Those walking over the railroad tracks in Solana Beach at Dahlia Drive, between Highway 101 and Cedros Avenue, will bask in sunshine. A famous line that begins a Walt Whitman poem is inscribed in the pedestrian bridge.
Give me the splendid silent sun with all his beams full-dazzling…
Here’s a bit of colorful art you might spy while walking down a sidewalk in Solana Beach. You can find it at 129 North Highway 101.
Solana Beach’s coastal sunshine brightens a landscape filled with many different flowers native to California. Flowers include Sea Dahlia, Leafy Daisy, Morning Glory, Fiesta Flower, Prickly Pear, Padre’s Shooting Star, Fiddleneck, Frankenia, Southern Pink, Fuchsia-Flowered Gooseberry, Matilija Poppy, California Rose and California Poppy.
The artist signature indicates this beautifully painted scene was created by Bailey Valdivieso.
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I realize schools of fish swim under the Imperial Beach Pier, but how do fish survive swimming on top of the pier? Because they’re made of sunlight!
This cool public art can be found during an easy walk down the pier. A sheltered area permits light to pass through cut out shapes, projecting images of fish and bubbles onto the wooden pier.
Those fish made of light better be careful, however. There’s a huge shark swimming above them!
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Today is Easter. It’s spring. The sun is out in San Diego. A perfect day for a leisurely walk through Balboa Park!
What did I encounter?
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I headed to Ocean Beach today. Wandering along and around Newport Avenue, and near the beach, I took these cool photographs. Every walk in OB is an adventure–there’s always more to discover!
How to describe laid-back Ocean Beach? Counterculture meets the beach? A funky hippie paradise? A place where locals, professionals and tourists mingle with skaters, surfers, and stoners playing guitar on the boardwalk near the pier? You never quite know what you’ll encounter!
Some of the best weird sights are in shop windows. There’s a ton of colorful street art, too, which I’ve covered many times over the years. (I did happen upon one awesome mural which I’ll share in my next blog post.)
Anyway, these photos are from today’s sunny walk. They were taken before and after a lunchtime pollo asado burrito…
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Whale Watch Festival 2026 will be held tomorrow at Cabrillo National Monument, Saturday, January 10th, 9 am to 4 pm.
Visitors to the National Park will have panoramic views of passing whales from the high Kelp Forest and Whale Overlook. During the day there will be exhibitors, speakers and activities, and people with good eyes pointing out distant spouts and flukes.
It’s now the peak of the winter migration of gray whales from Alaska to Baja California. I’ve heard reports of many sightings off our coast.
I’ll be busy elsewhere tomorrow, so I headed to Cabrillo National Monument today to see what I might see.
I noticed the tall ship America out on the wide Pacific Ocean. Assuming it was on a whale watching excursion, I watched the water in its vicinity for a while. I think I glimpsed a spout. An expert at my elbow would’ve helped me with sightings!
It was a beautiful sunny day and the weather should be the same for the festival. If you go, have fun!
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A few weeks ago, on a late summer San Diego day, I enjoyed a sunny walk around part of Mission Bay.
From a point near Riviera Beach at Moorland Drive, I proceeded counterclockwise along the Bayside Walk to San Rafael Place. This northwest part of Mission Bay is called Sail Bay, and you can see why.
Sailboats, bicycles, volleyball, families playing or lounging on the sand, joggers, people enjoying a beautiful, relaxing day… Even yoga on paddleboards!
This is San Diego at its best!
Enjoy photographs that I took as I walked along…
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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 X.
Feel free to share!
How often do you see artwork made by visitors to a fine art museum–displayed prominently at that museum?
Should you visit the Timken Museum of Art in Balboa Park, that’s what you’ll find!
Composed of squares decorated by visitors to the museum, Make the Sun Shine is displayed in the Timken’s elegant Central Gallery.
Marisol Rendón, the museum’s resident artist this summer, furnished the golden circles, and the public, using markers, stamps and pens, created the surrounding rays. People took their inspiration from the many masterpieces that fill the museum galleries.
I was told Make the Sun Shine will be on view for a few more weeks.
The amazing Timken Museum of Art is always free to the public. It might be small, but it’s loaded with Old Master masterpieces. In fact, it’s the only museum in San Diego with a Rembrandt in its permanent collection.
Look how beautiful these shining suns are!
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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 X.
Feel free to share!
Driving into Escondido on West Grand Avenue, it’s possible you glimpsed this mural on the side of Hawthorne Country Store.
The last time I enjoyed a long walk in Escondido, I made it a point to have a look at the mural and take several photographs.
The colorful artwork seems a bit faded, so I increased the contrast for my first and third photos. The artist is Tristan Pittard (@taggtristan). I see he has worked with Esco Alley Art.
Five words in the mural form the trunk of a tree: History, Diversity, Identity, Pride, Community. From the upper left corner of the mural sunshine beams down. Written inside the bright sun is the phrase: Community creates the future.
I love the fun image of a child and happy dog!
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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 X.
Feel free to share!
Today, in the mid-afternoon, people were gathering along San Diego’s Embarcadero to watch Fourth of July fireworks. Families were camping in grassy spots and setting up lawn chairs and blankets in strategic positions next to San Diego Bay. After dark, four barges on the water would be launching synchronized fireworks during the 9 o’clock Big Bay Boom!
I enjoyed a long walk, observing the activity. As time passed, more and more people arrived until a good crowd was milling about on the Embarcadero’s boardwalk.
These photographs begin near the Hilton San Diego Bayfront, proceed through Embarcadero Marina Park South, then head up past the Marriott Marquis Marina, through Seaport Village, through Embarcadero Marina Park North, past Tuna Harbor, the USS Midway and the Broadway Pier, and end a short distance north of the Maritime Museum of San Diego.
It was a sunny afternoon, with barbeques out and kites flying–another perfect day in America’s Finest City!
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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 X.
Feel free to share!