Tag: beautiful

River park at SDSU Mission Valley takes form!

The new river park at SDSU Mission Valley is noticeably taking form. Particularly on the north side of the Stadium trolley station.

I got off the trolley near Snapdragon Stadium today and observed that many plants and trees have already been introduced to parts of the river park. My first batch of photos shows planted areas north of the elevated trolley tracks.

The large area south of the tracks still appears rather barren, but I’m sure that will be changing before too long! Last I read, SDSU Mission Valley’s new river park should be completed later this year.

I previously blogged that mile markers around a long looping path are being created by renowned local artist James Hubbell.

The following two renderings on a nearby construction fence are handy for comparison.

In the first rendering, that’s the north side of the park in the foreground. Note the interesting shade structure…

And here’s the river park’s south side, which will feature wide expanses of grass…

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Signs of Spring’s approach in Balboa Park!

Spring is less than three weeks away. And signs of the coming season are “springing” up in San Diego’s amazing Balboa Park!

I walked through the park today and took a variety of photographs…

Lawn bowlers were out on a sunny day.

San Diego sunshine on the iconic California Tower and California Building’s dome.

A tour group takes advantage of a spring-like day in Balboa Park.

Under a Baseball Sky at the Old Globe? Yes! Spring Training has begun!

Some flowers are already blooming in the Alcazar Garden.

The Cherry Blossom Festival is coming to the Japanese Friendship Garden in a couple weeks.

Cherry trees are beginning to bloom in the Japanese Friendship Garden’s lush Lower Garden.

This 1932 Morgan Super Sports would be the perfect ride on a warm Spring day. Meanwhile, it’s on display at the San Diego Automotive Museum.

Blossoms have appeared at the San Diego Potters’ Guild in Spanish Village Art Center!

Blossoms have also appeared in Spanish Village’s Studio 26, flowing from the paintbrush of friendly artist Edward Juarez!

And fresh flowers have appeared in some hand blown glass in Spanish Village!

Last, but certainly not least, I learned huge news will be coming this Spring from the San Diego Natural History Museum. But I’ve been sworn to secrecy! Stay tuned!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

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!

Lakeside’s beautiful Lindo Lake east basin!

Lindo Lake in Lakeside is a beautiful, peaceful retreat in San Diego’s East County.

Recently the lake has become even more beautiful!

A year ago when I took a walk at Lindo Lake County Park, the east basin was fenced off and closed to the public. That’s because numerous major improvements were then being made.

Today the paths around the large east basin are wide open!

Improvements include new plants and trees, wide ADA accessible pathways, scenic viewing platforms and a couple of bird-watching stations with blinds facing the water.

If I lived nearby, I’d be walking here often. There are native flowers, birds, shady trees, sunshine and the tranquil, shining water. Nearby mountains rise into blue sky.

Even on this winter’s day the lake was filled with life. (I’ll be blogging about the many birds coming up!)

I took the following photographs as I walked around Lindo Lake’s newly improved east basin…

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

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!

Amazing 270-foot mural in San Diego completed!

An absolutely amazing 270-foot mural has been completed in San Diego’s diverse City Heights neighborhood!

The colorful mural, titled Unity in the Community, has been painted along the long wall at the south end of Teralta Neighborhood Park.

This epic mural was begun by San Diego graffiti artist Sake, then very beautifully finished by artists Melody De Los Cobos (@chicanalilly) and GMONIK (@gmonikart)!

Melody explains her experience painting the mural:

The mural has been 6 or 7 years in the making. I only joined the project the last 6 months. In that time we ran into many challenges. The biggest was about a month in. I had a stroke while painting the end section of the wall in early October. In trying to find why I had a stroke so young, doctors found also a hole in my heart. So after a few procedures I was able to get back to the wall. I was out about 3 weeks. It could have been much much worst but I’m grateful to be alive and am able to walk and talk…
While I was out, GMONIK had to move forward with the mural which in turn put a lot of pressure on him. In the end, we completed the mural December 23rd, 2022.

This mural, as you can see, is extra special.

Today I walked through Teralta Neighborhood Park and took these photographs. I began on the left end of the long mural and worked my way right.

There are many outstanding murals all around San Diego, but in my opinion this ranks right up there as one of the very best. And one of the most inspirational!

A big Mural Dedication and Celebration event is coming up on March 25th at 1:00 pm in Teralta Neighborhood Park. Speakers will give the history of this mural and explain how the City Heights community contributed to its creation. The neighborhood’s diversity and progress will also be celebrated!

Check it out!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

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!

Sculpture honors City Heights visionary advocate.

A beautiful work of metal art now stands in the City Heights Tierra Central sculpture garden. It was created by local artist Spenser Little (@spenserlittleart). The sculpture honors Jim Bliesner, Visionary Community Advocate.

Jim Bliesner was a driving force behind the creation of Tierra Central, an outdoor event space on University Avenue, just east of Interstate 15. For 40 years he’s worked for the betterment of his community, from planting trees to starting a local newspaper. He’s a founding member of the City Heights Community Development Corporation.

Jim is both activist and artist. His works of public art can be seen around City Heights and our Southern California region. You might recall some past blog posts featuring his work. Here and here and here!

I was so surprised and gratified to see this amazing new sculpture honoring such a wonderful person and inspiration to many!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

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!

The beautified Kate O. Sessions Cactus Garden!

Did you know the Kate O. Sessions Cactus Garden in Balboa Park was renovated and greatly beautified last year?

I hadn’t realized the “Old (1935) Cactus Garden” behind the Balboa Park Club had been renamed the Kate O. Sessions Cactus Garden until I walked through yesterday and noticed a new sign.

Look how amazing it appears! An initial revitalization of the historic garden had taken place in 2019, but now, with the help of Forever Balboa Park volunteers last year, it really shines! Paths are wide and inviting, there’s more seating, and the cacti and succulents in their cleaned out beds appear like elegant works of natural art!

This is one of three gardens started by Kate Sessions in Balboa Park about century ago. You can read about how she said San Diego had the ideal climate for the best cactus garden in the world by clicking here.

If you want to see historical 1935 photos of Kate Sessions in the beautiful Cactus Garden, click here!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

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!

Dreamy ocean photos beyond Point Loma.

Today was an almost perfect day to head out into the Pacific Ocean beyond Point Loma.

For a mid-February day, the water was amazingly smooth and the cloud cover thin. The chilly wind was not unexpected.

I and many others, wrapped in jackets, enjoyed a four hour trip aboard Flagship’s whale watching ship Marietta.

We saw a mother gray whale with her young calf and followed the two from a respectful distance. In two of the upcoming photos you can see a spout. In my previous blog post, I gazed down upon some of the hundreds of dolphins we encountered very close up.

Enjoy a few hazy, dreamy photos I took from the deck of Marietta. There are sailboats, a line of pelicans flying, downtown San Diego, Point Loma, and the Coronado Islands of Mexico off in the distance.

I haven’t edited these photographs at all, except to crop the one photo where the whale spout is most evident.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

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!

Dolphins leap near bow of whale watching ship!

This morning a whale watching excursion off the coast of San Diego intercepted an unusually large pod of 200-300 dolphins.

I stood at the bow of Flagship’s vessel Marietta and marveled at how the Pacific white-sided dolphins raced before us, conveniently riding the water pushed forward by our ship.

A crew member aboard Marietta explained we were traveling 10 miles per hour. The dolphins are capable of going four times that speed!

Pods of dolphins are frequently encountered during trips in the ocean beyond Point Loma. Every time I’ve gone whale watching, no matter the season, we’ve spotted them.

The tightly knit pods move about while using their echo location ability to search for schools of fish. Adult dolphins have to eat about 5% of their body weight in food every day!

We were fortunate to be accompanied by such an unbelievably huge pod.

Every so often dolphins would playfully leap through the air in front of our ship!

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

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!

Flowers planted in downtown San Diego!

Clean and Safe workers were out and about this morning planting fresh flowers and succulents in downtown San Diego!

During my morning walk through the Gaslamp Quarter I noticed planters along Fifth Avenue were bright with new color.

Thank you to the folks at the Downtown San Diego Partnership who strive to make the heart of our city more welcoming and attractive.

Those flowers are a reminder that spring will be here before we know it!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

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!

Nautical Neighbors swim through Oceanside!

An exquisite stained glass mural titled Nautical Neighbors was installed last summer in the heart of Oceanside.

All the abundant sea life swimming through the mural was designed and created by Don Myers and assembled by the citizens of Oceanside.

You can see this very beautiful public art at the intersection of Mission Avenue and Ditmar Street, across from the MainStreet Oceanside downtown information center.

Enjoy these photos!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

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!