House of England tent featured British food in San Diego, a distant corner of America.
As you might have read in my last post, lots of folks converged upon Balboa Park today in a variety of historical costumes. They were celebrating the beautiful park’s one hundred year anniversary.
Most of these participants headed to the International Cottages area in the early afternoon, where a costume parade, chivalry event, dramatic performance from Shakespeare, and other activities took place. The House of England held an English Village Fete on the lawn.
I missed most events but did capture some fun pics…
Buckingham Palace Queen’s Guard in front of the House of England cottage.British bobby on patrol talks to a gentleman at unique Balboa Park event.Attire from different periods of history were seen at the English Village Fete.Lots of Union Jacks and gifts celebrating England were for sale.This nice lady in a bonnet was selling honey produced in San Diego.There was even a model train display on the lawn during the fun event.England is a member of the House of Pacific Relations International Cottages.Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom inside the House of England cottage.People in period costumes enjoy some treats inside the small cottage.Beatles display on a wall inside the House of England cottage.A cool Alice in Wonderland exhibit features the Mad Hatter.Some guys are re-positioning the Union Jack at cottage door.Sherlock Holmes tries to unravel a mystery. Who’s that scruffy, suspicious-looking guy walking around taking pictures?Local Shakespeare expert talks about the Bard and his contributions to literature and our everyday language.Event attendees listen intently to a talk about the Elizabethan era.Many penny-farthing bicycles could be spied around Balboa Park today.Join us for a nice cup of tea!
…
To enjoy future posts, you can “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
San Diego Costume Guild members help Balboa Park celebrate its centennial.
Today a really cool event was held in San Diego called the Balboa Park Centennial Informal Gathering. A bunch of history lovers, park supporters, assorted clubs and organizations (including the San Diego Costume Guild) gathered together in Balboa Park and everyone wore period attire. The idea was to recreate what Balboa Park might have looked like one hundred years ago, when the 1915 Panama-California Exposition opened.
During my walk through the park, I saw folks everywhere wearing fancy dresses and hats . . . carrying parasols . . . sporting old-fashioned police and military uniforms . . . wearing suffragette sashes or steampunk goggles . . . riding high-wheeled penny-farthing bicycles . . . and lots of puzzled tourists looking about in complete astonishment. It was great!
Balboa Park Centennial Celebration marks the 100 year anniversary of an amazing place.Folks in old-fashioned dresses and nostalgic garb were walking up and down El Prado.This 19th century fashion predates 1915, the year of the Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park,Two elegant ladies paused to smile for my camera in the park’s big central plaza.Some people dressed for the occasion were enjoying the warm San Diego sunshine.Lots of very fancy hats could be seen everywhere I turned.Later in the afternoon, folks wearing historical costumes would reenact a political march supporting Votes For Women.Two suffragettes with Votes For Women sashes follow a guy dressed in World War I era military uniform.Back in 1915, the right for women to vote was an important issue and movement.A display in the Balboa Park Club building included Women’s Rights memorabilia from a hundred years ago.A few people sported steampunk goggles. Event participants converged on the International Cottages lawn area.Visitors from Balboa Park’s past seem to come to life before my very eyes.A bustle of Victorian activity in front of the House of England cottage.
…
To enjoy future posts, you can “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
Clan Logan’s crest is a pierced human heart. HOC MAJORUM VIRTUS, translated from Latin is Valor of My Ancestors.
I’d read that the 12th Annual San Diego Tartan Day being held in Balboa Park would end at four o’clock this afternoon. So I arrived during my walk with a good hour to spare. Or so I thought! At three o’clock, the event was already drawing to a close!
I did manage to get some interesting photos. A number of tents and folks in costume were scattered about the lawn of the House of Pacific Relations International Cottages. Unfortunately, I missed the dancing and music. Maybe next year…
A robed Highlander with walking stick strides across the lawn at Balboa Park’s International Cottages. Historical dresses, kilts and distinctive tartans were abundant.The House of Scotland in Balboa Park was the center of today’s 12th Annual San Diego Tartan Day.Some leftover treats in the House of Scotland cottage as the event draws to a close.Displays in Scotland’s small cottage celebrate rich history, art and culture.The crests of many diverse clans hang on one wall.This merry fellow was looking down at cottage visitors from a spot near the ceiling.The Scottish Clan and Tartan Information Center was attracting a great deal of interest.Exhibit on one outdoor table helps identify many differently patterned tartans.Participants from The Stewart Society of Edinburgh celebrate Scotland’s rich heritage.
…
To enjoy future posts, you can “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
International M-2-4 Rocket Truck used in the Pacific during World War II.
An interesting new exhibit will open this coming Friday, April 3 at the San Diego Automotive Museum. Part of this year’s Centennial Celebration, the new exhibit is called Balboa Park: The War Years. According to one website: “The (auto museum) floor will be transformed into a USO show venue to tell the story of the impact that war had on San Diego and the entire West Coast.” As part of the museum’s general admission, visitors will be able to check out a dozen-or-so 1940s period vehicles used by the American military during the Second World War.
I was lucky to experience a small taste of the exhibit this afternoon. A rocket launching truck and anti-tank gun were waiting to be rolled from the outside parking lot into the museum during my Sunday walk through Balboa Park.
Here are several pics…
This historical military vehicle comes from the Marine Corps Mechanized Museum at Camp Pendleton north of San Diego.One of many interesting vehicles arriving for the upcoming Balboa Park: The War Years exhibit at the San Diego Automotive Museum.US WW2 37mm M3 Anti-Tank Gun backing up to the museum’s big side door!
(After doing some searching on the internet, I’m pretty sure I have the above caption correct. If I don’t, leave a comment!)
Cool guy from San Diego Automotive Museum smiles for the camera!
…
To enjoy future posts, you can “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
The Spock Block celebration is taking place near Encinitas City Hall on Vulcan Avenue.
The City of Encinitas, a coastal beach city in San Diego’s North County, has a week-long celebration underway honoring the late Leonard Nimoy. If the immensely popular actor, author, director, poet, songwriter and photographer had not passed away in February this year, he would have celebrated his 84th birthday last Thursday. Nimoy’s rich life and artistry is being remembered, as well as his iconic role as Mr. Spock on Star Trek. Encinitas City Hall is located on Vulcan Avenue, and as every Trekker knows, Vulcan was the name of Spock’s home planet. So by official decree, a short stretch of Vulcan Avenue has been temporarily renamed Spock Block.
Today I took a long stroll around Encinitas, hoping to spot a few cool sights in and around Spock Block. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be much going on. I guess there wasn’t enough time for preparation and publicity. Maybe next year the festival (or Enterprise!) can grow into a much more interesting phenomenon. How about some cool displays? A science fiction film fest? A cosplay contest? Get creative!
Fortunately, I did get lots of other awesome pics around Encinitas, so I suppose more blog posts will be forthcoming!
A fun-loving restaurant on Pacific Coast Highway had a special Live Long and Lobster deal! Seems entirely logical to me!Encinitas surfers arrive from Vulcan Avenue–or perhaps an avenue located somewhere on Spock’s distant home planet…
…
To enjoy future posts, you can “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
LOVE spelled out in chalk in the grassy park near the WorldBeat Center.
Today has been designated World Water Day. The essential message is that we should use our often limited water resources carefully and engage in water conservation.
I read that a World Water Day Celebration was to be held in Balboa Park at the WorldBeat Center, so I headed from downtown up Park Boulevard to see what was going on.
What I discovered was a lot of interesting knowledge and very cool fun!
World Water Day in Balboa Park included a kids poster contest, painting, music, dance, a water blessing, and a global meditation.Kids listen to stories out in a patch of shade on a warm Spring day in San Diego.This board included many great ideas on how to save water. This is unusually important in Southern California because of our ongoing drought.Lots of creativity was being unleashed during World Water Day.A talented artist named Alexander had his work on display.A smile and unique self-portrait by Alexander.
This super friendly, cool artist was working with Live Art by Davina Mendoza.Inside the popular World Beat Center dance and music awaited.Poster inside shows how water is harvested from the air in Ethiopia!Watair creates atmospheric water generators (called air juicers). These devices produce pure drinking water while cleaning the air!The colorful interior of the WorldBeat Cultural Center is alive with dancers and a line of drummers!
…
To enjoy future posts, you can “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
Kids learn about electronics by combining fun pieces from a kit, creating circuits.
Today I checked out a truly amazing event! Expo Day capped off the week-long San Diego Festival of Science and Engineering (formerly known as the San Diego Science Festival), and brought out thousands of families and kids, eager to learn about science. STEM, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education, was Expo Day’s principal focus. The seventh annual event nearly burst the seams of downtown’s big Petco Park stadium. There were so many cool exhibits, so much stuff to see, I only managed to experience about half of it! My poor old brain nearly exploded!
Here is a bit of what I saw!
Exhibitor map for the huge Expo Day, concluding event of the San Diego Festival for Science and Engineering.Lots of folks inside Petco Park (baseball stadium of the San Diego Padres) learn about science.This kid is way more interested in a map to cool science stuff than boring bags of cotton candy!A robot was moving mysteriously about, amusing people who were just walking along the concourse.Group demonstrates the structure of some common molecules.The STEM event focused on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education.Investigating organisms one might find in a mud flat.This balloon soon rose on a column of air and floated out of the tube!Young inventors assemble unique creations using all sorts of ordinary materials.Understanding genetic attributes using Boolean logic. Sounds complicated!Youth would attempt to break a Guinness World Record at Second Hour of Code mass coding event led by a Microsoft professional.I’ve never seen so many hands on experiments in one place!Don’t mess with this guy. He’s a super cool scientist dude!Kids test out non-Newtonian fluids which seem to harden like rubber when struck.Young scientific explorers are shown how to build their own spectroscope! And to think I was confounded by my Etch A Sketch!Test your own mental cognition and speak these colors really fast for yourself!Oh, man! Check this weird elephant out! I love optical illusions!This fancy lab aquarium acts as a flume, used to test the motion of fish and their muscular development.Pointing out a butterfly in a carefully classified collection.Wow! These youngsters are building DNA models! That’s way beyond me!Learning how smoking exposes people to all sorts of toxic chemicals.Girl learns about gyroscopes and angular momentum with a spinning bicycle tire.Some students built cool models of futuristic cities.Awesome robots were all over the place!People were jumping about as this robot dashed about scooping stuff up.This robot participates in the Lego League, trying to score points on an unusual course.This is a mechanical, computerized Rubik’s Cube solver that detects color.Looking down into Petco Park’s Power Alley, where more STEM exhibits were located.Lots of animal life on display included this beautiful long-nosed snake.Lady demonstrates how bio fuels are refined using filtration.Christmas lights helped to teach about energy conservation.Tens of thousands turned out for the big San Diego Festival of Science and Engineering Expo Day.Many businesses were showing their products, discoveries and technological advances.AirZooka vortex generator shoots circular pulse of air at the shimmer wall!This automated machine helps prepare lab samples in medical facilities.Kids left notes on a wall with their bright ideas.Planting some tomato seeds, to watch them sprout and grow at home!More kids making complex molecules with colored marshmallows! I guess they’ll be future scientists!Some art was being created to accompany all the science and technology stuff.This guy uses electromagnetism to launch cans skyward and splatter cucumbers!Petco’s sunny Park at the Park was jammed with families enthused by education.Demonstrating maglev (magnetic levitation) using eddy currents.Young people write down what they like about science!Young astronomers duplicate the colors of an enhanced surface image of asteroid Vesta.This NASA inflatable is the actual size of the Curiosity rover now on Mars.Everyone is fascinated by a cool NASA photograph of the surface of Mars.A member of the next generation lays his hands on our planet.
…
To enjoy future posts, you can “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
Today is the International Day of Happiness! Happy thoughts and deeds were underway in downtown San Diego this morning, just outside Horton Plaza. I swung on by to check things out!
International Day of Happiness in San Diego at Horton Plaza.Early morning vows of how people will make the world a more happy place.Smiling at my kids more.Smiling and saying hi to everyone I pass by today.Sharing my lunch with someone less fortunate.Being a good father and role model.Help make the world a happier place!
…
To enjoy future posts, you can “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
Someone displays a cool-looking drone and describes its operation.
While drones might not be delivering pizzas anytime soon, they do make for an interesting hobby. I could clearly see that when I wandered into a cool event by sheer chance. International Drone Day was celebrated today at the Silent Electric Flyers of San Diego field near Mission Bay.
I was walking along the San Diego River Trail when I glimpsed something strange flying about behind a line of trees. Whatever it was didn’t behave like a bird. I had to go investigate!
What I discovered was a large gathering of electric drone hobbyists. They were flying their unique propeller aircraft, checking out different equipment, and enjoying hot dogs out in the San Diego sunshine!
In the event you pass by one day, the small field is located on the north side of Sea World Drive, just east of SeaWorld. I had visited once before, the day I blogged about birdwatching along the river estuary. On that day RC model aircraft were circling in the sky. I’ve added one pic from that visit, as you’ll see.
International Drone Day in San Diego brought out a bunch of serious hobbyists.A quad hovers above the special flying area on a breezy day near Mission Bay.People checked out drones of every size and description.A smaller drone displayed on a table.This larger drone was designed to be aerodynamic.Drone builders and enthusiasts were in heaven in San Diego today.It looks like high-tech drones have replaced humans already!This field is used by Silent Electric Flyers of San Diego, and their radio-controlled aircraft.Guy sets his drone down in preparation for a demonstration.A crowd watches the action. My camera barely captured one distant craft in flight.Other days, electric-powered RC model airplanes take off and glide from this field.I took this photo on a prior occasion. That radio-controlled plane is huge!Drone on the ground makes for a cool, futuristic pic.Club members prepare their drones for the High Noon “All Up”!
At noon, all the drones took to the air at once! Unfortunately, my pics of the spectacle came out pretty lousy. So use your mind’s eye! According to the announcer, 32 drones hovered above the field at one time. The San Diego team’s High Noon “All Up” took place simultaneously with 150 other teams celebrating International Drone Day around the world.
What will I discover next? It seems that anything is possible!
…
To enjoy future posts, you can “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
Saint Patrick was seen in downtown San Diego banishing snakes and frowns.
A long, warm, wonderful walk today filled my trusty old camera with lots of photos! First up: some fun images from San Diego’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade!
Last year I took pics up and down Sixth Avenue (just west of Balboa Park) where the parade was staged, and this morning I did exactly the same thing. Predictably, cool sights were everywhere my eyes turned!
This smiling gentleman is dressed in the uniform of the Knights of Columbus.Crowd gathers early before the big St. Patrick’s Day parade kicks off.Lots of dogs were wearing the green this morning.Green hats and fun festive stuff on the grass by the sidewalk.Shriner mini cars are always a popular part of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.These clowns are relaxing in the shade as a sunny San Diego day heats up.This cool old Ambulance and Patrol vehicle awaits start of parade.The distinctive Shriners float doesn’t look Irish to me, except for a bit of green!The Best-Rate Repair Company float is making its first appearance this year.This guy in a traditional kilt will be playing the bagpipes for everyone to enjoy.Marching band instruments lie on the grass before start of the St. Paddy’s parade.The Academy of Irish Dance gets their elaborate float ready.These super nice San Diego Roller Derby ladies posed for my camera!Motorcyclist in green heads down Sixth Avenue where the parade is staging.These cool old-fashioned penny-farthing bicycles will take part in the parade.Everybody was busy getting ready as the 10:30 morning start approached.Serviceman helps affix some Irish green to the front bumper of a car.The Young Marines were carefully folding a large American flag as I walked down Sixth Avenue.A smiling Irish clown perfectly captures the spirit of this wonderful annual event.
…
To enjoy future posts, you can “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
Cool San Diego Sights! 