extensive planning, cumbersome camping gear, or whistling skills powerful enough to summon a biodiverse collection of fauna to your doorstep. Take a convenient route to natural splendor with today’s Groupon: for $30, you get a holiday outing for four at the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Wonderland Express in Glencoe (up to a $65 total value). This outing includes:

• Four tickets to Wonderland Express (up to a $40 value). Children 2 and under get in for free, and don’t need tickets.
• Parking (up to a $25 value)

The festive displays at Chicago Botanic Garden’s Wonderland Express pluck visitors from forests of skyscrapers and tangles of telephone vines and prepare them for the holiday season. Energy-conserving LED lights⎯750,000 of them⎯twinkle in the crisp air of an outdoor magical winter wonderland. Inside, amid the falling of faux snow, tiny model locomotives chug through an elaborate 10,000-square-foot display featuring decorations, holiday trees, botanicals and poinsettias, and more than 80 mini models of Chicago’s famous buildings and landmarks. Designed by holiday wizard Paul Busse, the model-railroad garden combines artistic design, horticulture, and Windy City pride to delight children, parents, grandparents, and estranged snowmen cousins alike.

A parking lot near the entrance stables mechanical reindeer sleighs and prevents them from munching on rare flowers out of boredom while groups dismount to fawn over the flora at one of the country’s most visited public gardens.

Although not included in this Groupon, Chicago Botanic Garden’s Wonderland Express entertains audiences with special events](http://www.chicagobotanic.org/wonderland/special.php) throughout the calendar, such as the Hanukkah dinner, Supper with Santa, and Hot Chocolate with Mrs. Claus.