When I arrived at the 2021 Balboa Park Pow Wow this afternoon, the Inter-Tribal Dancing was just beginning.
According to the event’s flyer, the Balboa Park Pow Wow, a project of the San Diego American Indian Health Center, is about dancing for healing and honoring heritage. It’s taking place this weekend (both Saturday and Sunday) at the corner of Park Boulevard and Presidents Way.
I missed the earlier Aztec Dancers and Bird Singing, but I did experience what you’ll see in the following photographs.
The rhythmic beat of the drums was like a steady heartbeat. As I watched the different dancers, young and old, I saw eyes filled with dedication and pride. And I saw smiles like sunshine, too.
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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!
A wide variety of community programs are offered at Chollas Lake Park in San Diego’s Oak Park neighborhood. There are ranger-led wildlife “Meet the Neighbors” hikes around the small lake, Kumeyaay ethnobotany walks, youth fishing, fitness classes, crafts, an oral history project, archery and even a book club with its own scenic hangout!
Yesterday I went on a nature hike where I and a good number of visitors circled the shallow artificial lake while ranger Cary Goldstein identified and talked about the many birds and other animals we saw, some of which are feral.
The walk was level, about a mile long, easy, and very educational. We saw Chinese and African geese and learned how to tell them apart. We saw a turkey vulture circling high above the treetops. We saw blooming marsh fleabane at the water’s edge and California bulrushes where birds nest. We saw turtles swimming underwater and sunning on rocks. We saw mallards and coots and banded pigeons and Canada geese and curious California ground squirrels and a strange-looking Muscovy duck.
We learned so much I couldn’t begin to relate it all. Some very young walkers had hands raised and asked lots of good questions.
I was fascinated to learn Chollas Lake was created in 1901 as a source for drinking water when San Diego was rather small. Later it was used to cool United States Navy radio equipment back when the three largest structures in the city, at 600 feet tall, stood atop a hill above the lake. Those radio transmitter antennas were the first to receive a signal from Hawaii that Pearl Harbor had been attacked. (A blog concerning this will be coming up later.)
Today Chollas Lake Park is a place where nature thrives. It is also a place where people can recreate, relax and learn about this beautiful and interesting world we call home.
And, you know what? Balboa Park on a Saturday morning in late September was just as wonderful as ever…
Friendly painters interpret beauty at the Lily Pond.Brushstrokes reveal wonder.This cool guy was playing music for the painters!Ladies in old-fashioned garb ready a canopy by the Botanical Building.Garden Stewards do some gardening (and smiling) in the Casa del Prado courtyard!The Casa del Prado revitalization not only includes garden beds redone with the help of the San Diego Floral Association, but painting the building with historic color and new lighting.Mitchell, Balboa Park’s cool didgeridoo dude, was hanging out on El Prado. He was wearing Jupiter today! He told me he’s going to be picking up his awesome new sculpted Draco (dragon) didgeridoo soon. He said he’ll send me pics of it which I hope to share!Peeking into the House of Hospitality courtyard.The fellow with the enormous camera is a freelance photographer. He saw a big spider building a long web between a Palm Canyon tree and the nearby restrooms. We marveled at how a mere spider could accomplish such a feat.A bunch of walkers were streaming down El Prado. I believe they were raising funds for the Family Health Centers of San Diego.I had to circle back to the Casa del Prado because the San Diego Bonsai Club’s exhibition opened at 10 am.Another wonderful day walking in Balboa Park.
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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!
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One of the best places to watch super high speed boats racing in Mission Bay during San Diego Bayfair is from a bridge!
The Ingraham Street bridge on the south side of Vacation Isle provides a view of the race “docks” located south of Ski Beach, the tower near the Bill Muncey Memorial, and the entire oval race course. The farthest end of the course is in the distance, but the height provides a great panorama of all the action! And it’s free!
Today during a walk around Mission Bay I paused for a good hour on the Ingraham Street bridge to watch several classes of boats compete, including the H1 Unlimited hydroplanes, which are the fastest racing boats in the world. Mission Bay, which was originally designed for thunderboat racing, is said to be the fastest such course in the world.
As the super fast boats turned corners, huge plumes of white spray would rise up behind them!
I and a small crowd of pedestrians and bicyclists who were watching from on high gave a conciliatory shout out to one racer below who had to be towed in to the docks when his engine conked out. He must’ve heard us, because with good humor he threw up an arm in acknowledgement.
It was fascinating to see how boats would be placed into the docks with three large cranes, then removed from the water and hosed off at the end of each race. During the racing, other boats would be prepared, testing their engines. Everywhere I looked there was interesting activity.
I guess next year I’ll have to get a ticket and check out the action up close!
Here are my photos from various spots on the bridge…
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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!
TwainFest returned to San Diego today. And it was just as wonderful as ever!
This year the festival of mostly Victorian-era literature was held in Heritage Park, a short distance from Old Town. Families turned out to enjoy games, readings, reenactments of scenes from beloved books, puppet shows, costumed literary characters…you get the picture!
TwainFest is presented by Write Out Loud, whose mission is to inspire, challenge and entertain by reading literature aloud to audiences of all ages.
Write Out Loud offers educational programs, including performances for high school students, and they present the annual San Diego Student Shakespeare Festival in Balboa Park! Visit this website to learn more!
As I walked around Heritage Park enjoying the festival, I watched Tom Sawyer induce visitors to whitewash a fence, laughed at the craziness of a delightfully manic Mad Hatter Tea Party, lifted my eyes to giant roving Twain, Poe and Shakespeare puppets, and saw characters from Treasure Island and even some steampunk cosplay! There was action in every direction!
I finally joined other visitors to listen to The Extraordinary Mark Twain. Two actors–an older gentleman and youthful girl–painted a picture of the great American humorist and author. They employed the biography written by Twain’s daughter Susy. Her observations were published in 1988 and titled Papa: An Intimate Biography of Mark Twain.
We learned that Mark Twain had a Roman nose and kind blue eyes. And that he used strong words and had a temper. And that he was frequently absent-minded.
He was funny and philosophical and always very earnest.
And, of course, he loved a good joke.
My photos provide a small taste of today’s fun!
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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!
This evening I watched a stirring performance. I and many others enjoyed the La Jolla Playhouse’s POP-UP WOW event at Liberty Station.
What did I see?
I saw soulful singing and dancing that stems from a shared history of suffering and endurance.
I saw joy that rises from the heart–a triumph of the spirit.
I saw how bubbles are like aspects of life–and like life itself. Mysterious, beautiful, soaring . . . short-lived. A beginning and an ending. Like memories.
I, too, wondered why we have an impulse to chase bubbles.
I saw a fable about a giant who wanted power over everything.
Until he saw the beauty of bubbles and learned wisdom.
I saw individuals repeatedly asking “Can I?”
They make one clumsy attempt after another, slowly gaining ability, gaining confidence, until they venture out into this sometimes scary world.
Meeting others, overcoming their fear, the question becomes “Can WE?”
What I observed was life.
You can watch it tomorrow if you’d like, too. Click here to learn about the Sunday performances. It’s free!
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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!
This afternoon a famous painting displayed in the Timken Museum of Art was turned to chalk! I witnessed part of the transformation myself, right in front of the museum in Balboa Park!
The Timken Museum’s summer weekend Creation Station event continued today. Part of the fun was a chalk art recreation of the 1557 painting Parable of the Sower, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Anybody walking through the Plaza de Panama could watch the chalk artist at work. If you want to compare the chalk art I photographed with the actual oil painting, click here!
The outdoor Creation Station’s amazing chalk art flows from the talented hands of @sidewalk_chalk_dad.
Unfortunately, I didn’t walk by after the artwork was completed. Use your imagination!
You can see another chalk art recreation of a painting in the Timken’s fine art collection by clicking here!
That smiling guy covered with chalk? The artist, of course!
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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!
Oh, wow! Check out the big, free cultural event that’s coming to City Heights on Saturday, June 26!
From noon to 6 pm, Music en la Calle is going to feature a ton of music and dance, not to mention a fun circus performance!
I see there will be mariachis, Azteca dancers, flamenco dancers, taiko drummers (I’ve been to several Naruwan Taiko performances and they are absolutely incredible!), jazz musicians, and performers from everybody’s favorite Fern Street Circus!
Music en la Calle will take place at the intersection of University Avenue and 41st Street, in City Height’s new community performance venue by the outdoor “Characters” sculpture garden!
I was lucky to get some photographs of the San Diego Archers annual King Arthur Tournament in Balboa Park today!
I was walking near the Rube Powell Archery Range behind Balboa Park’s Alcazar Garden when I noticed some archers dressed in medieval costumes. So I had to check it out!
One friendly archer posed for the above cool photo. I then watched a bit of the tournament from the top of the canyon and took a few distant shots.
I was told the San Diego Archers is one of the oldest organized archery clubs in California, having been established in 1938. Since 1962 their King Arthur Tournament is a popular annual event full of Arthurian costumes, pageantry and family fun!
(I didn’t notice any knights wearing shining armor. Perhaps I missed them.)
Interested in participating or learning more? Check out the San Diego Archers website here!
UPDATE!
I received a great Facebook comment concerning the San Diego Archers:
For your readers information. Archery has been practiced in Balboa Park since 1917. The archery range is open to the public and membership with the San Diego Archers is not required to participate in tournaments. The San Diego Archers host four novelty tournaments each year. In addition, there are more than twenty regular competition tournaments throughout the year. Participants are only required to show up with their own gear, sign a waiver, and pay a small fee. For more info: https://sandiegoarchers.com/
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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!
Late this morning I was at the SDSU Transit Center during a Trolley Dances performance!
I captured these images of a dance that took place by the Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union, at the end of the pedestrian bridge that crosses over College Avenue.
As the mobile audience group arrived up the stairs from the underground SDSU trolley station, the dancers slowly took their positions, each providing the gathering onlookers with a small wave. It soon became clear to me the modest waves were the beginning of their dance.
The dancers began as individuals, performing small gestures in their own circle, seeming to prepare for a big moment together, but somehow shy. Sometimes they would gesture toward the audience, as if yearning for a joining.
Then came sudden magic. The dancers became one. They leaped, reached, swayed, strutted, energized by their joyful togetherness. And then came the victorious ending, when together they moved away into the distance, arms raised.
At least that’s kind of how I interpreted the dance.
What do you see?
Trolley Dances continues tomorrow only–Sunday–so if you want to experience this for yourself (plus three other fantastic dances, all near Green Line trolley stations), go to the San Diego Dance Theater website right now to find out more!
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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!
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