Checking out Balboa Park

While in the San Diego area, we decided it was time to check out Balboa Park. So on the morning of June 23 (my parents’ anniversary), we loaded up our bikes along with a picnic lunch. Balboa park is a 1200-acre historic urban, cultural park that includes the San Diego Zoo. Our plan was to cruise around on our bikes to enjoy the park setting and whatever else struck our fancy. We knew we would not be seeing all of it, and we were not going to the zoo. There are evidently 16 museums. The main 4 or 5 museums were quite expansive. We parked the Jeep at the Fleet Science Museum. The science or the Natural History museums were the only two that I was possibly interested in seeing today, but we really just wanted to see one of the Imax documentaries. Unfortunately, one is included with admission to the Science museum. A separate purchase only of an Imax documentary was not an option, so we continued on our bikes.

Much of the building architecture that we saw made me feel like I was back in Europe. Very ornate with corinthian columns. I wonder how many people actually take time to look at the ornamental details. When in college I took Arts I and Arts II with Louis Palmer, and followed it up with a January Interim to Rome and Florence for the arts. It was an incredible experience that I will always treasure.

This amazing Moreton Bay Fig Tree is so immense that I had to take multiple pictures of it. While this type of fig is a good food source for various animals, it is not one for human consumption. These trees can live for over 150 years.

Where does the trunk end and the roots begin? The complex root system was fascinating. The trunk and roots intertwined as a work of art from mother nature. Large sculptural buttress roots that grow above ground provide support while deeper, stabilizing roots extend beyond the tree’s canopy. Smaller roots grow near the soil surface to provided oxygen and nutrients. Cool aerial roots hang down from branches toward the ground to absorb water, nutrients and provide additional support for the tree.

Lily pad pond and garden with the Botanical Building:

The Old Globe Theatre

---

Spreckels Outdoor Organ and Pavilion!
Unfortunately we did not get to see the actual organ or hear it. Free concerts are on Sunday afternoons at 2 PM. I think it would be really cool to come for one sometime.

Interesting facts and history of the organ and the use of this pavilion…

Loved the musical theme within the architectural details!

---

---

The Japanese Friendship Garden -We decided to pay to walk through the Japanese Gardens. It was $10 for seniors. We were glad we did it, but it would be better in the spring through early June when there is a lot more in bloom.

The koi ponds were pretty cool. The number of extremely large fish surprised me. My favorite was the golden yellow one seen below. It truly shimmered in the sunshine!

This bonsai collection was quite amazing. I think when we see the small, dainty bonsai trees, we forget they are still living trees. This collection of bonsai are quite old! Unfortunately, we couldn’t get any closer than the perimeter of the display.

My favorite was the juniper forest pictured below. Isn’t it cool!? Barry was able to set his sunglasses on the edge of the display table to give a sense of scale.

We stopped at a building that had the following display. I’m not sure others realized this was here. I loved the beautiful Uchikake wedding kimonos. There were three of them. One was quite dark – not a fan of it. The white on white was my favorite. All three had the cranes embroidered on them. Depicted as strong yet graceful and elegant, the crane is a symbol of love in Japan. Since the crane mates for life, having them embroidered onto the marriage kimono represents honor, fidelity, and harmony.

Pictorial of walk through the gardens.

There is expansion work going on which includes making a large hillside waterfall/stream. The boulders in place are impressive.

I had to take this quick pic when I saw these two walking on the bridge with their Japanese parasols! I heard someone on the news last month wondering why they weren’t waterproof! OMG–because they are NOT umbrellas, but are PAPER parasols used to block the SUN, but allow air. 🙂

Since I was born in Japan, my mom and I each had an authentic silk kimono and obi. (Even though I was only an infant.) I remember, my mom said what a hard time she had trying to buy the soft coral kimono that she wanted because those colors were for single young ladies. Married women were supposed to have darker colors. Her Japanese “maid”, Etsy, helped explain to the salesman that she just wanted it as a symbol of Japanese culture to take home to the states, not to wear it in Japan. He agreed then to sell it to her.

One item that was always a part of our home was a set of obi chairs. I loved this chairs. They are called obi chairs because one obi that wraps around a kimono and “bustles” up in the back is enough to cover two chairs. Since my mom was pregnant with me she wanted one of the chairs turned into a rocking chair. OMG–they did NOT want to do it at all. Once again Etsy went with her, and they made one into a rocker for her (and me). My brother got the “normal” one, and I got the rocker. I gave the rocker to Abby when Barry and I downsized. I couldn’t bring myself to sell it. It is really comfortable and takes up so little room!

---

We ended the day in this area with visiting the Spanish Art Village. This area was so cool! It is a replica of a street area in Spain. It is a collection of 37 art studios representing over 200 local artists. I thoroughly enjoyed going from one artist store to the next. Several were their main studio.

What a gorgeous carousel umbrella!!

Another amazing studio!

This studio had incredible wood art! Below are just three of his 16-piece puzzles.

Rocks, Gems and Fossils. Very interesting display within this building in the Spanish Village.

Even the trash can near the sitting/picnic areas were painted to fit in!

We were about ready to head back to the car, but there was a bridge over a busy road that we decided to checkout. Maybe it would lead to some nice trails/paths. It led us to an inner and outer ring of rose bushes, but the roses were beyond their peak of blooming, so we didn’t linger at all. Pictured below is a section with some color, but if you go close up you could see the roses were basically “done”.

Also nearby were the Desert Gardens. Since we basically live in the desert part of the year, we didn’t feel the need to further explore these gardens, and no bikes were allowed.

We chose to go on a weekday so it wouldn’t be as crowded, but we discovered that Sunday may be the best day to see the most available. The International Cottages currently are open only on the weekends with possible lawn events returning on Sunday afternoons, The 2 pm Sunday organ concerts would not only be nice to experience, but we’d be able to see the massive pipes. The Miniature Railroad, Marston House Tours, the Park Carousel and more are only open on weekends. (Check here for specifics.)

For our initial exploring of Balboa Park we have no regrets for going on a Thursday. We did NOT find bike trails as we had hoped, but considering the heat, we were glad we were able to ride our bikes throughout the main area, and across a small bridge to the rose garden and desert garden. One main museum would easily take 2-3 (or more) hours, so we can certainly return a few times in the future with different goals of what to see and do.