Tag: magic

Stones, water and light at Torrey Pines.

Our recent winter storms in San Diego thrust small stones high up onto the beach in places. At Torrey Pines State Beach, smooth stones covered much of the pedestrian pathway that runs down to and under the bridge near the north parking lot.

The stones, combined with a high tide and descending sun, made for some silvery photographs this afternoon! Bands of reflected light approached the shore with every crashing wave. Newly wetted stones gleamed like magic.

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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 Twitter!

A secret, magic bench in Balboa Park!

There’s a secret bench in Balboa Park that works magic. Very few visitors to the park ever see it.

Sit on this bench, look down, and suddenly before your feet colorful stars, planets and creatures appear!

This magic bench is in an out-of-the-way corner of Balboa Park, just north of Spanish Village Art Center, at the east edge of the small parking lot. In the above photo you can see the green grass of the nearby Balboa Park Miniature Railroad.

Should you sit on this magic bench, what might you 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 Twitter!

123 photos of the 2022 Holiday Bowl Parade!

The Holiday Bowl Parade in San Diego is one of the most fun parades anywhere!

I’ve got 123 photographs that prove it!

It rained downtown during the night, but it never seems to rain on this magical parade! Overcast skies in the morning were perfect for the 5K runners, who got started down Harbor Drive a few minutes before the Holiday Bowl Parade would commence.

And then the parade began!

Giant balloon characters floated by. Marching bands from near and far boomed and trumpeted past. There were dancers, baton twirlers, lowriders, cosplayers, and even a group with a humorous synchronized surfboard routine!

Of course, both the Oregon Ducks and the North Carolina Tar Heels had their large marching bands and enthusiastic cheerleaders waving from atop floats. Many in the crowd cheered when their favorite university competing in this year’s Holiday Bowl passed by.

You’ll see that I walked behind the convention center where the balloons were inflated before the parade, then found a good spot near the beginning of the parade route.

I’m sharing 123 photos–so many it would be a chore to caption them all. Simply enjoy!

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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!

Morning light transforms Balboa Park.

This morning, as the sun rose above the eastern horizon, Balboa Park underwent a transformation.

The early light, touching leaves, water and the sides of buildings, turned San Diego’s most amazing park into a world of pure magic…

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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!

Christmas trees fill ferryboat Berkeley!

Christmas trees and bright holiday decorations now fill the passenger deck of the historic ferryboat Berkeley! It appears to me that for 2022 there are more decorated trees and strung lights and snowflakes and magic than ever before!

Anyone who has stepped aboard the Berkeley at the Maritime Museum of San Diego knows how special the old ferryboat is. The ship’s cathedral-like passenger deck, with its colored windows and varnished wooden benches and views of the bay, is one of my favorite places in all of San Diego.

Imagine the spectacle after dark produced by the many Christmas trees and lights. Guests aboard Berkeley watching the Parade of Lights will be dazzled!

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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!

Holiday magic at the Model Railroad Museum!

Need some holiday magic?

It can be found in abundance at the San Diego Model Railroad Museum in Balboa Park!

The huge, detailed train layouts are amazing by themselves, but during the Holiday Season, additional surprises await around the museum!

There are beautiful Christmas trees, a talking, animatronic Santa to excite kids, and tiny holiday scenes placed in several of the scale train layouts.

But by far the most magic can be experienced in the Toy Train Gallery!

In the Toy Train Gallery, young and old gaze wide-eyed at a lively city filled with holiday figures and bright decorations. Trains illuminated with colored Christmas lights pass through happy winter scenes. Snowmen and Christmas trees perch on rooftops. It like a dream world one might see in a snow globe–filled with life and activity!

In addition, the Toy Train Gallery’s walls are filled with holiday artwork that will make old-timers nostalgic for years gone by.

A few photos provide a small taste…

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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!

It’s easy to explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on this website’s sidebar. Or click a tag. There’s a lot of stuff to share and enjoy!

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 mysterious Christmas tree at Cardiff State Beach!

A mysterious Christmas tree appears every year on the sand at South Cardiff State Beach. Nobody knows who places this Tree by the Sea.

The annual appearance of the Christmas tree has become a magical holiday tradition in Cardiff-by-the-Sea. The Tree by the Sea has delighted beachgoers for about three decades. You can read more about its history here.

Enjoy these photographs that I took today.

It was a cloudy late November weekday. Very few people were on the beach. The contrast of sand and ocean, and the decorated tree, makes these images strange and interesting.

Anybody can add their own ornaments. I noticed many have a surfing theme!

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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!

It’s easy to explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on this website’s sidebar. Or click a tag. There’s a lot of stuff to share and enjoy!

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!

Free ice cream and concert in Balboa Park!

What’s better than free ice cream and a free concert?

Free ice cream and a fantastic free concert in beautiful Balboa Park!

A huge crowd came out to the Spreckels Organ Pavilion this evening to smile, laugh, sing, and dance to the music of San Diego’s own The Moonlight Serenade Orchestra. And, of course, to devour ice cream!

The annual Ice Cream Social concert, one of many free summer Twilight in the Park concerts, was made possible by the awesome folks of Forever Balboa Park!

The music was infectious. The vibe was energetic. The audience was often clapping, and couples were swaying and spinning on the outdoor dance floor. Tunes included Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, Dancing Queen, Old Time Rock and Roll, Respect, In the Mood, Over the Rainbow, and a variety of others, including many big band classics.

The highlight for me–and it appeared to be for many–was the solo drumming performance by D. J. Jackson in the encore song Sing, Sing, Sing. He was a magician whose magic seemed limitless. I didn’t want his inspired wizardry to end.

A long standing ovation resulted!

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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!

One last walk during Comic-Con 2022.

A pretty good crowd was walking around outside Comic-Con this Sunday mid-afternoon. The more popular offsite activations still had long lines–two hours in many cases! But some of the lesser offsites were already coming down, being dismantled, loaded back into trucks.

Comic-Con 2022 went by all too fast!

I had the energy for one more walk. Back to work tomorrow.

I hope many of you enjoyed looking at some of my photos this past week. Now I think I’ll take a few days off from blogging, to catch my breath.

But I’m sure there will be many more cool San Diego sights to come!

If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!

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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!

Harry Potter witches and wizards invade Comic-Con!

Powerful witches and wizards have travelled from the world of Harry Potter to San Diego for Comic-Con 2022!

I saw the magical procession this morning and was astonished to discover so many J. K. Rowling characters present.

This awesome cosplay group has had their Comic-Con procession across from the San Diego Convention Center numerous times in the past. This year it appeared bigger and more amazing than ever!

How many characters do you recognize?

I see Snape and Dumbledore (two of them!) and McGonagall and Hagrid and Trelawney and Sprout and Tonks and Lupin and Fleur Delacour and Newt Scamander and Grindelwald and even a nascent Voldemort in the arms of that ratty Peter Pettigrew!

And Hermione! And Harry Potter himself!

And many others!

Enjoy some photos of this really great cosplay!

If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!

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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!