A Day At Balboa Park

Monday the 15th

We've been having a really great run of weather for the last week and today is no exception. By 10:30 AM it was nicely warmed up so we drove to the transit station and caught the MTS commuter train into San Diego. Getting off at the College City stop we jumped on the Number 7 bus just before it left the station and rode it up to Balboa Park (http://www.balboapark.org/). Between the two we were at our destination by 11:30 AM.

Getting off the bus we walked over to the San Diego Air and Space Museum which is at the southern end of the park. The museum, affiliated with the Smithsonian, houses a collection of aircraft and spacecraft dating back to the very early 1900's and includes a working eplica of Lindburgh's "Spirit of St Louis" and the actual Apollo 9 Command Module.
It was interesting to see all the displays set up with time sensitive materials, old cars and posters of the era. They also had flight simulators usedfor training but available to the public. We watched as several young men took their turn in the simulator. There were two large screens set up outside the display that let bystanders see what the"pilot" was doing and what he was seeing as the simulator responded to their maneuvering. The Museum also had a section set up to explore the SETI (or the search for little green men) and the science behind what we are learning about the planets being discovered in other galaxies. Very interesting.

From the Air and Space Museum we started north along the Mall where we found the San Diego Automotive Museum. Even though this is a relatively small display there are ove eighty vehicles from Brittain, France, Germany, Italy, Chechoslovakia, Japan, Viet Nam and the US. From early Benzes and International Harvesters, Morgans, Kaisers, Cadilacs, Fords, Overlands and Touristers the museum has done an artful job of displaying their vehicles.

In addition, there are a large group of motorcycles including Indians, Harley Davidson, Ariels, Vincents, Triumphs, BSA's, BMW's and several others. It was really nice to see all of them, including a WW I Harley Davidson courier bike.

But most surprising was Louie Mattar's modified 1947 Cadillac (click on this link for part one of a two part video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT8aznVAC4 , for part two, click on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhYdzzYngwc&feature=related) on which he took five years and $75,000 to set up for long distance non stop racing. In 1952 he and his team made a nonstop trip from the West Coast to the East Coast and back covering 6,320 miles, all without stopping. In 1954 he and his team did the same thing only this time going from Mexico City to Anchorage and back. Both trips included refueling on the road, cooking, cleaning, fixing flats, etc. all while on the go. Pretty amazing stuff.

By now it was after 1:00 PM and we were getting hungry so we continued up the mall past the Organ Pavillion and over to the Japanese Friendship House where we had a bite to eat.

After lunch we set off for the Sculpture Gardens only to find they were closed on Monday along with the Museum of Art. So we regrouped and decided to visit the Botanical Building, reputed to be one of the most photographed sights at Balboa Park. When we got the it was easy to see why. A large reflecting pond stretches from the walk to the entrance. Built for the 1915-1916 exposition, the building is one of the largest lath buildings in the world. We walked in and were immeiately faced with a huge display of orchids, all of them in bloom. In fact, everywhere we looked were different varieties of orchids in amongst the more than 2,100 plants of the permanent collection. With fern like palm trees stretching all the way to the arched roof the display was simply magnificent. We must have spent an hour there and probably only really saw half of the plants. It was really something.

Proceding out of the Botanical Building we slowly worked our way through the Casa Del Prado and over to the Natural History Museum. When we arrived Tina suggested we might want to return when we had more time as this would be a very interesting museum to visit.

So we looked at the map and decided to stop and look at the Cactus and Rose Gardens located just on the other side of Park Avenue which is where we would pick up the bus for our return trip home.

Leaving the Natural History Museum we cross over Park Avenue and immediately had the Cactus garden on our left and the Rose Garden on our right. Heading to the left we were astonished to see an absolutely magnificnt display of cactus from all over the work including Australia. The gardens stretchedout for hundreds of feet in all directions and down over the hill to I-5. It was truly a marvelous place. From there we went over to the Rose Garden which wasn't nearly as striking even though the roses that were in bloom were qute beautiful. Maybe it was just too constrained, too formally layed out compaired to the freewheeling cactus garden. Oh well, it was still very nice.

We left the gardens and headed for our bus stop down on Park Ave. Ten minutes later we were headedfor the transfer station at the City College Station. Fifteen minutes later we got off the bus and within five minutes were headed southbound on the rails. Half an hour later we reached our car and returned to the RV Resort. After walking the dogs we headed for the pool to take a nice refreshing dip.

At the pool we met a nice couple and spent tenty minutes floating and talking. We left them with an invitation to stop by and see our coach. They are looking to upgrade. We got home a little after 5:30 PM and did a little clean up. They stopped by about 6:30 and visited for as half hour. Really nice people!

Since it was dinner time and nothing was on the stove we decided to walk over to the "South Bay Restaurant" for dinner. We arrived in time to be seated o the deck overlooking the marina harbor just as the sun was going down. It was really spectacular and our dinner was great too! I had a cup of Clam Chowder (scrumptuous) and a couple of Mahi Mahi Tacos that were excelent. Tina had Shrimp and Chips with six of the biggest shrimp I've ever seen. Mmmmmmm, mmm!!

By the time we finished dinner it was dark so we walked along the shoreline under the lights getting home around 8:30 PM, just in time for one last trip for the kids. A great day!!

To see all our photos, click on

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski