Tag: walking

Loma Alta Creek Nature Trail in Oceanside.

The Loma Alta Creek Nature Trail is a short, easy path in Oceanside where people in the city can see many birds.

Also known as the Loma Alta Marsh Footpath, the urban nature trail extends west from South Coast Highway (just north of Paradise by the Sea Beach RV Resort) to Buccaneer Park. The distance is about one quarter mile.

I walked the nature trail several days ago and took these photographs. I began at South Coast Highway where it passes over Loma Alta Creek. You’ll see the following sign at the trailhead.

As part of the Pacific Flyway bird migration route, the Loma Alta Creek and Watershed makes up part of the northern section of the Carlsbad Hydrologic Unit. Gathering water runoff as far as 7 miles inland and following much of Oceanside Boulevard, this watershed provides a habitat for seabirds, waterfowl, and shorebirds that migrate to its outlet at Buccaneer Beach. A vast array of salt marsh plant species flourish in the tidal area near the coast to provide nesting and foraging for birds.

Following the trailhead from South Coast Highway toward Buccaneer Beach, you will find many wonderful and diverse species that depend on you to keep their Coastal Wetland Habitat clean and free from pollution.

I observed a Great Blue Heron perched in a tree across the water. My camera on its automatic setting didn’t take such a great picture, unfortunately.

An old sign (I increased the image contrast) indicates that bird species one might see while walking along the Loma Alta Nature Trail include Snowy Egret, Great Blue Heron, American Coot and Black-Necked Stilt.

The trail passes under railroad tracks.

A northbound Coaster train rumbles by…

There are two beautiful murals painted under the railroad bridge. You can glimpse part of one in the next photograph. To see both murals, click here!

In the next photo, I continue to head west toward grassy Buccaneer Park, a popular spot for families. That bridge in the distance is where South Pacific Street passes over the creek. On the other side is Buccaneer Beach.

Lots of birds on the rocks!

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Hidden murals in Oceanside under train tracks.

These two murals in Oceanside are seen by relatively few people. They were painted fifteen years ago along a little used nature trail, under a shadowy bridge that supports train tracks.

One of the murals seems to depict nearby Buccaneer Beach, with a view of Oceanside Pier in the distance. The opposite mural appears to show Loma Alta Creek that the nature trail–Loma Alta Marsh Footpath–follows. (I’ll be blogging about this short trail soon.)

I noticed an artist signature: Betty Gilroy 2010.

I walked under the railroad tracks last Friday. These two murals are like weather-beaten hidden treasures.

The following photos are of the Loma Alta Creek mural. You can see the actual creek beyond it. The artwork is filled with many of the birds one can see from the trail…

The next group of photos show the opposite mural, depicting people at the beach. The art was behind a chain link fence, making photography a challenge…

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Morning beauty on a Buena Vista Lagoon walk.

The sun had risen above a distant hill. The morning air was warming. Buena Vista Lagoon, separating coastal Carlsbad from Oceanside, was alive with light and life.

This morning I walked a short distance down the nature trail near the Buena Vista Audubon Nature Center. I enjoyed a similar hike several years ago.

This time the looping trail was flooded in at least one spot, so my adventure was a very short there-and-back. But just as peaceful and beautiful as before.

This small walk was part of a much longer, meandering walk today, from the Carlsbad train station to the Oceanside Civic Center. I had the day off from work.

I’ve captured so many photographs from my long walk that Cool San Diego Sights will be including wonderful North County discoveries (including art, historic buildings, and another nature walk) for the next week or two.

To get things started…

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Mysterious sculpture at Hollister and Conifer!

Do you know anything about this mysterious sculpture in San Diego’s South Bay, at the intersection of Hollister Street and Conifer Avenue? It’s a few blocks north of the Palm Avenue trolley station.

I haven’t walked this way in a long time, so I don’t know when the sculpture appeared. I took these photos last weekend.

Who created this fun artwork? Why are farewells painted in various languages? Why, on its back, is there a seemingly contradictory message Please No Art?

Two yellow hands on the mysterious sculpture appear to be cleaning while splashing drops of water. Could this have been a sign that once stood at the exit of a carwash? I’m racking my brain for an explanation.

Leave a comment if you happen to know anything!

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

San Diego River Center at Grant Park is rising!

A new public park, nature center and educational facility is rising in Mission Valley!

The River Center at Grant Park, an amazing project of the San Diego River Park Foundation, is gradually taking form on Camino del Rio North, immediately east of Qualcomm Way.

I walked in Mission Valley yesterday afternoon and took photographs of the River Center over the surrounding construction fence. It was exciting to see how one building is now standing near the center’s entrance.

Last summer I enjoyed a tour of the new River Center and posted a blog here. Since then several structures have appeared, as you can see in these photos.

A kiosk has appeared outside what will be the River Center at Grand Park.
I love the artwork on this long construction wall at one end of the coming park space.
I took this photo near the park’s future entrance.
I believe this building near the Entry Courtyard is The Den pavilion structure. It will include restrooms.
A walkway at the park entrance that will lead to an outdoor amphitheater. (The construction you see near the top of this photo is a completely separate commercial project on the opposite side of the San Diego River.)
The San Diego River Foundation needs you to join their volunteer team!

Feeling inspired? Would you like to help the San Diego River Park Foundation?

Opportunities include habitat restoration projects, river clean-up events, educational volunteer experiences, joining the Grant Park River Center care team, becoming a community engagement volunteer, and administrative support opportunities.

Check out their website by clicking 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.

Thank you for sharing!

Solana Beach street art along Lomas Santa Fe.

Enjoy street art that I discovered during a recent walk in Solana Beach down Lomas Santa Fe Drive.

These photos begin near Rios Avenue and proceed east to Solana Hills Drive, a block before Interstate 5.

The Solana Beach mural you see above is on the north side of Minute Shop Liquor. I believe it’s fairly new.

The other street art decorates electrical boxes. To bring out more color, I increased the contrast when I prepared the following images…

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

A sunny New Year’s Day walk in San Diego.

New Year’s Day in 2025 was the perfect day for a long, sunny walk in San Diego. So that’s what I did!

I took these photographs as I strolled from beautiful San Diego Bay to Balboa Park.

Happy New Year to all!

A couple sits at the end of Broadway Pier gazing across San Diego Bay toward many sailboats. It’s the San Diego Yacht Club’s annual New Year’s Day Race.
Many people were enjoying a sunny New Year’s Day by walking along San Diego’s Embarcadero.
The Children’s Park playground was super busy.
Family plays foosball at Children’s Park.
A quiet day to fish out on San Diego Bay.
A perfect day for friends to throw a baseball on the grass.
The big 2-day New Year’s FNGRS CRSSD concert takes place at Petco Park.
People enjoy walking through Balboa Park’s rose garden.
Yes, a very fine day for a walk.
Musician plays in the Plaza de Panama near Balboa Park’s House of Hospitality.
Many eyes gaze down into the lush Lower Garden of the Japanese Friendship Garden.
A good crowd listens to the 110th Anniversary Concert of the Spreckels Organ in Balboa Park.
You never know what you’ll see in Balboa Park!
Nearly all of the International Cottages in Balboa Park were closed for New Year’s Day. At the House of Scotland cottage, the door was wide open, welcoming one and all!
Another year gone by. The effort to reopen the historic Starlight Bowl continues.
The United States flag above the San Diego Automotive Museum is at half-staff on New Year’s Day. President Jimmy Carter passed away at age 100 on December 29, 2024.

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

A late December walk along the Embarcadero.

It’s late December, 2024.

The Holiday Bowl was played yesterday in San Diego. It’s a time for family vacations–the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Passengers with rolling suitcases were boarding a cruise ship. No wonder so many people were walking along the Embarcadero this morning.

Wouldn’t you know, I took these photos under a gray overcast sky, and just as my walk ended the sun broke out and the sky turned bright blue. Not unusual in San Diego. Even in winter.

I began by walking north from the Broadway Pier…

I returned from the Star of India to the Broadway Pier, and will now proceed south…

The last old building at Navy Pier is being demolished, making way for Freedom Park. The almost 10-acre public park will be developed on the historic pier next to the USS Midway Museum.

New trees have been planted on the grassy lawn between the USS San Diego Memorial and the Embracing Peace statue of the Greatest Generation Walk.

Late Saturday morning, and the weekly Tuna Harbor Dockside Market was winding down.

A commercial fishing boat loads boxes of frozen bait.

This holiday season’s first ever “Downtown Skate” roller skating rink wasn’t open yet. The action would begin at noon behind the Marriott Marquis and Marina hotel.

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Wishing you Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Christmas is three days away.

It’s hard to believe another year has sped by. We’re almost a quarter of a century into the 2000s! How did that happen so quickly?

I think I’ll take the next couple weeks off from blogging. To relax a bit, recharge. After the New Year, Cool San Diego Sights should be back–in its 12th year–with more cool photographs from more walks! That’s the plan!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! May our adventures next year be better than ever!

I was considering what photographs to post here, and I decided to share old Christmas photographs taken about ten years ago with a lesser camera. But these half dozen photographs somehow made it into a great book written by historian Bill Swank: Christmas in San Diego!

Bill Swank for many years played Santa Claus at Balboa Park’s Spreckels Organ Pavilion during Christmas on the Prado and December Nights. He’s an award-winning author and leading authority when it comes to the history of the San Diego Padres. Learn a little more about him and his many merry endeavors here!

Anyway, the six photographs you see in this blog post appear in the pages of Bill’s 2015 book Christmas in San Diego. I feel very honored that they were selected.

San Diego is a city full of surprises. Here’s to more great memories!

Richard

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Festive holiday sights from a Coronado walk!

Several days until Christmas, and the holiday spirit is on full display in Coronado!

Yesterday I took the ferry from downtown San Diego to the Coronado Ferry Landing. I walked down Coronado’s central Orange Avenue, circled the world-famous Hotel del Coronado, then turned back east along the opposite sidewalk.

Look at all the festive holiday sights!

The Coronado Ferry Landing is decorated for the holidays in 2024.
Tall nutcrackers on either side of the front door of Cocina 35.
Santa Claus stands beside a Christmas tree at the Coronado Ferry Landing.
A fun holiday display in a front yard on Orange Avenue.
A beautiful Christmas tree inside the Coronado Public Library.
The classic movie Christmas Vacation playing at Coronado’s historic Village Theatre.
Beautiful Christmas theme plates in a shop window.
A festive wreath in a shop door.
Poinsettias surround the Coronado Rotary Club Christmas Tree.
The enormous Coronado Rotary Club Christmas Tree rises beside Orange Avenue.
A small Christmas tree and decorations inside the Coronado Historical Association museum.
Historical museum display includes this Merry Christmas menu from the Hotel del Coronado in 1974.
Hotel del Coronado Holidays book displayed at the Coronado Historical Association museum.
Back out on the sidewalk, I meet a giant blue M&M candy in a Santa hat!
Lamb’s Players Theatre is now showing Respectfully Christmas, A Musical Celebration.
Frosty the Snowman and friend inside a shop window.
The big red poinsettia Christmas tree outside the Hotel del Coronado.
Beachside Igloos at the Hotel del Coronado.
A Christmas tree at the Hotel del Coronado’s outdoor ice rink.
Skating By The Sea at the Hotel del Coronado.
A wreath on the historic Power Plant door at the Hotel del Coronado.
Holiday lights and sights greet those arriving at the Hotel del Coronado.
Fun wreath contains sea shells and a bit of Hollywood. Some Like It Hot was filmed at the Hotel del Coronado.
a Christmas tree outside the hotel’s lobby entrance.
The gorgeous Christmas tree in the lobby of the historic Hotel del Coronado.
Back out on the Orange Avenue sidewalk, now starting back toward the ferry landing, I encounter a smiling Old Town Trolley Tours guide!
Elvis in front of MooTime Creamery is sporting a Santa hat, too!
Can Santa sit on this Christmas cow?
No, I see Santa Claus has already found a nice seat in front of Wag’n Tails!

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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.

Thank you for sharing!