Texas Tractor, 2002, Carol Lindemulder. Oil on linen.
A great new art exhibition has recently opened at the San Diego History Center!
Carol Lindemulder: Color Story features a collection of vibrant paintings by a local artist who loves to travel about the landscapes of Southern California and the American Southwest. In her paintings, deserts, fields, mountains and small towns are frequently defined by swaths of radiant color–like patches of bright sunshine before your eyes!
Carol Lindemulder, a San Diego native, is a founding member of the Save Our Heritage Organization. She was responsible for the restoration of the Giant Dipper roller coaster in Mission Beach. Her paintings are informed by a deep knowledge of our region’s history, its backroads and lesser known spaces.
Head over to the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park and see these amazing paintings for yourself!
Photograph of Carol Lindemulder painting.Most of my paintings have a path–a road, a street, a river–a place from which we start the adventure.The Road Less Traveled, 2003, Carol Lindemulder. Oil on linen.Fish Creek Afternoon, 2012, Carol Lindemulder. Oil on linen.Stonebridge Canyon, 2016, Carol Lindemulder. Oil on linen.October, Canyon de Chelly, 2002, Carol Lindemulder. Oil on linen.When Shadow’s Fall, 1996, Carol Lindemulder. Oil on linen.Ocotillo, 2010, Carol Lindemulder. Oil on linen.Storm from Temecula, 2001, Carol Lindemulder. Oil on linen.Henshaw After the Storm, 2007, Carol Lindemulder. Oil on linen.Just Around the Corner from the Stop Sign, 2013, Carol Lindemulder. Oil on linen.
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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!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Lots of cool sights await visitors to the free San Diego Air and Space Museum’s Gillespie Field Annex!
One of the coolest free attractions in San Diego is located in East County at Gillespie Field. That’s where you’ll find the annex of Balboa Park’s famous Air and Space Museum!
Yesterday morning I ventured east to El Cajon to visit the San Diego Air and Space Museum’s Gillespie Field Annex for the very first time. I’d read that they have a collection of old aircraft, but I really didn’t know what to expect.
I was absolutely blown away!
The annex is a treasure trove of restored and unrestored aircraft, plus old exhibits once housed by the museum in Balboa Park. Volunteers at the Gillespie Field Annex are happy to show families around. Excited kids can sit inside commercial airline cockpits, and adults can marvel at the development of aviation technology over the years.
There are so many amazing displays in the hangar and outside, it’s hard to describe. So I offer you these photos with informative captions!
If you happen to be in San Diego, go check it out for yourself! While admission to the annex is free, they’d appreciate a few bucks in their donation box!
An imposing Atlas missile stands in one corner of the annex’s parking lot!Cockpit exhibits and aircraft in various stages of restoration stand outside the museum annex hangar.Inside the hangar there’s a ton of cool stuff, including many old exhibits from the main San Diego Air and Space Museum in Balboa Park.Replica of the Smithsonian’s original Vin Fiz Flyer dangles from the ceiling. This one-of-a-kind Wright Brothers airplane was the first aircraft to fly coast-to-coast. The journey took almost three months!Ryan X-13 experimental vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) jet created by the Ryan Aeronautical Company of San Diego. This particular aircraft was test flown in 1955 at Edwards Air Force Base.Looking past the Ryan X-13 Vertijet at other exhibits in the annex hangar, including a yellow Ryan Recruit military trainer.This particular Ryan X-13 was the result of a contract with the U.S. Air Force, as you can see by the markings.Ryan ST-3KR (PT-22) Recruit, an aircraft used to train thousands of pilots during World War II.In a glass display case nearby is a small model of a Ryan B-5 Brougham. (You might recall that Charles Lindbergh’s famous Spirit of St. Louis, first plane to cross the Atlantic Ocean solo nonstop, was built in San Diego by Ryan.)Numerous aircraft engines on display at the San Diego Air and Space Museum’s Gillespie Field Annex.Wright R-3350-B Duplex-Cyclone 1939 aircraft power plant, at the time the most powerful radial engine in the world at 2000 HP.Pratt and Whitney 1830-17 Twin Wasp, used in several World War II aircraft.Wright J65 turbojet engine, 1954. This engine powered many military aircraft in the mid 20th century, including the very successful A-4 Skyhawk.Marquardt RJ43-MA-9 ramjet engine used on Boeing CIM-10 Bomarc interceptor missiles during the 1960s. The ramjet produced speeds up to Mach 2.7, or about 1780 miles per hour.Rolls Royce Pegasus F402-RR-401 vectoring turbofan that powers the AV-8A Harrier short take-off and vertical landing aircraft.A long mural in the annex’s hangar shows a variety of modern aircraft.Bleriot XI dangles from the ceiling. The revolutionary 1908 aircraft had a new Anzani engine that could run for one whole hour, allowing it to fly across the English Channel.Sopwith Pup Craftsmen of the San Diego Aerospace Museum, a volunteer aircraft building project back in 2000-2003.Rearwin Cloudster 8135, once displayed on the museum floor in Balboa Park.One more look inside the hangar before I head outside to see lots more cool stuff.The aircraft in the foreground is a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15. Mounted beyond it is a Ryan Model 147 Lightning Bug jet-powered reconnaissance drone.Outside the hangar doors is the nose of an old Northwest Stratocruiser that once flew to Honolulu.Hundreds of switches, dials and gauges inside the amazing cockpit of a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser. One can sit in the pilot’s seat and pretend to fly across the Pacific Ocean!Someone created this silly flying car named the Spirit of San Diego! I kind of doubt they ever got this contraption off the ground.Looking beyond a General Dynamics F-16N at a line of military aircraft displayed outside.North American F-86F Sabre from the Korean War period.Convair F-102A Delta Dagger built in San Diego 1956-1957.An old Neptune Aviation Services P2V-7 aerial firefighting plane–Tanker 43.I learned there are several restoration projects now underway at the museum annex at Gillespie Field. I believe this is an old Piasecki H-21 helicopter. Looks like it needs some work.Next to the San Diego Air and Space Museum’s Gillespie Field Annex parking lot stands a tall Atlas Missile 2-E! This missile was used for a static firing at Sycamore Canyon Test Facility east of MCAS Miramar. It used to stand at the entrance to Missile Park, beside the old General Dynamics complex in Kearny Mesa.National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark Atlas Space Booster Family – San Diego, California – 1957. Developed by General Dynamics Convair and the U.S. Air Force.Visit the free San Diego Air and Space Museum’s Gillespie Field Annex and you’ll learn a whole lot about aviation history!
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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!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
In 2018 there was a cool new addition to Petco Park, baseball home of the San Diego Padres. Walk past Section 114 and you can’t miss it!
Displayed on the wall of what is now called the “San Diego Section” are plastic versions of high school baseball caps. Every high school in San Diego County with a baseball or softball team that competes in the CIF San Diego Section is represented!
To honor the achievements of local teams and their individual players, two interactive screens in the San Diego Section allow fans to search by high school. Basic information is displayed for each school, such as team logo, colors and mascot. The years the school won a California Interscholastic Federation Championship are also shown, as are the names of students who’ve have gone on to compete in Major League Baseball!
How cool is that?
I checked out Petco Park’s inspiring San Diego Section today during the 2019 Padres FanFest and took photos!
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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!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Sunrise at South Bay Salt Works is a spectacle that’s hard to describe. The sun’s first rays tint the dunelike mounds of pure white salt with a golden glow, creating an effect that is otherworldly and strangely beautiful.
Yesterday as the sun cleared the horizon I approached South Bay Salt Works to experience the magic. I took many photographs!
Wikipedia has an extensive article about South Bay Salt Works, which is located near Chula Vista, in the tiny Fruitdale section of San Diego’s Otay Mesa-Nestor community. I was interested to learn it’s the second longest running business in San Diego after the San Diego Union Tribune newspaper. The salt factory began as La Punta Salt Company sometime before 1872.
Large evaporation ponds at the southern end of San Diego Bay are the source of the salt, but the water comes directly from the Pacific Ocean. South Bay Salt Works produces about 75,000 tons of salt every year from ponds that cover over a thousand acres. For decades is was the sole supplier of salt for Southern California.
Many migrating birds are attracted to the evaporation ponds. The salinity of the water supports an abundance of brine flies and brine shrimp. Today, even as salt harvesting operations continue, the ponds are officially part of the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge.
I was once told by someone who knows a little about South Bay Salt Works that the salt is shipped from San Diego to places with freezing winters, where it’s used on roads and highways to melt the ice.
Enjoy these photographs!
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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!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Harbor seals lie in the sun on Children’s Pool Beach. The Children’s Pool is closed to the public during pupping season.
Every so often I have to walk by the water in La Jolla. It’s one of the most beautiful places in the world.
Today I headed to The Children’s Pool to enjoy harbor seals, pelicans in flight, the mighty ocean, the rocky shoreline and blue sky. Pupping season has just begun (December 15 through May 15) and so Children’s Pool Beach is closed to the public.
The Children’s Pool was the gift of local philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps in 1931. A concrete seawall was built to make the beach safe for public swimming.
Harbor seals began to use the beach in the 1990’s and over time sand has filled the swimming area. There has been a long running legal battle over the use of the beach.
The Children’s Pool also happens to be a popular destination of scuba divers because of nearby reefs.
Today people flock from far and wide to watch the seals from a safe distance.
Sitting on a bench overlooking The Children’s Pool, observing the resident colony of harbor seals.People look toward Children’s Pool from the shady green gazebo.People along the wall near the lifeguard station. Many tourists now travel to La Jolla just to see the local colony of harbor seals.The Children’s Pool breakwater was built in 1931. It was a gift to La Jolla by journalist and philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps.A colony of harbor seals suns on the sand near the seawall, which like the beach is off limits during pupping season.The seals move about from time to time. They turn on their sides, raise their heads and hind flippers, and inch forward on their stomachs.A lone harbor seal heads across the sand to the water’s edge by wriggling awkwardly on its belly.It swims out toward a nearby rock.With difficulty, a harbor seal inches up onto the large rock that lies just off the beach. (Sea lions, which sometimes share the beach, are much better climbers.)The perfect place for a peaceful nap!Looking west from the closed Children’s Pool toward the broad Pacific Ocean and gently breaking waves.Pelicans fly north. Scripps Pier and the scenic cliffs just south of Torrey Pines lie in the distance.The pelicans fly toward Seal Rock and Shell Beach, and distant jutting rocks west of La Jolla Cove.Looking west. Perhaps you can see why I love this place.Looking south toward Wipeout Beach.Another photo of the colony of harbor seals at The Children’s Pool in La Jolla.A young harbor seal enjoys a fine day on the beach.
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This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of fun stuff to check out!
Here’s the Cool San Diego Sights main page, where you can read the most current blog posts. If you’re using a phone or small mobile device, click those three parallel lines up at the top–that opens up my website’s sidebar, where you’ll see the most popular posts, a search box, and more!
To enjoy future posts, you can also “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
The Historical Unit of Southern California held an event on Veterans Day near the Balboa Park Carousel.
On Sunday the Historical Unit of Southern California provided a reenactment of two World Wars near the Balboa Park Carousel. Their fascinating Veterans Day event coincided with the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, the end of the World War One.
Smiling members of the group, wearing historical military uniforms, explained exhibits on the grass that primarily concerned World War I.
In addition to equipment used by soldiers on the battlefield, displays included photographs and objects pertaining to the Red Cross and Salvation Army, organizations that worked to provide care and comfort for those who fought.
Members of the reenactment group displayed artifacts from past wars, and wore historical military uniforms.Member of the American Red Cross Club of Southern California, a World War Two reenactment group founded in 2018. This was their first public event.Medical items used by the American Red Cross, who aided suffering soldiers during the wars of the 20th century.Interesting objects on display include old issues of The Red Cross Magazine.A timeline depicts the history of the American Red Cross through World War Two. The organization was established in 1881 by Clara Barton. (Click photo to enlarge it.)Guys dressed as soldiers hang out on the grass by the Balboa Park Carousel, which itself is over a hundred years old.A rifle, canteen, helmet, and other equipment from the battlefield displayed on a blanket.This friendly lady’s display concerned the Salvation Army. A sign shows some basic facts about World War I.In 1917, Helen Purviance, an ensign in the Salvation Army, was in France with the American First Division. Soldiers asked: Can’t you make a doughnut with a hole in it? The rest is history.I believe these photos and artifacts are from World War I.A doughnut with a convenient hole is enjoyed in the park a hundred years later!
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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!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Kids learn about archaeology at Arch In The Park, an annual educational event near the Historic Ranch House in Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve.
Today I headed to the Historic Ranch House in Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve to enjoy the 20th Annual Arch In The Park!
Arch In The Park, hosted by the San Diego County Archaeological Society, is an educational event where curious people of all ages can learn about archaeology in San Diego and the surrounding Southern California region!
I enjoyed looking at many displays and learning about opportunities to intern and volunteer with different organizations. Students talked about what they were learning, and kids got a glimpse of what it’s like to work as an archaeologist. Other exhibits concerned anthropology, our natural environment, and enjoying our local State Parks and National Forests.
After I checked out the various booths near the old adobe Ranch House, I headed to a nearby field where actual excavations could be viewed. Archaeology students from Palomar College told me about what they were doing, how they were doing it, and what they’d discovered!
To read information on the following posters, click my images and they will enlarge.
If you’d like to learn more about the historic Los Peñasquitos Ranch House, click here!
Visitors check out displays by colleges, businesses and organizations concerning the region’s archaeology, anthropology and natural environment.People learn to how to weave baskets, an essential skill of the region’s Native American Kumeyaay people.A poster shows California State Parks Southern Service Center’s various Archaeological Projects 2017-2018.Another California State Parks display shows interns at work sorting and identifying material from excavations in Southern California.This curious dog was more interested in learning about archaeology than that nearby bobcat.A display contains info regarding the Anza Borrego Foundation and the Colorado Desert Archaeology Society.Members of the Colorado Desert Archaeology Society can volunteer and become citizen scientists at Anza Borrego, Palomar Mountain and Rancho Cuyamaca State Parks!Rock samples from different geological formations in Penasquitos Canyon.Guinevere, the Merlin Falcon, is an animal ambassador for the San Diego Humane Society. (She had a wing injury and can’t fly properly.)At Red Tail Environmental’s table, kids could create sand art based on a ground painting by Native Americans at Mesa Grande.Chambers Group had an interesting poster concerning fossil mastodons and whales.Kumeyaay artifacts were displayed on the SDSU Department of Anthropology’s table. (If you’re a teacher, it might interest you that they offer free classroom presentations.)Enjoying a sunny San Diego day at Arch In The Park, presented each year by the San Diego County Archaeological Society.The Forest Fire Lookout Association had a cool display of all the Lookouts of Southern California.When smoke is spotted from a fire lookout, this simple device is used. Visually lining up the sighting determines the fire’s direction, or azimuth.Cleveland National Forest had a big display, too. They also love volunteers.Some photos from the Laguna Mountain Recreation Area, one of my favorite places.Some artifacts on display created by Native Americans from San Luis Rey. Two of the baskets (near the top of this photo) were made in the 1800s.A friendly student at this table talked to visitors about the California State University San Marcos Anthropology Club.As I headed over to a field where real archaeological digs can be seen, I was passed by people on horseback, enjoying their day at Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve.Excavations at Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve are carried out by students in the Archaeology Program at Palomar College.I learned the Kumeyaay in this region obtained obsidian for projectile points by trading with other native people who lived to the east, by the Salton Sea. Ancient arrowheads and other mysterious objects are sometimes unearthed in this area.A field east of the Los Peñasquitos Ranch House where archaeology students search for clues about the historic and prehistoric past.Walls and drainage structures poke out from the field. Their exact story is a puzzle that will eventually be pieced together.A part of a torn down barn’s foundation has been discovered here. Small, interesting finds are collected by general type in a cupcake pan!Tunneling gophers make reconstructing the past more difficult. They move materials about as they dig.Nearby I saw several devices used for wet screening excavated soil, a process that follows dry screening.Smokey Bear must also be an archaeology enthusiast! I spotted him checking out debris left on the ground in another corner of the field, the area used for dry screening excavated soil!
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This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!
Here’s the Cool San Diego Sights main page, where you can read the most current blog posts. If you’re using a phone or small mobile device, click those three parallel lines up at the top–that opens up my website’s sidebar, where you’ll see the most popular posts, a search box, and more!
To enjoy future posts, you can also “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
Arthur Putnam’s sculpture The Padre on Presidio Hill.
If one considers San Diego’s founding to have occurred in 1769, the year both Mission San Diego de Alcalá and the El Presidio Reál de San Diego were established on Presidio Hill, then 2019 will be our city’s 250th Anniversary!
That’s no small thing! One would suppose that huge celebrations are being planned!
Well, when I perform an internet search, I can find no plans for celebrations mentioned, apart from Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá’s announced church events, and a Founders’ Day Festival in Old Town.
It’s hard to believe, but I find almost no discussion of the city’s upcoming 250 year anniversary.
Unfortunately, as many of you might remember, the occasion of Balboa Park’s Centennial in 2015 was not celebrated with the fanfare that would have been appropriate.
I do hope that behind the scenes serious plans are being made for the appropriate celebration of San Diego’s 250th birthday! Or that plans will be made!
Just a thought from a silly blogger who loves San Diego!
UPDATE!
The City of San Diego has placed a huge 250th Anniversary banner on a sail of Star of India. You can see photos here!
UPDATE!
The City of San Diego has created a website dedicated to its 250th Anniversary. It lists several events that commemorate this special year. Visit the website here!
UPDATE!
In May, 2019, I noticed San Diego 250 banners have appeared along streets all over downtown!
UPDATE!
On July 1, 2019, a gigantic 250th anniversary banner appeared on the County Administration Building.
It celebrates the fact that San Diego was California’s first port and first city! I posted several photos of the banner here!
Visitors to the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park prepare to enjoy a short virtual reality tour around San Diego.
During my random walk through Balboa Park today, I stumbled upon something that is unique and really fun! I wandered into the San Diego History Center and was immediately drawn to a sign at the entrance to one gallery that read: Experience San Diego, The Virtual Reality Adventure.
I wasn’t looking to blog anything after my walk today, but this short VR tour around San Diego is so cool, I definitely want to share it!
After having my VR headset strapped on, I suddenly found myself transported to a wide variety of places and events around San Diego. I was standing atop the California Tower in Balboa Park, turning my head to gaze in every direction . . .
Then suddenly I was floating over Oceanside in a hot air balloon . . . standing among hockey players during a San Diego Gulls game . . . riding a helicopter along our beautiful coast . . . right up close among the dolphins at SeaWorld . . . riding the Giant Dipper Roller Coaster at Belmont Park in Mission Beach . . . flying above the desert in Anza Borrego State Park . . . floating on a boat among sea lions on San Diego Bay . . . and much more–all in virtual reality!
The whole experience is made possible by 4DSCI. A ticket costs just five dollars and the virtual reality tour lasts for perhaps ten minutes. If you want to experience San Diego in a whole new way, head down to the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park and check it out!
Experience San Diego, The Virtual Reality Adventure. You will see many cool sights as if you were there in person!Around the corner is the VR Theater…The fun, kid-friendly room where the experience is enjoyed. Chairs swivel so visitors can easily turn and experience the virtual reality in every direction.Cabrillo National Monument is one of the beautiful places that will surround you–as if you are there!
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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!
On Saturday, October 13 people from all walks of life will be rowing and paddling to cure breast cancer! Rowers, canoers, outrigger canoers, dragon boats, kayakers and stand up paddle boarders are all invited!
The 18th Annual Row For The Cure will take place on Mission Bay and benefits Susan G. Komen San Diego. Funds raised will go toward helping those affected by breast cancer, providing education and screenings, and ultimately finding a cure.
This aquatic event on gentle Mission Bay will feature both a beginner’s course and a competitive course. If you don’t own a paddleboard, you’ll be able to rent one on-site.
To learn more or sign up, visit the event webpage here!
Cool San Diego Sights! 