Whenever I walk past the Sixth Avenue playground, located among pine trees in the northwest corner of Balboa Park, I wish I were a child again. To romp, climb and swing through this crazy colorful jumble would be a ton of fun!
A couple days ago I spotted these colorful words of wisdom on a Little Italy sidewalk.
A big rainstorm is coming. The chalk will be washed away.
This morning I spent a little time at this year’s Padres FanFest. Wow! I’d never been to this event before, and it was bigger and more exciting than I expected! Padres fans could engage in all sorts of fun activities throughout Petco Park, and I took photos everywhere I turned. Here are a few good ones…
Hundreds of colorful tiles encircle a large playground at Liberty Station. Each tile was carefully painted by a child. This one contains a special message.
I could happily spend many hours at the San Diego Model Railroad Museum. Not only is it the largest such museum in North America, but it features some of the coolest, most realistic model train layouts you’ll ever see!
Located in Balboa Park, the model train museum contains five huge sections. The Cabrillo Southwestern exhibit is in O Scale, the same size as Lionel toy trains. The San Diego and Arizona Eastern, and the Southwestern Pacific-Santa Fe Tehachapi Pass exhibits are both in the popular HO Scale. The Pacific Desert Lines exhibit is in tiny N Scale. Finally, there’s a toy train gallery crammed with Lionel-type trains and many amazing moving accessories, including cars and people. One train is mounted with a Choo-Choo Cam which provides an engineer’s moving view of the dazzling layout.
I took lots of pics yesterday afternoon. Many of the shots taken through glass or in darkness didn’t come out so great. But I did get some fairly good ones. Enjoy!
UPDATE!
Almost every day this blog post is receiving visitors from Pinterest.
Welcome!
I decided to visit the museum again in May 2017 to get more photos!
The layouts are so huge and detailed it would take some time to describe exactly what the photos depict and from what position they were taken. So I’m just going to insert a bunch of random photos for you all to enjoy.
Feel free to share any of these photos if you’d like. It’s all for fun! And if you ever have a chance, make sure to visit the San Diego Model Railroad Museum in Balboa Park. The place is truly incredible!
Are you a railroad or streetcar enthusiast? Do you love railway history?
You might like to check out my cool photos of the National City Depot museum and streetcars!
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Barrio Logan, just south of downtown San Diego, is bursting with huge, colorful street murals. Several great examples can be found around the intersection of Harbor Drive and Cesar Chavez Parkway. The one shown in these pics is immediately north of the intersection.
This mural is fairly large, so I’ve broken it up into several photos, moving from left to right. The first part depicts kids and playful, animated fruit. This gives way to a scene of a train moving through what appears to be an estuary full of birds. A narrow panel along the side of the train is made of a shiny, reflective material.
I believe this mural was painted by Salvador Roberto Torres, who was one of the founders of nearby Chicano Park.
This bronze sculpture can be found near the Shelter Island public pier, on the other side of the children’s playground. It’s called Bubble Bath, by artist Dan Hill. The tiny work of art is easy to miss while walking along the bay. According to the Port of San Diego website, the sculpture was erected as a memorial to a toddler.
Santa Claus and his magical reindeer were recently seen flying through Balboa Park. A photo was snapped as he sped from the central plaza toward the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. There he is waving at happy children and thrilled park visitors!
A second photo was snapped as the reindeer lifted off into the blue San Diego sky, pulling Santa’s sleigh up and away back toward the North Pole!
Old Saint Nick has to prepare for Christmas!
UPDATE!
Santa returned the following year! Here he is!
This Sunday afternoon’s free concert at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion featured two of this year’s Spreckels Organ Scholarship winners! The scholarship is provided by the Spreckels Organ Society to promising young organists. Both young ladies who played were terrific!
This photo was taken as I entered the pavilion. Lots of folks were out and about on this beautiful sunny day, and a fair number of people were enjoying the music on the benches.
Here’s a pic of Trinity Schulz speaking to the crowd. She then went on to play “How Firm a Foundation”.
This pic shows Suzy Webster. She played a fun “Chopsticks for Organ”, and then Prelude and Fugue in C Minor, by J.S. Bach.
At Seaport Village yesterday, the Halloween Bash on the Bay brought out legions of costumed kids and their families. Trick or treating, music, food, dancing, crafts and fun were found all over the place.
A colorful costume contest for kids and dogs was held at the central fountain.
A mask making station attracted a whole bunch of creative kids.
In this photo we see kids dancing and showing off their cool costumes. The fun theme song from Ghostbusters and bubbles from a bubble blower filled the food court as I walked through. Not sure what caused the smoke. Not sure about that blue tarp, either. The Seaport Village carousel twirls in the background.
Even the adults dressed up. Or is that wrestler really Macho Man Randy Savage?
This real life hot dog was a favorite at the costume contest. Everyone wanted to take a pic!
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