Flowers that are several feet across are growing in downtown San Diego’s Little Italy neighborhood. They’ve grown out of an artist’s paintbrush and onto a wall!
Check out another photo from the amazing, colorful mural I recently walked past and enjoyed. It’s a shame this public art is set back a bit from First Avenue and not immediately obvious to those driving past. To experience it best, you have to pull into a gas station’s parking lot.
Here are more photographs of that cool mural from the previous blog post. There’s a whole school of colorful fish in full view beside that gas station!
A gigantic shark was recently spotted swimming in the blue water next to a San Diego gas station’s parking lot! Here’s the photographic proof!
Okay, what you see is actually a very cool mural. And the shark is just a small portion of it. This awesome mural on a long wall by the gas station contains a bunch of surprising, colorful images! Check out the blue gravel path at the foot of the wall, enhancing the underwater effect!
Wondering where this public art can be found? In Little Italy, just north of downtown. Head up First Avenue and look to the left just before Elm Street. You can’t miss it!
Venture anywhere along San Diego Bay and you’re in for a show!
Look at these pics of huge blue fishing boats, colorful sailboats, and the big gray Navy ships glimpsed in the distance!
Of course, sailboats are easily recognized, and everyone loves watching them dance on the big bay. On any given day you’ll see many white sails. Often you’ll see a group of sailboats racing together, tacking, tilting, running on the sea breeze.
The big blue fishing boats with the square wells that we seem to be standing beside are commercial live bait boats docked at Tuna Harbor’s G Street Pier. Seine nets are utilized to gather schools of small fish, which are then dumped into the deep wells. The live bait is then used by fishermen who depart from several sportfishing locations around San Diego. Pelicans, egrets, black-crowned night herons and gulls often perch on the sides of idle live bait boats. Perhaps they think something tasty will magically appear!
The distant Navy ships are an oiler and two active aircraft carriers docked at Naval Air Station North Island, situated on the northern half of Coronado Island. The two homeported carriers that you can glimpse are the USS Carl Vinson and the USS Ronald Reagan.
This is probably the coolest fish you’ll ever see. He’s so “ice” cool he’s gotta wear shades!
I glimpsed this funny image by the San Diego Marriott Marina, and thought everyone would enjoy it. Boaters going to and from the marina office are sure to take notice!
Here’s another look at the beautiful San Diego Marriott Marina. Hundreds of boats find safe harbor in this large expanse of water between a grassy park to the west and the silvery Marriott Marquis hotel. You can see boats of every size and description: sailboats, speedboats, small yachts…
Around Christmas, many of these watercraft are decked with strings of colored lights, glowing Santas, and other illuminated decorations, making for a festive scene at night. Dozens of boats participate in the holiday Parade of Lights, cruising merrily around San Diego Bay.
Throughout the year, it’s fun to watch individual boats gliding slowly in and out of the marina. You can also spot rented Jet Skis, people enjoying kayaks, and others standing on paddleboards.
Visible in this photo, taken from the walking path at the south end of the Marriott Marina, are two prominent hotels on San Diego’s picturesque waterfront. To the left is the elegant Manchester Grand Hyatt, and in the center are the two curved, shining, sail-like buildings of the Marriott Marquis. On the far right you can see the north end of the long San Diego Convention Center.
After gazing awhile at the hundreds of sailboats and small yachts docked in the marina, you might head a short distance west to enjoy views of the grassy Embarcadero Marina Park South and its fishing pier on San Diego Bay.
You’ll find the Hilton on the other side of the San Diego Convention Center.
Look at these folks enjoying a walk across the new Harbor Drive bridge, over trolley and train tracks, on the way from the San Diego Convention Center and waterfront Hilton toward Petco Park. It’s hard to believe this incredible sports stadium is already ten years old. It seems like it was built only yesterday!
Should you ever attend a Padres baseball game, you’ll be treated to views of glistening downtown skyscrapers beyond the outfield, not to mention beautiful weather and lots of friendly fans.
Here’s a cool pic I converted to grayscale:
Here are a couple more similar pics taken in April of 2015…
This is a part of a very long mural decorating the north side of Interstate 8 in Mission Valley. It’s called Kids being Kids.
I took this photograph from across Camino de la Reina, not far from the Union Tribune building. I got a bunch of pics, but this is the only one that captures the artwork’s color and energy. Perhaps I’ll try again some other day.
UPDATE!
I took some more pics…
This photograph was taken several mornings ago while I walked through Mission Valley. It looks west from Mission Center Road along the San Diego River.
The bright green, I believe, is Yerba Mansa.
People are often surprised that such a beautiful, peaceful scene can be found in a busy city. Had I turned the camera in any other direction, I might’ve captured buildings, shopping centers, cars and several freeways. So much depends on the direction in which we turn…
Here are two more pics which I took in late February 2015…
Cool San Diego Sights! 