Tag: events

Observing sunspots from San Diego’s Balboa Park!

Sunspots on the surface of the sun were clearly visible today in San Diego! A sense of wonder filled me when I viewed the distant phenomenon from Balboa Park.

Today the Fleet Science Center had Sunspotter Solar Telescopes, solar binoculars and other instruments related to astronomy outside and ready for use.

I had stumbled upon a special event at the Fleet Science Center. They were hosting the NASA Community College Symposium, which would feature a planetarium show, educational talks, panels, and a variety of space-themed activities.

A recent graduate of SDSU’s Astronomy master’s program operated the solar telescope, and I tried to capture the tiny dark sunspots with my camera. (For my final photo, the image contrast was radically increased, bringing out the spots.)

What appear to be small spots on the sun’s surface can be up to 100,000 miles in diameter! The sun itself is about 93 million miles from where you stand!

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Newly planted trees on The Haunted Trail!

Newly planted trees can be spotted in the southwest corner of Balboa Park near Marston Point. By sheer coincidence I spotted them today.

In the late morning I walked from downtown San Diego up to Balboa Park, intending to see if any progress has been made on The Haunted Trail. The “trail” is a very spooky, outdoor, after dark attraction that pops up in time for Halloween.

But look what I discovered! What an interesting contrast! Many young green trees are growing among scary props, including a beat-up car and broken-down old shack.

I asked someone who was preparing other ghoulish props for The Haunted Trail, and he believes the trees were planted earlier this year. I don’t recall seeing them before!

How scary might this “forest” be after dark?

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

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The Art of Navigation at the Maritime Museum.

Those who are fascinated by tall ships, exploration and the evolution of technology don’t want to miss a great new exhibit at the Maritime Museum of San Diego. It’s titled the Art of Navigation.

Visitors to the exhibit learn how navigators have used maps, charts and a variety of tools to find their way across the oceans and through dangerous waters. The extensive displays include some exceptionally rare antiques. Old instruments that can be viewed include an astrolabe, backstaff, nocturnal, traverse board, chip log and reel, hand-held telescope, cross-staff, quadrant, taffrail log, navigation slate and more! These instruments might seem primitive when compared with modern technology, but ship’s captains successfully sailed around the planet with the information they provided.

Personally, I like to read nautical stories set during the Age of Sail. As I read I’ll come across the names of these instruments, and at times puzzle over their application. The descriptive Art of Navigation exhibit brings helps to bring those adventurous old stories to life!

The exhibit also includes beautiful paintings and model ships, and even a display directly related to the Maritime Museum’s famous Star of India!

The Art of Navigation is free with museum admission. As advertised, it does indeed turn intellect, math, nature and science into beauty!

Micronesian stick chart, used by the indigenous island peoples of the Pacific to navigate across great distances of open water.

Henricus Hondius. Polus Antarcticus. Map of Dutch discoveries published in Amsterdam, 1638.

Benjamin King Backstaff (also known as Davis Quadrant), Newport, Rhode Island, 1764. Used by Colonial American navigators.

Replica of 19th century chip log and reel. Used to estimate the speed of a ship through water.

Log of Euterpe, a historic ship later known as Star of India.

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

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Votes For Women at San Diego History Center.

The Women’s Museum of California has made its home inside the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park. Visitors who walk into the history center can now view a museum exhibit concerning the struggle by women to obtain the right to vote in the United States.

Votes For Women: A Portrait of Persistence follows the efforts of suffragists to amend the U.S. Constitution and change state election laws by lobbying in their community and in the halls of Congress. As one display explains, the suffragists wrote articles, circulated petitions, gave speeches, organized marches, and were sometimes imprisoned for their protests. Over time these tactics won support for woman suffrage that led to the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920.

Visitors will learn how the fight for women’s right to vote lasted more than 80 years. Even after the ratification of the 19th Amendment, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was required to eliminate the suppression of voting by women.

In addition to many interesting posters, there are garments on display that suffragists might have worn, including a bloomer costume, named for writer and women’s rights advocate Amelia Bloomer.

Kids can also enjoy fun activities. There’s a San Diego History Center image scavenger hunt and the opportunity to take selfies with a suffragist sash and protest signs!

After you check out the Votes For Woman exhibit, take a stroll around the rest of the San Diego History Center. There’s a lot of history to see!

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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 X.

People in San Diego help those hurting in Ukraine.

In San Diego, compassionate people are working to help the victims of the ongoing war in Ukraine. Some of the organizations leading this effort were making their appeals today at the House of Ukraine lawn program in Balboa Park.

As I wandered around the annual cultural event, I met a few of these good people. I missed most of the dancing and entertainment this year, but I figured blogging about these humanitarian efforts is important.

People gather in Balboa Park at the International Cottages for the House of Ukraine lawn program.

Playing traditional Ukrainian music on the stage.

Serving tasty Ukrainian food in the House of Ukraine cottage.

A box welcomes Donations For Ukraine.

Shield of Freedom (SOF) is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicate to providing direct aid to defenders, first responders and civilians in Ukraine that are helping support and defend the country in the face of Russia’s brutal war of aggression.

Shield of Freedom’s Beer and Bandages event will be held next Sunday, September 8, 2024 at Kilowatt Brewery, 7576 Clairemont Mesa Blvd. Enjoy Ukrainian brew and save lives by building a life-saving First Aid Kit for a Ukrainian defender.

Healing Scalpel‘s goal is to provide humanitarian aid to those individuals impacted by natural disasters and manmade disruptions or conflicts.

Rescue Support International works side by side with brave rescuers on the front lines in Ukraine, connecting them with first responders abroad looking to help.

Their Photo Exhibition Project raises awareness, focusing on Ukrainian Rescuers on the front lines of the civilian battleground, highlighting their sacrifices, bravery, and heroism, and bringing attention to their urgent need for more resources.

Artillery shell shrapnel picked up in the town of Marganets in 2023, where the blast had just killed a 59 year old school teacher, while her husband lost several fingers. The shell was fired from Russia artillery stationed at the nuclear power plant just 8 miles away, where they fire daily on the civilian towns within artillery reach…

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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 X.

Cool photo memories from September 2019.

Cool San Diego Sights now features tens of thousands of photographs from walks all over San Diego. We’ve started a new month, so it’s time to revisit a few blog posts from five years ago. What was going on in September 2019?

Looking back, I see there were several great experiences in North County, including a hike along a beautiful trail at Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve’s lesser-known Northeastern Extension. Makes me want to go on another hike this Labor Day weekend!

To learn about some interesting places and past events, and to see all sorts of colorful photos, check out the following collection of links…

Click the following links for a dozen fun adventures!

Folk dance and smiles at House of Ukraine!

Balboa Park’s fantastic Toy Train Gallery!

Historic Highway 80 mural on El Cajon Boulevard.

Black life and civil rights in Southern California.

Colorful photos of Founders Day in Old Town.

Torrey Pines Extension hike to the DAR plaque.

Late summer beauty in my favorite garden.

The Art of Shag at the Comic-Con Museum!

Amazing walk from Swami’s to the Cardiff Kook.

A walk down Solana Beach’s Coastal Rail Trail.

Art inside the Balboa Park Activity Center.

Cool murals at Priority Public House!

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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 X.

Young Ukrainian filmmaker visits San Diego.

Thirteen-year-old Ukrainian filmmaker Marusya Shuvalova spoke today at the 20th San Diego International Children’s Film Festival. The event was held in the Neil Morgan Auditorium at San Diego’s downtown Central Library.

Shuvalova’s two films, Me. My Eleven Years. War. and What’s Going On With Us? were among the outstanding selections featured in 2024. Both films document her young life in Kyiv, Ukraine during the Russian invasion.

Please watch the short Me. My Eleven Years. War. on YouTube by clicking here. There are English subtitles.

You will see how Marusya’s life as an ordinary eleven-year-old girl was disrupted by the war–how she had to forgo loved activities, learn remotely, listen constantly to loud sirens, take shelter, and live with fear of an unknown future, and a constant fear for her family’s safety. Her ambitions to be a young actress and film director had to be largely put on hold.

But now she has visited Los Angeles and San Diego for their respective International Children’s Film Festivals and hopefully her future is becoming brighter. Even with her limited knowledge of English, and emotions that you and I might hardly understand, she spoke before the audience in San Diego with perfect professionalism and poise. She is truly inspirational.

Learn more about Marusya Shuvalova by clicking 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 X.

Honoring emergency responder heroes in San Diego.

There are heroes in this world who will risk their own life to save the lives of strangers. Heroic firefighters and other emergency responders were honored today during the annual San Diego Memorial 9/11 Stair Climb.

The event attracts firefighters and emergency responders from all over San Diego and the surrounding region. The heroes and their families enjoy a day full of fun, sunshine and comradery on the grass in front of the Hilton San Diego Bayfront hotel. And participants honor heroes who’ve come before, particularly those who fell during the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York City.

The stair climb recreates the incredible effort of the responders who lost their lives trying to save those up in the World Trade Center towers. It’s jolting to remember, but 403 responders made the ultimate sacrifice that day. The stair climb also raises money to help keep the memory of these heroes alive.

At the event, the 9/11 Remembrance Project displayed photographs and artifacts from that terrible day. It brought everything home again. One poster recalled the efforts of the San Diego Urban Search and Rescue Task Force in the aftermath of the New York attack.

Never forget. NYC 09.11.01.

You can donate to the cause by visiting the event website by clicking here.

Visit the Wall of Heroes and read inspiring life stories by clicking 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 X.

The golden age of surf culture in Oceanside!

Are you old enough to remember the golden age of surf culture? You know–those years when the radio was filled with pop music by The Ventures, Jan and Dean, and The Beach Boys. Back when surfing movies were on the marquee of your local theater, and Gidget was a popular show on television.

If you love nostalgia, the California Surf Museum has a really great exhibit that might tickle your fancy. It might also bring back memories. Star, Cars and Guitars – The Birth of the Modern Surf Era: 1958 to 1965 features photographs, posters, rare artifacts and memorabilia from those days when the surfing subculture sprang forth and quickly took center stage in the popular culture.

I visited the California Surf Museum last Saturday and enjoyed looking at the extensive display.

This era came right before I was born, but in my youth echoes of it still lingered on the radio and on television. I remember I had the incredible Endless Summer album by The Beach Boys which I loved to hear on my scratchy record player. Yes, that was a long time ago!

(How many San Diego area locations are mentioned in The Beach Boys hit song Surfin’ U.S.A.? Well, let’s see: Del Mar, Trestles, Swami’s, San Onofre, and La Jolla!)

The museum exhibit covers those golden days when surfing’s popularity exploded across California, the U.S.A. and the world, including the era’s trailblazers and athletes, surfboards, fashion, cars, popular surf spots and early surfing competitions.

Honestly, all of the exhibits in this one-of-a-kind museum are cool. If you live in Southern California and you’re at all into surfing or the lifestyle, and you haven’t visited the California Surf Museum, you’re really missing 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 X.

Hungarian dance and culture in Balboa Park!

The House of Hungary presented a wonderful lawn program today in Balboa Park.

Those who came by the International Cottages could feast on Hungarian food, including Potato Paprikash and Crepes, and enjoy an introduction to Hungary’s history and culture. At the House of Hungary cottage, used books in Hungarian were for sale. Out on the lawn, dancers and musicians took the stage.

I arrived just before 2 o’clock and watched a performance by two professional ballet dancers: Hungarian born Reka Gyulai (principal dancer, California Ballet) and Lester Gonzalez. Their dance, as you might expect, was extraordinary.

Then came a performance by the Hungarian Children’s School. The symbolic dance was about creating New Bread. It was full of fun, family happiness and joy for life.

Later performances, which I missed, included jazz and folk music by The Hunglish Project, the Karpatok Hungarian Dance Ensemble, and a Rubik’s Cube demonstration and quiz show!

Another great time on another Sunday in sunny San Diego!

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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 X.