My Town Monday: Balboa Park, San Diego

National Historic Landmark House of Hospitality (with the Visitors Center inside)


How Balboa Park describes itself: "the nation's largest urban cultural park."

Just minutes from downtown San Diego, Balboa Park is made up of about 1200 acres. It's home to fifteen museums, the world-famous San Diego Zoo, the Old Gobe Theatre, a junior theatre, a puppet theatre, the Spreckels Organ Pavilion outdoor stage, eight amazing gardens, the Spanish Village Art Center(35 art studios and over 50 artists working on site), picnic areas, canyon hiking trails, three leash-free dog parks, a golf course, restaurants. And more.

California Tower


Admittance to Balboa Park is free. So is parking. El Prado is the main road through the park. It's pedestrian only. Admission to the various museums and the zoo can kind of add up. So, you might want to check out the seven-day Passport and the Zoo/Passport Combo. There's also Free Tuesdays where a different museum is free each Tuesday. Although, um, forget about this in the summer; Free Tuesdays are way crowded. You might want to contact the Balboa Park Visitors' Center:
(619) 239-0512, 1549 El Prado, Balboa Park, San Diego, California, 92101.

What else can I tell you? Wear comfortable shoes. LOTS of walking. Basically, Balboa Park is pretty much on every visitors' to-do list. It's an experience, a urban cultural park.

Child #4 and I were at Balboa Park this weekend for the Brownie bridging ceremony. This is when Brownies from all over the county come to walk across the bridge, which symbolizes their advancement from one level of Brownies to the next. My little Brownie has been promoted from a brown to a green vest. Congrats to Child #4. And congrats to me for FINALLY getting all those badges sewn on.



They close the bridge to traffic for an hour to let HORDES of brownies, their leaders, their families hoof it across the bridge.

What was on the other side of the bridge, you ask? Live music, arts & crafts, face painting AND SAN DIEGO GAS & ELECTRIC! What was SDG&E doing at the other side of a Brownie bridge, you ask? They had a booth where you could trade in your light bulbs for their energy-efficient cousins. How very Californian.

And here's a particularly special troop.


(From: http://www.balboapark.org, http://www.sandiego.gov/park-and-recreation/parks/balboa)


My Town Monday comes to us via Travis Erwin. Thanks, Travis! Click on his site to read his post about, uh, deep-fried calf personal parts. AND to find links to the other participants.

AND I STARTED THIS BLOG ONE YEAR + ONE DAY AGO!