The Water Conservation Garden in Rancho San Diego is a special place. Not only is it a very fine botanical garden, but its nearly 6 acres is filled with amazing works of art!
Among the different educational garden displays, bits of art can be spied. Most notable are the garden’s beautiful mosaics. A few days back I posted a blog about work being performed on the mosaic Tool Wall. See those photographs here.
Now enjoy more of the art that I happened to discover during my recent visit!
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Few people enjoy the scenic view in the above photograph. That’s because the remote Coast View parking lot is seldom visited at Cabrillo National Monument.
The small parking lot can be found at the end of Cabrillo Road, just before the gate to the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant. Most park visitors who drive down Cabrillo Road stop at Tidepools Parking and go no farther.
I recently posted a blog about my amazing hike up the Coastal Trail. I began from a spot near Tidepools Parking and walked north to Sea Cove Parking, where the trail ends. I didn’t mention that from the latter parking lot, I continued north a short distance along the side of Cabrillo Road, in order to reach Coast View Parking. That’s where these photographs were taken.
An overlook at the Coast View parking lot not only offers scenic views of the Pacific Ocean and sandstone bluffs, but there are information signs well worth reading.
Here I am carefully walking north along the side of Cabrillo Road…
I’ve arrived at Coast View Parking. There are benches where people can relax and gaze out toward the ocean.
A sign contains a poem…
“…The great rhythms of nature…have here their spacious and primeval liberty…”
Above the parking lot, up atop the Point Loma peninsula, one can see Battery Ashburn…
Embedded in the ridge in front of you was one of San Diego’s most important defenses during World War II. Well-hidden from approaching ships, Battery Ashburn housed two 16-inch guns…
Workers finished building the battery in March of 1944… Vibrations from the blast were so intense that they were rumored to have cracked windows in Hotel del Coronado across the harbor…
Turning east, I lifted my camera and took this photo of historic Battery Ashburn:
I then noticed a truck leaving the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant, which handles sewage and gray water created by more then 2.2 million people who live nearby!
A beautiful day at Cabrillo National Monument, and a parking lot that few people visit…
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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.
The new Sweetwater Park in Chula Vista opened early this month. Many people have already explored its nature trails. I did so, too, a few days ago.
One trail runs the length of the park on its west side, nearest San Diego Bay. It offers benches and blinds from which one can view bird activity in a wide expanse of native coastal vegetation.
I took photographs as I veered off the bikeway at the south end of Sweetwater Park and started up this main trail. It’s an easy level walk. This is what you might see should you walk as far as the gate restricting access to Gunpowder Point Drive.
(If you choose, you can continue up the trail, which curves around the Sun Outdoors RV resort. Then, using your wits, taking a dirt road and path, you’ll end up at E Street at Bay Boulevard, near Interstate 5.)
Continuing north. I’ll take the short branching path on the left that passes a bench, then return to the main trail…
Gazing to the south, one can see Marine Group Boat Works and their immense boat-lifting Travelift. It was a bit foggy this day…
I believe these are bush sunflower…
Another side trail and bench…
A short trail leads west to this rusty blind with a bench…
Looking north, you can see the Living Coast Discovery Center and the adjacent U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services building. Way in the distance I see Point Loma, the Coronado Bridge and downtown San Diego…
Heading back up the main trail…
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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.
As I walked through the garden today, I noticed someone working on this incredible wall. Rosalie, a friendly garden volunteer and artist, took a moment to show me what she was up to. She explained that her Tool Wall is nearing completion!
Some grouting, painting and a bit of other work, and the artistic wall will be finally completed. She been working on it for months.
The wall stands by a path in an area of the educational Water Conservation Garden that is devoted to the use of garden tools. Appropriately, decorated garden tools project from the top of the wall!
Rosalie explained the words on the wall: A garden is a grand teacher. It’s a quote by a very famous British horticulturist and garden designer, Gertrude Jekyll. Yes, tending a garden teaches patience, nurturing, a love for nature and the outdoors…
I’ll soon be blogging more about the amazing Water Conservation Garden, a hidden gem in San Diego’s East County, so stay tuned!
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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.
You can tell Spring has arrived in and around Seaport Village!
During my walk today, as I enjoyed the warm San Diego sunshine, I found bright flowers, colorful kites flying above Embarcadero Marina Park North, and a huge yellow duck!
I asked a shopkeeper why a giant inflatable duckie has appeared in Seaport Village. She just assumed it was the time of year. Makes sense to me!
I looked for ducklings in the Seaport Village pond, but didn’t find any. I did observe a duck taking a springtime nap.
Shorts and other beach attire have appeared outside shop doors…
Bird poop must be periodically cleaned off Morning, a sculpture created by renowned San Diego artist Donal Hord. Seagulls like perching on the head. (Imagine how the droppings appear. Yuck.)
The Beach Bunny Kite Festival will be taking place at Seaport Village this Saturday, April 12, 2025, from 1 to 4 pm. (I wonder–is the Beach Bunny a friend of Surfing Santa?)
Today was the perfect day to go fly a kite…or many kites!
You know it’s Spring if the American Academy of Neurology is in town for their big convention. Seaport Village, the San Diego Convention Center, and the surrounding area was swarming with attendees.
You can always count on Alamo Flags to have seasonal banners outside on display! Easter Sunday is less than two weeks away.
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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.
The Coastal Trail provides an incredibly scenic walk at Cabrillo National Monument. It runs for about half a mile along rugged sandstone bluffs beside the Pacific Ocean.
The easy to moderate trail, with occasional steep steps leading up and down, begins by the park’s Tidepool Parking and winds north to Sea Cove Parking.
I asked a park ranger her favorite aspect of this trail. She loved how lines of pelicans soar along the ocean’s edge at eye level. I love that too.
I went for a walk along Coastal Trail the other day and took photos as I proceeded north. One comes to the tidepools very quickly. If you’d like a closer look at the tidepools, you can click here.
Starting north along the Coastal Trail near the Tidepool Parking at Cabrillo National Monument.Map shows the Coast Trail and other parts of Cabrillo National Monument, which is located near the south end of San Diego’s Point Loma.The scenic trail is very popular. Misty fog drifting in from the ocean is common.The tidepools come into view soon.Visitors like to pause and relax in this wide area just north of the tidepools.Continuing north along the Coastal Trail, up then down some narrow steps.Indescribable natural beauty.A climb is coming up…This stretch of steps is fairly long. I took it slow and easy. The steps are uneven in places.Here comes something interesting…This is an underground searchlight shelter from World War II. Visitors must safely stay off the unstable roof.More stunning ocean vistas ahead as walkers proceed through native coastal vegetation.The farther north you go, the fewer walkers you’ll likely encounter.Brown pelicans soar along at eye level. Your spirit might soar, too.Almost to Sea Cove Parking, also called Lot 2.A welcoming bench at Sea Cove Parking overlooks vast beauty.
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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.
The arrival of Spring has brought even more color to the Casa de Estudillo. I visited the restored adobe today in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park. The trees and grass are green with our recent rains, and many flowers are blooming!
I was told that back in the 19th century, when generations of Estudillos lived in the adobe, the central “courtyard” would have appeared quite different. It would have been entirely packed dirt, with no decorative fountain. There would have been a few fruit trees, vegetables and herbs, and chickens running about.
In 1906, John D. Spreckels acquired the remarkable old Mexican casa and turned it into a tourist attraction, calling it the marriage place of popular fictional character Ramona. The courtyard was planted with greenery and flowers.
It retains a garden appearance today.
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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.
In April, 2024, a new trail opened at Cabrillo National Monument. The Oceanside Trail starts at the Kelp Forest and Whale Overlook south of the Old Point Loma Lighthouse, and descends via several switchbacks to the Coast Trail, intersecting it a few steps from the main tidepool parking lot.
The Oceanside Trail is fairly steep and rugged, but if you’re in good physical shape, wearing good shoes and carrying plenty of water, the hike is really great!
I enjoyed the hike recently and took photographs as I walked down to the tidepools through incoming wisps of ocean fog!
I’ll provide some description in photo captions…
Here’s where you start, from the looping path south of the lighthouse, just beyond the whale overlook.Map shows the Oceanside Trail. It’s about a 2.5 miles round-trip and can be strenuous.Approaching a World War II observation bunker, which guarded the coast from a potential Japanese invasion.The trail leads around the old military bunker.You can see the New Point Loma Lighthouse in the distance by the water. It’s a residential area for Coast Guard officers.Watch your step!There are several switchbacks. Most feature steps.A walker heading up. You can see how wisps of fog were drifting inland from the Pacific Ocean.There are a couple of benches for resting and viewing the scenery, too.Native coastal plants along the Oceanside Trail provide additional beauty and interest.We’re approaching Cabrillo Road, which descends to the tidepool area from the Cabrillo National Monument entrance gate. Before the Oceanside Trail opened, it was the only way down.The Oceanside Trail crosses Cabrillo Road twice.A park ranger told me the circular platform with a track was used to rotate a gun during World War II.Those people ahead are on the Coast Trail, heading between the nearby parking lot and tidepools.The end of the Oceanside Trail. To reach the tidepools, turn right! You can’t miss them.
I’ll be blogging about the Coast Trail shortly. It extends north from here along the rugged, sandstone bluffs, providing amazing views.
Years ago, I walked down to the water and experienced the Cabrillo National Monument tidepools. I posted photographs here!
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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.
The new Navy SEAL Museum will be opening in downtown San Diego later this year. Meanwhile, I’ve noticed they’re in the process of installing an exhibit on the ground floor of the One America Plaza office building, near the lobby, in a hallway that leads to the trolley station. (The same hallway where the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego used to have exhibits.)
Two of six large display cases now contain U. S. Navy SEAL artifacts. The other four have signs that indicate EXHIBIT COMING SOON.
If you want to check out this developing exhibit, One America Plaza is located at 600 West Broadway. (It’s that tall bluish building with a top that looks like a phillips-head screwdriver!)
Early this year I posted a blog about a large bronze frogman statue that will be placed outdoors near the coming museum. Once installed, you’ll see it beside the America Plaza trolley station across from Santa Fe Depot.
The public seldom gets to step into Balboa Park’s historic Pratt Loggia. The columned, balcony-like loggia is easily seen when gazing up from El Prado at the Casa del Prado. You can see it in my next photograph:
During a recent tour of Balboa Park conducted by the Committee of 100, an organization working to preserve Balboa Park’s historic architecture, gardens and public spaces, I was fortunate to step foot into the Pratt Loggia and discover something wonderful.
Before our special tour entered the loggia, we were shown a plaque. It lists the people instrumental in funding the loggia’s creation back in 1971, during the Casa del Prado’s reconstruction.
According to this San Diego History Center webpage: During the course of reconstruction it was discovered that the bond issue did not allow for an expenditure of $70,000 to rebuild the second-level fluted, striated columns with capitals of cupids and the ornate balustrade on the outside loggia of the south building. The Committee of 100 raised the needed money with $50,000 coming from Mrs. Jeannette Pratt, in whose honor the reconstructed gallery was named the “Jeannette Pratt Loggia.”
Our group observed how the plaque contains a Who’s Who of leading San Diego citizens back in 1970s, including the Copleys, Cushmans, Fletchers, Rohr, Ryans, Scripps, and many others. Bea Evenson led the creation of the loggia.
And now here is the beautiful loggia!
We were surprised to see numerous bells in the Pratt Loggia: a few along the balustrade and many others contained in large display cases at either end.
These bells were sent to San Diego from cities around the nation during our city’s bicentennial back in 1969! To mark the 200 year anniversary celebration, San Diego wrote to these cities asking for a donated bell.
What was received? There are fire bells, school bells, bells of all sizes and kinds!
This big one rang loudly and deeply!
THIS BELL IS IN MEMORIAM OF SAN DIEGO’S 200 YEARS. FROM TOPEKA, KANSASSAN DIEGO 1769 BICENTENNIALPRESENTED TO THE CITY OF SAN DIEGO ON THE OCCASION OF ITS 200TH ANNIVERSARY BY THE CITIZENS OF WASHINGTON, D. C.
Another wonderful surprise in San Diego’s ever-amazing Balboa Park!
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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.
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