Spring is less than three weeks away. And signs of the coming season are “springing” up in San Diego’s amazing Balboa Park!
I walked through the park today and took a variety of photographs…
…
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!
Those who love to watch birds are in for a treat at Lindo Lake County Park in Lakeside.
Walk along the shore of beautiful Lindo Lake and you’re almost certain to see hundreds of birds. What’s more, some of the birds seem fearless in the close presence of humans.
An informative signs shows a variety of birds one might encounter, including Cooper’s Hawks, Red Shouldered Hawks, Red Tailed Hawks, Great Blue Herons, Black-necked Stilts, Killdeer, Snowy Egrets, Black-Crowned Night Herons, American White Pelicans, Canada Geese, Mallards, and Wood Ducks.
Even though I’m far from an expert, during my walk yesterday I also identified Red-winged Blackbirds, American Coots, a distant Double-crested Cormorant, Domestic Geese, Greater White-fronted Geese, Brewer’s Blackbirds and Great-tailed Grackles.
Yes, and a whole lot of pigeons–I mean Rock Doves.
Enjoy these photographs!
…
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!
Did you know the Kate O. Sessions Cactus Garden in Balboa Park was renovated and greatly beautified last year?
I hadn’t realized the “Old (1935) Cactus Garden” behind the Balboa Park Club had been renamed the Kate O. Sessions Cactus Garden until I walked through yesterday and noticed a new sign.
Look how amazing it appears! An initial revitalization of the historic garden had taken place in 2019, but now, with the help of Forever Balboa Park volunteers last year, it really shines! Paths are wide and inviting, there’s more seating, and the cacti and succulents in their cleaned out beds appear like elegant works of natural art!
This is one of three gardens started by Kate Sessions in Balboa Park about century ago. You can read about how she said San Diego had the ideal climate for the best cactus garden in the world by clicking here.
If you want to see historical 1935 photos of Kate Sessions in the beautiful Cactus Garden, click here!
…
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!
Today was an almost perfect day to head out into the Pacific Ocean beyond Point Loma.
For a mid-February day, the water was amazingly smooth and the cloud cover thin. The chilly wind was not unexpected.
I and many others, wrapped in jackets, enjoyed a four hour trip aboard Flagship’s whale watching ship Marietta.
We saw a mother gray whale with her young calf and followed the two from a respectful distance. In two of the upcoming photos you can see a spout. In my previous blog post, I gazed down upon some of the hundreds of dolphins we encountered very close up.
Enjoy a few hazy, dreamy photos I took from the deck of Marietta. There are sailboats, a line of pelicans flying, downtown San Diego, Point Loma, and the Coronado Islands of Mexico off in the distance.
I haven’t edited these photographs at all, except to crop the one photo where the whale spout is most evident.
…
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!
This morning a whale watching excursion off the coast of San Diego intercepted an unusually large pod of 200-300 dolphins.
I stood at the bow of Flagship’s vessel Marietta and marveled at how the Pacific white-sided dolphins raced before us, conveniently riding the water pushed forward by our ship.
A crew member aboard Marietta explained we were traveling 10 miles per hour. The dolphins are capable of going four times that speed!
Pods of dolphins are frequently encountered during trips in the ocean beyond Point Loma. Every time I’ve gone whale watching, no matter the season, we’ve spotted them.
The tightly knit pods move about while using their echo location ability to search for schools of fish. Adult dolphins have to eat about 5% of their body weight in food every day!
We were fortunate to be accompanied by such an unbelievably huge pod.
Every so often dolphins would playfully leap through the air in front of our ship!
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!
The world famous US Grant hotel in downtown San Diego is receiving a façade refresh!
I noticed several workers on scaffolding today as I walked down Broadway.
The hotel opened in 1910–over a century ago. The son of President Ulysses S. Grant oversaw the building of the Grant Hotel, which was designed by architect Harrison Albright. Past guests have included Albert Einstein, Charles Lindbergh and twelve United States Presidents!
Did you know San Diego Comic-Con held their very first convention at the U.S .Grant Hotel back in 1970? Back then the nascent convention was called San Diego’s Golden State Comic-Con.
Here’s a page on the hotel’s website providing a bit of the history, including a period when the elegant building had become sadly neglected.
After the current refresh, the hotel should appear simply glorious!
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!
Visitors to Cabrillo National Monument might perceive an apparent contradiction.
There are three plaques along the walkway that approaches the statue of Cabrillo. They seem to recognize the explorer as being both Portuguese and Spanish!
In 1615, historian Antonio de Herrera listed Cabrillo’s name as Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo Portuguese, giving him a third last name or apellido. This led many people to believe Cabrillo was Portuguese. In 2015 a researcher discovered evidence that Cabrillo said he was a native of Spain…
…(the) historian stumbled across Cabrillo’s name in this legal document dated February 12, 1532. In it, Cabrillo identifies himself as “a native of Palma de Micer Gilio,” now Palma del Rio in Cordoba, Spain.
A Viceroy of New Spain, Antonio de Mendoza, selected Cabrillo to lead an exploration of the Pacific coast. Cabrillo sailed into San Diego harbor under the Spanish flag aboard the San Salvador.
San Diego held the first Cabrillo Festival in 1892. Members of the Portuguese community in San Diego have been supporting Cabrillo National Monument since the 1930s…
…
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!
Many of us have a love affair with Balboa Park.
If life were a scrapbook containing our most cherished memories, pages would be filled with smiles in the park.
It is a place full of beauty, sunshine and laughter. It is a place that makes us feel happy and whole. Balboa Park loves us back.
Would you like to send a special Valentine to Balboa Park?
To share your love for Balboa Park click here!
…
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!
Today was the perfect day for a walk at Mission Trails Regional Park.
It’s February. The sun was out . . . a pleasant breeze . . . temperature low 70’s.
The trails were almost dry after our recent winter rain. The footing was neither muddy nor dusty.
Best of all: plenty of green!
Most of the year the native vegetation covering San Diego’s undeveloped landscape is dry and drab. But in the spring or after winter storms there’s a transformation. Today, the grass near much of the trail was bright green!
My walk started from the paved Father Junipero Serra Trail at the trailhead south of the Kumeyaay Lake Campground. I headed up the Kwaay Paay East Trail, which skirts private residential property before sharply turning and commencing a fairly steep climb. At a junction with the main Kwaay Paay Peak Trail, I turned back down toward the original trailhead, to complete a loop that’s a little less than one mile long.
Here’s a trail map.
I’ve called this a “walk” even through it’s really a wilderness hike. I’d say in places the hike is moderately difficult. You can see in my photos what the trail is like.
You can also see how beautiful it is!
…
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!
An amazing new museum had its Grand Opening at Liberty Station today! The Nautical History Gallery & Museum is jam-packed with carefully constructed displays, providing visitors with the U.S. Navy History Experience, 1775-1945.
Museum artist and curator Joe Frangiosa, Jr. has served in both the Navy and Marines. By carefully studying historical photographs, he has been able to craft very realistic miniature ship models. Many of his detailed models can be viewed in the museum’s exhibits, which cover different periods of U.S. Navy history.
The Nautical History Gallery & Museum is located in Room 108 of Liberty Station’s old Command Center. Joe has created and amassed so many artifacts concerning naval history that only a portion of his collection is on display. There’s so much to absorb, a curious visitor could spend a good long time looking at it all!
Visitors to the one-room museum can also view a historical video and Joe’s workshop area, where you might see him concentrating on another model!
If you are interested in military history, model making or the U.S. Navy, this remarkable museum is a must see. If, like me, you are fascinated by ships, the evolution of technology and human history, you’ll probably enjoy it, too!
…
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!
Cool San Diego Sights! 