One of the grandest places to spend a day in San Diego is in Balboa Park, a large city park with restaurants, museums, kid museums, theaters, outdoor venues, gardens, statues, beautiful buildings and the San Diego Zoo is here, too. In February Macy’s sponsors a 2 for 1 month in the park and we’ve taken advantage of this every year we’ve been here.
It started in 1835 when city leaders designated a large section of land for recreational use, making it one of the older such sites in the US. 1400 acres were added in 1868 and the land was put in trust to be a park forever. In 1892, local horticulturist and botanist Kate Sessions leased 36 acres for a nursery and thus began the marvelous gardens that still grace the park.
In 1910, with preparations already underway to hold an expo to coincide with the opening of the Panama Canal, the park was named for the Spanish explorer Vasco Balboa, the first European to cross Central America and see the Pacific Ocean. A number of the buildings as well as much of the present-day look and feel of the park can be attributed to the 1915 Panama-California Exposition. Scheduled to last only one year, the 1915 Expo was extended for a second year, and more than 3.7 million visitors came to the expo during its run.
Twenty years later, San Diego hosted the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition to boost the local economy during the depression. Additional structures and landscaping were added to the park, including the Old Globe Theatre, International Cottages, and Spanish Village, all of which are still in use today.
In 1977, Balboa Park, and historic Exposition buildings from 1915 and 1935, were declared a National Historic Landmark and National Historic Landmark District, and placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Here’s the first building you see as you enter via the Prado, the main avenue into the park. It’s the Museum of Man with its iconic tower and weather vane. Must be Balboa’s ship crossing the oceans.
Here’s one of their main exhibits now. Hmmm, maybe not this time.
Another museum.
We often see musicians, magicians, artists performing in the main avenue through the park. Today we saw the bubble makers. Huge bubbles and the kids were racing to pop them
On the grounds we like these tree trunks. How do they twist so much?
We’ve walked the trails many times, but always enjoy the ability to enjoy nature in the heart of the city with millions around. Balboa Park is so large that you can find solitude around the next corner, down the next trail or at a picnic bench in the middle of the park. But, the recent heavy rains and the many people who roam throughout the park have taken their toll on the trails.
One recent storm actually took down some trees.
One of the trees fell across one of the busiest routes through the city - and right at rush hour. A tree, with a 5’ diameter trunk and huge branches fell on a car and crushed the front end but the driver was unharmed. The traffic was snarled for hours and most were diverted to other routes. What a mess.
When the original rescue teams came, they had only a small chain saw. like raking a yard with a fork. You can see where the tree lay across the roadway here - from the small pile of branches on the left hand side to the branches on the right hand side.
Here’s a better picture of some of what was left when they removed the larges of the trunk pieces.
We had a great hike around Balboa and - we’ll do it again next year. Great place to hike.
The next day we had lunch with my aunt and took her down to an area called Liberty Station. Back during WWII, it was where Naval training took place and many officers had their offices. Marilyn, whose husband was an officer used to shop at the Exchange here. After the Navy left, the area sat vacant for many years but was recently remade into shops, art studios, museums, restaurants, a high school and lots of homes which cost well above 7 figures. They designed a central square with a fountain and walkways and Marilyn donated for several bricks for it. She hadn’t been to see the bricks recently so we brought her down.
There were quite a lot of bricks to look through but we finally found all of them: Marilyn Flynn Mullins, Com. Robert D. Flynn (her first husband who died about 20 years ago), her daughters: Pamela Dana Flynn, Patricia Lee Flynn (Tish), and Capt. Fred Mullins, her current husband.
We toured the new shops and museums of Liberty Station and then headed over to her house where she had made a dinner for us. Meatloaf, marinated carrots and line jello salad. Delicious as are all of her dinners.
So, just to embarrass her, here is a picture of her in the late 40’s.
She’s quite the traveler and has visited all 7 continents, and, believe you me, if you mention a place in North America, she’s been there too. We love to ask about her travels and where she’s been. She actually lived in China during the war so we discussed this too. In the end, she thinks that the safari to Africa was her favorite. And, Fred agrees. Funny thing, they were not married when they took that trip but, to save the expenses of paying for single tents, they put up a curtain and had separate baths. We were shocked to hear this. Hey, they’re quite the modern people.
No comments:
Post a Comment