Balboa Park, San Diego, Day 1 - March 10 & 11th

Sunday, we woke at 6:15 am ... no wait, it's now 7:15. Sure glad we don't work anymore and have to worry about time change.

Today is a cleaning morning, changing the bed, vacuming and bathrooms etc. At 11:30 we headed out to do a small Costco shop and the usual hotdogs for lunch. Off to Vons for the rest of the groceries and then back at the MH to enjoy the sun in the afternoon. An exciting morning lol.

A bit too windy to sit outside when we got back at 2 pm, so we sat inside. The guy behind us has his smoker cooking brisket so don't want to be in the smoke anyways. The smell's incredible though.

Day 1 Balboa Park:

Although it's somewhat overcast, the possibilty of some sun is in the forecast, so Monday we decided to head out to Balboa Park. We would see some of the museums and leave the "gardens" for a sunny day. 

Balboa Park History

On May 26, 1868, a 1,400-acre tract of nine City pueblo lots was set aside as a public park by the Board of Trustees of the City of San Diego following the recommendations of a far-sighted citizens committee. The California Legislature ratified the grant on Feb. 4, 1870, at a time when San Diego's population was 2,301 people and there were only 915 houses. For much of the remainder of the 19th century, the area then known as "City Park" remained a fairly wild land preserve of hilltops, canyons and arroyos, forever preserved for future generations of San Diegans and visitors.

In 1892, Kate O. Sessions, San Diego's patron saint of horticulture, asked City officials to lease 30 acres of "City Park" to her for a nursery. In return, she would plant 100 trees per year throughout the park and donate others to the city for planting elsewhere. With Kate Sessions' vision, brushwood and rocky dirt were transformed into tree shaded lawns, flower gardens, and hillside nature paths.

By 1902, a Park Improvement Committee had been formed and raised funds to employ Samuel Parsons, a landscape architect, to draw up a comprehensive plan for the Park. Funds were raised and planting development continued, and by 1910 the parkland began to look much as it does today. In order to find a more suitable name, a contest was held and the winner was Mrs. Harriet Phillips, a member of the Pioneer Society, with her suggestion of "Balboa," to honor the famous Spanish explorer, Vasco Nunez de Balboa who was the first European to see the Pacific Ocean.

The continuing development and "building" of Balboa Park owes much of the development to two world fairs, the Panama-California Exposition of 1915-16, and the California Pacific International Exposition of 1935-36. These two events marked the beginning and the continued development of the cultural park's center we see today.

We decided to pay for the 7 day Explorer Pass, which includes about 10 museums. There's a number of passes for multiple days and museums or pay each separately. Today we toured the Museum of Art and Museum of Natural History. That would've been $15 plus $20 each for just two. Our passes are $67 each, so it will be quite the savings to pay for the Explorer Pass instead. We did 7500 steps :). After it taking almost a week for Ray's back and knees to recover from our Catalina trip, we will take it a bit easier this time.

Here are some pictures of our day. We managed to get a parking spot quite close to the main plaza.

The airport is really close to Balboa Park.

First up, the San Diego Museum of Art. Impressive architecture inside and out.

"The region's largest and most-visited art museum. The permanent collection features European Old Masters, Asian art, American art, Modern and Contemporary painting and sculpture."

Not sure what the big deal is with Monet's paintings ....

Beautiful ceiling at the top of the stairs.

Next up, a walk across the plaza to get to the Museum of Natural History.

Besides all the ducks, turtles live here too.

Too bad this is not ready to view, I'm sure it would be a spectacular display of plants. They have kept the old cupola and big doors.

Look at the size of this tree. One of the oldest in the park, a Moreton Bay Fig Tree.

We walked across the street to the Museum of Natural History.

"Take in the natural history of Southern California and the Baja California Peninsula. Met our region's animal neighbours, dig into its rich fossil history, and take a walk through its diverse habitats, from coast to desert."

There's a huge big screen theatre that's playing 3 different movies at different times. We chose the one about Fungi. Wow it's so interesting. It started about 10 minutes after we arrived ... perfect. The most interesting featured fungi is one that actually digests plastic. Could be a game changer for our planet's health.

Out of sight, between the world of plants and animals, another world exists—the kingdom of fungi.

Dig into the great mystery we are only just beginning to unravel. Fungi: The Web of Life is an adventure into the mysterious world of the forest floor, where fungi are key in nature’s story of birth, death, and rebirth. Life as we know it simply would not exist without them.

Join scientists on a quest to find an incredibly precious blue mushroom, see the grandest and strangest organisms ever discovered, and learn the important lessons fungi teach us about survival through cooperation. Shown through jaw-dropping, time-lapse cinematography, explore this secret world where fungi may hold the key to solving some of the world’s most pressing problems.

After we watched the 25 minute movie, we explored the rest of the museum's four floors. They have a Live Lab with lots of snakes, lizards, bugs and frogs. I did not take any pictures of snakes ... don't like them :)

Next up Skeletons

Very realistic display, the animals actually are making sounds.

One clam would make a huge pot of Clam Chowder. lol

Back outside to walk back to the plaza and find a place for lunch.

We decided on the Panama 66 Restaurant, across the Plaza de Panama from the Visitor's Centre. Ray ordered a delicious halibut and me a braised beef brisket.

View from the Panama 66 Restaurant

After lunch heading back to the car, we stopped at the Palm Canyon.

"First developed in 1912 for the 1915 Exposition, Palm Canyon presents an impressive collection of mature towering palms, large magnolia trees, and Moreton bay figs, reating a lush tropical environment."

Paperbark Tree

The path going back up towards the parking lot.

At the top of the path we walked through the International Cottages that are closed today. We will check them out inside another day.

After 7500 steps that's enough for today. We only saw about 1/4 of the park and only 2 of the 8 museums we want to see. Not to mention we've only seen 1 of the 11 gardens.

Staying at the Mission Bay RV Resort is perfect as it's only less than 15 minutes to get back to the Motorhome. We sat outside for the rest of the afternoon in the sunshine.