The beautiful Old Point Loma Lighthouse and the nearby Assistant Keepers Quarters building at Cabrillo National Monument.
I’ve visited Cabrillo National Monument many times over the years. I’ve blogged about it on several occasions. It’s one of the most wonderful places in San Diego.
Today, September 30, is National Public Lands Day, so admission to Cabrillo National Monument was free all day.
I grabbed my camera, jumped into my car and drove this morning to the tip of the Point Loma peninsula. Once again, I wanted to enjoy some amazing views and a pleasant walk above the Pacific Ocean and San Diego Bay. Most of my time was spent around the Old Point Loma Lighthouse.
To see and learn more about the lighthouse, including its interior and the adjacent museum, and to enjoy other fascinating aspects of Cabrillo National Monument, please feel free to explore Cool San Diego Sights.
The historic Old Point Loma Lighthouse is a major attraction at Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego.Visitor to Cabrillo National Monument looks up at the lighthouse.Built in 1855 at the end of the Point Loma peninsula, above the entrance to San Diego Bay, the old lighthouse used to guide sailors to safety with a powerful fresnel lens.Walking around the old lighthouse is a wonderful experience, with amazing views in all directions.The cluster of trees near the Old Point Loma Lighthouse are rare Torrey pines, which are native to this region.Walking along the cliffside trail north of the lighthouse.Someone sits high above the blue Pacific Ocean enjoying the cool breeze and natural beauty.South of the lighthouse, people walk toward the gray whale migration overlook.Visitors to Cabrillo National Monument scan the watery horizon for ships and whales.A park ranger and volunteers were removing non-native plants among dry stalks of California sunflower and buckwheat. Invasive species can crowd out native species.People approach the handsome lighthouse from the south.Photo of Old Point Loma Lighthouse, the small museum beside it and the large Rain Catchment Basin.Visitors to San Diego are strongly encouraged to enjoy some time at Cabrillo National Monument. It’s a very special place, with many paths to walk.
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This year, Trolley Dances includes several performances at San Diego’s downtown Central Library!
Trolley Dances in 2017 is as cool as ever!
Trolley Dances is an annual event in San Diego that uses unusual public spaces as settings for dance. The inspired, provocative performances are produced and choreographed by the San Diego Dance Theater.
Buy a ticket for this year’s event and you’ll be led on an adventure for mind, body and spirit. Mobile audiences, following Trolley Dances group leaders, disembark the San Diego Trolley’s Blue Line at various stops to view performances from Chula Vista to downtown San Diego.
Trolley Dances runs for only two weekends. It’s a brilliant concept that’s a lot of fun and full of surprises.
A few of the performances this year take place at San Diego’s downtown Central Library. I took some quick photos so that you can get a taste of what you will experience!
A mobile audience has arrived on foot from a nearby trolley station. They are led into downtown San Diego’s dynamic public library to enjoy fantastic dance performances!The dances all contain raw organic energy and beautifully expressed emotion.The dancers use the Central Library’s public entrance as an unusual stage during Trolley Dances. In another superb dance, which I didn’t photograph, the nearby escalators were used to produce an outstanding dramatic effect.Outside the library, in the courtyard, the audience now watches dancers framed in glass windows!The dancers come outside and engage the audience.Grace and power.A day enjoying the Trolley Dances makes for a great adventure!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
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This blog makes no money. Its purpose is simply to enjoy life. With it I try to more closely observe this wonderful world, learn a bit about the people I meet and the city where I live, spread a little joy, and perhaps help others who are striving to improve the community.
This blog has many visitors. From time to time I receive inquiries about using my photos. Please feel free to share any of my images. All I ask is that you provide credit to coolsandiegosights.com and, when possible, provide a link to my website.
While my modest photographs might not be of the highest technical quality, over the past four years I’ve managed to capture a good slice of San Diego. To find photos of a particular place or thing or event, simply use the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or if you’re an experienced user of Google Search, you can utilize that method, too.
Finally, thank you for swinging by Cool San Diego Sights. And thank you to my many friendly followers. I’m just an ordinary guy who walks through the city a bit randomly, exploring life. Some of you I know personally; many others visit from all around this great big amazing world.
I have a lot of fun blogging, and I hope you all are having fun, too!
Admiral Hornblower on blue San Diego Bay. It gleams in the last rays of daylight.
This evening I glimpsed dreams of gold on the darkening blue…
The ship moves across the darkening water toward a golden sunset.Young students row a Maritime Museum of San Diego longboat as the sun sets. Perhaps they dream of finding pirate gold.Rowing the longboat forward across the water. They move together, as if in one twilight dream.A trail of gold glistens behind Admiral Hornblower as it moves into the mysterious distance.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Every year, the lives of almost 3 million shelter animals are terminated. It’s a colossal, heartbreaking tragedy that defies understanding–because it needn’t happen. Remember Me Thursday is a global event that shines a light on the plight of shelter animals, and on the positive choice of animal adoption.
Here are a few photos from the special Remember Me Thursday candlelight vigil held this evening in Balboa Park. Those who participated gathered near the corner of Sixth Avenue and Laurel Street. The annual event was created five years ago by Mike Arms, President and CEO of Helen Woodward Animal Center.
Remember Me Thursday has spread worldwide and now hundreds of animal welfare organizations participate.
This evening in Balboa Park, hearts were lit for innocent animals in San Diego and around the world waiting for adoption. Like you, they simply want to live and be loved.
Smiles from the Helen Woodward Animal Center during Remember Me Thursday in Balboa Park.People gather to remember animals waiting in shelters to be adopted–and those who have lost their lives.The deeply touching Remember Me Thursday poem by Mike Arms.A gathering in Balboa Park and an urgent message. Millions of shelter animals around the world simply want to live and be loved.A banner invites messages of hope and gratitude.A wish that pets know the selfless love that they provide us while on Earth.A few powerful words for the best hamster a boy could ever have.As the sun sets, people wait to watch a thought-provoking video and hear the reading of Mike Arms’ poem.Many candles were then lit.
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
A recently improved section of Tweet Street Park on Cortez Hill. Volunteers help make this downtown neighborhood even more beautiful.
Do you love Tweet Street Park on Cortez Hill? I feel very fortunate that I get to walk through the narrow but lush park almost every single day.
Over the past weeks and months, I’ve noticed smiling volunteers busy pruning, planting, removing trash, and adding new beauty to our downtown park. They are the Friends of Tweet Street Park! They welcome new community members!
A couple days ago I talked to Joe Ciavarella as he was working on one section of the park. I learned that Cortez Hill residents and anyone interested in beautifying this special corner of downtown San Diego can make a tax deductible contribution that benefits the Friends of Tweet Street Park. Funds obtained go to the purchase of gardening tools, new plants and materials that are used for a variety of landscaping improvements.
If you’d like to make a donation, visit this page.
Positive people doing positive things make each corner of this world a whole lot better!
IMPORTANT UPDATE!
There’s a new web page where you can now make your donation. You can find it here.
In addition to the work of volunteers, improving the park requires the purchase of tools, plants and other material. Anyone can now easily make a donation!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Balboa Park’s knowledgeable Ranger Kim Duclo points out an extremely rare specimen of Deppea splendens in the Botanical Building.
I learned something really amazing last Sunday in Balboa Park. I had joined one of Ranger Kim Duclo’s park tours as it was in progress, and I followed the group into the Botanical Building.
Near the center of the Botanical Building, Ranger Kim stopped beside a beautiful green tree and told us it was one of the rarest plants in the entire world!
Deppea splendens was originally discovered in 1973 by botanist Dennis Breedlove. He found it growing in a single spot in Mexico’s southern mountains. Fortunately Dennis gathered some seeds. Because when he returned in 1986, the plants had all been destroyed. The area had been developed into farmland.
Ranger Kim told us that specimens of Deppea splendens now grow in relatively few places–mostly in special havens like Balboa Park. He also said that one day the plant might be reintroduced into the wild, much as the California condor was saved locally from extinction and successfully returned to its natural habitat.
May that day come!
Photo of a thriving Deppea splendens inside Balboa Park’s lush Botanical Building.The distinctive flowers of Deppea splendens, a plant that is now extinct in the wild. I found this public domain photograph at Wikimedia Commons.These rare, beautiful leaves might be seen once again in the wild!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of fascinating photos for you to share and enjoy!
Perhaps you’ve noticed I love to write fiction. I love to combine words. Words are tools that can dig toward truth.
I’ve recently written three short stories that are absolutely dystopian. They concern advancements in technology and the possibility of our own dehumanization.
I’m not a pessimist. I prefer to smile and generally try to find and highlight good things in life. But I also strive to be intellectually honest. I recognize that the human world contains both light and darkness. And some of my stories can be quite dark.
It’s funny–the latter, most recent story was written yesterday as I sat beside the small river in Balboa Park’s beautiful Japanese Friendship Garden. Looking down at the living water, I felt strangely like a giant. Perhaps my stream of thought emerged from that feeling.
Many beautiful works of bonsai art could be viewed today in Balboa Park.
Here are more photos that you might enjoy! I took them this afternoon at the San Diego Bonsai Club exhibition, which was held inside the Casa del Prado in Balboa Park.
The art of bonsai has always fascinated me. A tiny, carefully tended tree can speak so much about life. About time and human struggle, about balance and poise.
It’s funny how artists can create a profound feeling of untamed natural beauty using orderly, controlled methods. It is absolutely contradictory. But there is much in art–as in life–that is hard to explain.
A sign outside the Casa del Prado directs visitors to an exhibition by the San Diego Bonsai Club.Demonstrations were part of the event. These friendly people in the Casa del Prado’s inner courtyard were patiently working on their bonsai trees and explaining the process to those who were curious.The many specialized tools of a bonsai gardener.One member of the San Diego Bonsai Club created a cool display that contrasted her bonsai with photos of trees in local landscapes.Like any other good art, bonsai evokes emotion. Nature inspires the bonsai artist. Styles can include Windswept, Formal Upright, Informal Upright and Forest.This bonsai Prostrata Juniper has been trained and pruned to appear ancient–the product of wild, tempestuous nature.A tiny Japanese black pine is one object in a small room-like scene.A fine work of art created by a lover of bonsai.An ornamental porcelain berry arranged in an beautiful pot.These tiny succulents are in a tiny wheelbarrow!Visitors to the San Diego Bonsai Club exhibition in Balboa Park enjoy looking at a small, very beautiful oriental sweetgum tree.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of fun photos for you to share and enjoy!
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