Tag: beautiful

Free live glassblowing event in Escondido!

Tomorrow, Saturday, April 19, 2025, a free, live glassblowing extravaganza continues at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido! The special event is being held outdoors in the Cal Club Courtyard between noon and 6 pm. Look for the signs! You can check out the event webpage by clicking here.

The two day event began today. I swung by as everything got underway. In addition to a very cool glassblowing demonstration, various San Diego County glass artists have tables with some of their fantastic creations for sale.

The artists have also created a bunch of beautiful glasses (see my final photograph) which are for sale for $25 each. Funds raised through the sale of these stunning glasses (and the sale of beer, too) benefit the California Center for the Arts, Escondido.

I sat and watched as expert glassblower James Stone created an elegant wine glass. He has years and years of practice, and you can see the excellence of his work. He’s a friendly guy who likes to explain what he’s doing.

James Stone demonstrates glassblowing work in progress. The glass changes color when it is heated.
An amazing iridescent bowl created by James Stone.
These extraordinary glass cubes were created by Tom Marosz.
These fantastic glass sea shells were created by Mariah Armstrong Conner.

Amazing blacksmithing work was displayed as well! A representative from Vista Forge showed me some cool creations.

Blacksmithing and Glass Art classes can be found here. They’re held on the grounds of the Antique Gas and Steam Engine Museum in Vista.

Purchase one of these colorful glasses, blown by a local artist, and you benefit the California Center for the Arts, Escondido!

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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 X.

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Amazing art fills The Water Conservation Garden!

The Water Conservation Garden in Rancho San Diego is a special place. Not only is it a very fine botanical garden, but its nearly 6 acres is filled with amazing works of art!

Among the different educational garden displays, bits of art can be spied. Most notable are the garden’s beautiful mosaics. A few days back I posted a blog about work being performed on the mosaic Tool Wall. See those photographs here.

Now enjoy more of the art that I happened to discover during my recent visit!

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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 X.

Feel free to share!

Beautiful mural at La Mesa’s Collier Park!

This beautiful mural decorates the trash enclosure at Collier Park in La Mesa. I was told by a friendly gentleman at the La Mesa Community Center that the art was painted not too long ago.

I found an article about the mural’s creation. It was a project of ArtReach, completed last year in partnership with the City of La Mesa. More than forty community members helped to paint it!

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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 X.

Feel free to share!

Views from Coast View Parking at Cabrillo.

Few people enjoy the scenic view in the above photograph. That’s because the remote Coast View parking lot is seldom visited at Cabrillo National Monument.

The small parking lot can be found at the end of Cabrillo Road, just before the gate to the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant. Most park visitors who drive down Cabrillo Road stop at Tidepools Parking and go no farther.

I recently posted a blog about my amazing hike up the Coastal Trail. I began from a spot near Tidepools Parking and walked north to Sea Cove Parking, where the trail ends. I didn’t mention that from the latter parking lot, I continued north a short distance along the side of Cabrillo Road, in order to reach Coast View Parking. That’s where these photographs were taken.

An overlook at the Coast View parking lot not only offers scenic views of the Pacific Ocean and sandstone bluffs, but there are information signs well worth reading.

Here I am carefully walking north along the side of Cabrillo Road…

I’ve arrived at Coast View Parking. There are benches where people can relax and gaze out toward the ocean.

A sign contains a poem…

“…The great rhythms of nature…have here their spacious and primeval liberty…”

Above the parking lot, up atop the Point Loma peninsula, one can see Battery Ashburn…

Embedded in the ridge in front of you was one of San Diego’s most important defenses during World War II. Well-hidden from approaching ships, Battery Ashburn housed two 16-inch guns…

Workers finished building the battery in March of 1944… Vibrations from the blast were so intense that they were rumored to have cracked windows in Hotel del Coronado across the harbor…

Turning east, I lifted my camera and took this photo of historic Battery Ashburn:

I then noticed a truck leaving the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant, which handles sewage and gray water created by more then 2.2 million people who live nearby!

A beautiful day at Cabrillo National Monument, and a parking lot that few people visit…

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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 X.

Feel free to share!

Working on mosaics at Water Conservation Garden!

Very beautiful mosaics decorate the Tool Wall at the Water Conservation Garden in Rancho San Diego!

As I walked through the garden today, I noticed someone working on this incredible wall. Rosalie, a friendly garden volunteer and artist, took a moment to show me what she was up to. She explained that her Tool Wall is nearing completion!

Some grouting, painting and a bit of other work, and the artistic wall will be finally completed. She been working on it for months.

The wall stands by a path in an area of the educational Water Conservation Garden that is devoted to the use of garden tools. Appropriately, decorated garden tools project from the top of the wall!

Rosalie explained the words on the wall: A garden is a grand teacher. It’s a quote by a very famous British horticulturist and garden designer, Gertrude Jekyll. Yes, tending a garden teaches patience, nurturing, a love for nature and the outdoors…

I’ll soon be blogging more about the amazing Water Conservation Garden, a hidden gem in San Diego’s East County, so stay tuned!

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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 X.

Feel free to share!

It Takes a Village mural painted by community!

This beautiful mural was painted in 2023 at the Copley-Price Family YMCA. The title is It Takes a Village. I saw it today for the first time!

The colorful artwork was designed by muralist Hanna Gundrum (@littlehouseink) and painted by over 175 members of the community. The theme is “It takes a village to raise a child.”

You can find the mural on 43rd Street, just north of El Cajon Boulevard, on a fence outside the preschool.

According to a posted sign, the mural serves to tell a story about the importance of community care and advocacy, through sheer resilience, nurturing, and hope when it comes to navigating the challenges and triumphs of child care.

You can read an article about the mural’s creation by checking out this webpage. The mural project was led by ArtReach in partnership with Children First Collective San Diego and the Copley-Price Family YMCA.

Look how bright and vibrant the mural is!

I took the following sequence of photographs moving left to right…

Written inside the heart: Well-being is the pursuit of mental, physical, social, financial, spiritual and environmental health.

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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 X.

Feel free to share!

Tribute Regatta adds life to San Diego Bay!

What were all those sailboats racing in San Diego Bay this afternoon? I watched them as I rode the ferry from Coronado to downtown San Diego.

It turns out these boats were participating in the Cortez Racing Association‘s Tribute Regatta in the north part of San Diego Bay. According to the race page, the event honored the lives of our sailing friends: Lisa Brewer and Ernie Pennell.

I never tire of watching sails that billow and slant across the blue water.

The two-masted vessel in the center of the next photograph is Bill of Rights, based in South Bay in Chula Vista. The beautiful tall ship was passing through…

After the Coronado ferry arrived near the San Diego Convention Center, I walked out to the pier at Embarcadero Marina Park South and took more photos…

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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 X.

Feel free to share!

Walking the Coastal Trail at Cabrillo National Monument.

The Coastal Trail provides an incredibly scenic walk at Cabrillo National Monument. It runs for about half a mile along rugged sandstone bluffs beside the Pacific Ocean.

The easy to moderate trail, with occasional steep steps leading up and down, begins by the park’s Tidepool Parking and winds north to Sea Cove Parking.

I asked a park ranger her favorite aspect of this trail. She loved how lines of pelicans soar along the ocean’s edge at eye level. I love that too.

I went for a walk along Coastal Trail the other day and took photos as I proceeded north. One comes to the tidepools very quickly. If you’d like a closer look at the tidepools, you can click here.

Starting north along the Coastal Trail near the Tidepool Parking at Cabrillo National Monument.
Map shows the Coast Trail and other parts of Cabrillo National Monument, which is located near the south end of San Diego’s Point Loma.
The scenic trail is very popular. Misty fog drifting in from the ocean is common.
The tidepools come into view soon.
Visitors like to pause and relax in this wide area just north of the tidepools.
Continuing north along the Coastal Trail, up then down some narrow steps.
Indescribable natural beauty.
A climb is coming up…
This stretch of steps is fairly long. I took it slow and easy. The steps are uneven in places.
Here comes something interesting…
This is an underground searchlight shelter from World War II. Visitors must safely stay off the unstable roof.
More stunning ocean vistas ahead as walkers proceed through native coastal vegetation.
The farther north you go, the fewer walkers you’ll likely encounter.
Brown pelicans soar along at eye level. Your spirit might soar, too.
Almost to Sea Cove Parking, also called Lot 2.
A welcoming bench at Sea Cove Parking overlooks vast beauty.

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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 X.

Feel free to share!

Spring color at historic Casa de Estudillo!

The arrival of Spring has brought even more color to the Casa de Estudillo. I visited the restored adobe today in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park. The trees and grass are green with our recent rains, and many flowers are blooming!

I was told that back in the 19th century, when generations of Estudillos lived in the adobe, the central “courtyard” would have appeared quite different. It would have been entirely packed dirt, with no decorative fountain. There would have been a few fruit trees, vegetables and herbs, and chickens running about.

In 1906, John D. Spreckels acquired the remarkable old Mexican casa and turned it into a tourist attraction, calling it the marriage place of popular fictional character Ramona. The courtyard was planted with greenery and flowers.

It retains a garden appearance today.

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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 X.

Feel free to share!

Walking down to Cabrillo National Monument’s tidepools!

In April, 2024, a new trail opened at Cabrillo National Monument. The Oceanside Trail starts at the Kelp Forest and Whale Overlook south of the Old Point Loma Lighthouse, and descends via several switchbacks to the Coast Trail, intersecting it a few steps from the main tidepool parking lot.

The Oceanside Trail is fairly steep and rugged, but if you’re in good physical shape, wearing good shoes and carrying plenty of water, the hike is really great!

I enjoyed the hike recently and took photographs as I walked down to the tidepools through incoming wisps of ocean fog!

I’ll provide some description in photo captions…

Here’s where you start, from the looping path south of the lighthouse, just beyond the whale overlook.
Map shows the Oceanside Trail. It’s about a 2.5 miles round-trip and can be strenuous.
Approaching a World War II observation bunker, which guarded the coast from a potential Japanese invasion.
The trail leads around the old military bunker.
You can see the New Point Loma Lighthouse in the distance by the water. It’s a residential area for Coast Guard officers.
Watch your step!
There are several switchbacks. Most feature steps.
A walker heading up. You can see how wisps of fog were drifting inland from the Pacific Ocean.
There are a couple of benches for resting and viewing the scenery, too.
Native coastal plants along the Oceanside Trail provide additional beauty and interest.
We’re approaching Cabrillo Road, which descends to the tidepool area from the Cabrillo National Monument entrance gate. Before the Oceanside Trail opened, it was the only way down.
The Oceanside Trail crosses Cabrillo Road twice.
A park ranger told me the circular platform with a track was used to rotate a gun during World War II.
Those people ahead are on the Coast Trail, heading between the nearby parking lot and tidepools.
The end of the Oceanside Trail. To reach the tidepools, turn right! You can’t miss them.

I’ll be blogging about the Coast Trail shortly. It extends north from here along the rugged, sandstone bluffs, providing amazing views.

Years ago, I walked down to the water and experienced the Cabrillo National Monument tidepools. I posted photographs here!

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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 X.

Feel free to share!