Wow, Balboa Park is so beautiful!
As per usual, Stephen's GPS unit led us awry: in its haste to bring us to the visitor's centre for Balboa Park, it wanted us to drive over a pedestrian footbridge. Stephen declined to follow that advice (as the ticket for that would probably be extreme), and we kept driving, eventually pulling into a parking lot to try to figure out where we were. "Oh! I see old buildings! Beautiful old buildings!" And, at that point, I've practically toppled out of the car before Stephen has stopped. "Let's just go see them first; then we can figure out where we are."
We actually ARE in the park already. Balboa Park is larger than Central Park in NY, and we're in the museum district. The beautiful old buildings are from some world fair or expo in the 20s, I think?
We were a bit early - nothing opens until 10 a.m., so we wandered around looking at the buildings and gardens until opening time.
What's it cost? Well, you can wander around the park for free, of course. If you want to see the museums, you have the option of paying per museum (prices range from $3 to $15 for entrance), purchasing a pass that would give us any five museums for $35, or a booklet that entitles us to visit all 14 museums for $45. "Of course," the cashier told us, "you won't be able to see them all in one day." Hah! We museum like we hike. Go go go! Out of our way, grandma - we're on a schedule! :-)
Our first museum (which ended up being one of my favourites) was the Mingei - it reminded me very much of the Folk Museum in Santa Fe. It had some beautiful furniture designed by some famous guy I'd never heard of (so how famous are you REALLY, dude?), at least one hundred of those Japanese waving cats, and a quilt display. We went through about three art museums (El Greco!), and even one of the free art museums, the Timken, had a kickass collection. For the Natural History Museum, we zoomed through the dinosaur part (we have the Tyrell Museum at home, thank you very much), but they also had a gemstone display, and I am like a crow - I am drawn to sparkly things. Wow, some fabulously beautiful jewellery. Wow, so far out of my price range.
There are also a lot of lovely gardens around. The beauty of the botanical displays was perhaps somewhat lessened by the hordes of screaming brats running around. Hordes, I tell you.
Okay, so not all of the children were screaming brats - but it doesn't take many bad apples to spoil the whole bunch. There was one kid in particular - tone it down five notches, okay? - you're what's called "obnoxious". As are your lame-ass parents. And you - other kid - stop chasing the damn pigeons!! How do you like it when I chase YOU around? Not so much fun now, is it?
Stephen's pick of the museums were the Air and Space Museum, the Railroad Museum, and the Automotive Museum. At the Air and Space Museum, I learned that I weigh 20 lbs on the moon - whoo hoo! On Mars, however, I weigh 50 lbs. I am beginning to suspect that North America's "obesity epidemic" is more likely a problem with the earth's gravitational pull. Think about it: when you wake up in the morning, and it's so hard to get out of bed? Gravity. Maybe it's not your fault you weigh so much; maybe it's NOT the jelly donut you each for lunch every day; maybe it's just gravity.
Our free pass into the science center comes with a free ticket to any Imax film. We just missed the Tornado showing, so we decide on the Hubble instead. While waiting, it's time to eat. Mmm, chili dog and chips - that might well be the messiest thing I ever ate. I'm pretty sure the clerk frowned disapprovingly at me when I went back for a knife and fork. "That's not how you eat a chili dog!"
By 5 p.m. (when the museums close), we'd visited 10 or 11 out of 14 possible museums. Ha ha!
Meanwhile, a US spy satellite drone deployed by the tourism department has identified and red-flagged us. "Don't sell those people any more passes. They use them TOO well." (Yes, our National Park pass has paid off very well for us, too.)
After our museum junket, we wandered through some of the nearby gardens in Balboa Park. There was a very large rose garden, as well as a cactus garden. The park is actually too big to see - there are many many trails there, lots of joggers and cyclists.
Eventually, we hopped back into the car and headed downtown to try to find a mall. Somehow, I lost my cell phone charger (I think it was probably left behind in Hurricane, UT), and I've been rationing power on my cell phone, but it won't last forever. The GPS led us downtown, where Stephen found a mall parkade and drove in. Apparently, I'm the only one who notices the 6'8" clearance bar that we bump out of the way when we drive in. Me: "Stephen, what's your vehicle clearance?" Stephen: "7 feet, I think. Why?" OMG! It's too late. We're inside, I'm ducking down and covering my head as we're just barely skimming below concrete beams. My advice? "Don't hit any bumps!"
Hey, at least he'll have scratch marks on the roof to match the scratch marks on his gas tank.
Apparently, his vehicle isn't quite as tall as he thinks, because we're squeaking through without that distinctive sound of rock grinding metal (I've heard it before, you know). We park, note that we're in the Chili Pepper section of the parkade, then head outside. Hey, where's the mall? We appear to be downtown. This is the gaslamp district. We wander aimlessly for a while, then again, try to find the mall. Eventually, following the pull on our wallets, we do find it - it's an open air mall, instead of the enclosed structures we have, since apparently these guys have perfect weather forever. Bastards.
I purchase a new cell phone charger: mission accomplished. Back to the Chili Pepper parking level, and we pry the oversized X-Terra out of its parking spot and get it safely outside. Whew!
Even though it's getting late, I want to see the ocean, so we drive out to Mission Beach. By some miracle, there is a parking spot near the beach. It's twilight, the sun's completely down, but it's still light enough, so we head out onto the sand. Hello, Sand, my old enemy - nice to see you again.
Then, down into the waves, because it's the freaking ocean, and I want to go see it. Whoosh! Hey, those are big waves, aren't they? Whoooshy-whoosh. Hey, those waves are getting bigger, aren't they?
Oh, the tide is coming in. (Check out our amazing cognitive skills.) Okay, let's maybe move back a bit. A lot. We retreat from the beach, and my sandals are FULL OF SAND. (Well played, Sand, my old enemy.) There's a beach hotel with a pier that's open to the public until sunset. Stephen stops, because it's after sunset. Screw that - we're going anyway. So we march on down to the end of the pier and watch the waves come crashing in for a while. Very nice.
We feel happy about our day - no lightning storms, no cannibals. We weren't swept out to sea, and the closest thing to a road-of-no-return was the parkade, and we managed to squeak through that one as well. All in all, that's a good day!
As per usual, Stephen's GPS unit led us awry: in its haste to bring us to the visitor's centre for Balboa Park, it wanted us to drive over a pedestrian footbridge. Stephen declined to follow that advice (as the ticket for that would probably be extreme), and we kept driving, eventually pulling into a parking lot to try to figure out where we were. "Oh! I see old buildings! Beautiful old buildings!" And, at that point, I've practically toppled out of the car before Stephen has stopped. "Let's just go see them first; then we can figure out where we are."
We actually ARE in the park already. Balboa Park is larger than Central Park in NY, and we're in the museum district. The beautiful old buildings are from some world fair or expo in the 20s, I think?
We were a bit early - nothing opens until 10 a.m., so we wandered around looking at the buildings and gardens until opening time.
What's it cost? Well, you can wander around the park for free, of course. If you want to see the museums, you have the option of paying per museum (prices range from $3 to $15 for entrance), purchasing a pass that would give us any five museums for $35, or a booklet that entitles us to visit all 14 museums for $45. "Of course," the cashier told us, "you won't be able to see them all in one day." Hah! We museum like we hike. Go go go! Out of our way, grandma - we're on a schedule! :-)
Our first museum (which ended up being one of my favourites) was the Mingei - it reminded me very much of the Folk Museum in Santa Fe. It had some beautiful furniture designed by some famous guy I'd never heard of (so how famous are you REALLY, dude?), at least one hundred of those Japanese waving cats, and a quilt display. We went through about three art museums (El Greco!), and even one of the free art museums, the Timken, had a kickass collection. For the Natural History Museum, we zoomed through the dinosaur part (we have the Tyrell Museum at home, thank you very much), but they also had a gemstone display, and I am like a crow - I am drawn to sparkly things. Wow, some fabulously beautiful jewellery. Wow, so far out of my price range.
 |
| Balboa Park |
Okay, so not all of the children were screaming brats - but it doesn't take many bad apples to spoil the whole bunch. There was one kid in particular - tone it down five notches, okay? - you're what's called "obnoxious". As are your lame-ass parents. And you - other kid - stop chasing the damn pigeons!! How do you like it when I chase YOU around? Not so much fun now, is it?
Stephen's pick of the museums were the Air and Space Museum, the Railroad Museum, and the Automotive Museum. At the Air and Space Museum, I learned that I weigh 20 lbs on the moon - whoo hoo! On Mars, however, I weigh 50 lbs. I am beginning to suspect that North America's "obesity epidemic" is more likely a problem with the earth's gravitational pull. Think about it: when you wake up in the morning, and it's so hard to get out of bed? Gravity. Maybe it's not your fault you weigh so much; maybe it's NOT the jelly donut you each for lunch every day; maybe it's just gravity.
Our free pass into the science center comes with a free ticket to any Imax film. We just missed the Tornado showing, so we decide on the Hubble instead. While waiting, it's time to eat. Mmm, chili dog and chips - that might well be the messiest thing I ever ate. I'm pretty sure the clerk frowned disapprovingly at me when I went back for a knife and fork. "That's not how you eat a chili dog!"
By 5 p.m. (when the museums close), we'd visited 10 or 11 out of 14 possible museums. Ha ha!
Meanwhile, a US spy satellite drone deployed by the tourism department has identified and red-flagged us. "Don't sell those people any more passes. They use them TOO well." (Yes, our National Park pass has paid off very well for us, too.)
After our museum junket, we wandered through some of the nearby gardens in Balboa Park. There was a very large rose garden, as well as a cactus garden. The park is actually too big to see - there are many many trails there, lots of joggers and cyclists.
Eventually, we hopped back into the car and headed downtown to try to find a mall. Somehow, I lost my cell phone charger (I think it was probably left behind in Hurricane, UT), and I've been rationing power on my cell phone, but it won't last forever. The GPS led us downtown, where Stephen found a mall parkade and drove in. Apparently, I'm the only one who notices the 6'8" clearance bar that we bump out of the way when we drive in. Me: "Stephen, what's your vehicle clearance?" Stephen: "7 feet, I think. Why?" OMG! It's too late. We're inside, I'm ducking down and covering my head as we're just barely skimming below concrete beams. My advice? "Don't hit any bumps!"
Hey, at least he'll have scratch marks on the roof to match the scratch marks on his gas tank.
Apparently, his vehicle isn't quite as tall as he thinks, because we're squeaking through without that distinctive sound of rock grinding metal (I've heard it before, you know). We park, note that we're in the Chili Pepper section of the parkade, then head outside. Hey, where's the mall? We appear to be downtown. This is the gaslamp district. We wander aimlessly for a while, then again, try to find the mall. Eventually, following the pull on our wallets, we do find it - it's an open air mall, instead of the enclosed structures we have, since apparently these guys have perfect weather forever. Bastards.
I purchase a new cell phone charger: mission accomplished. Back to the Chili Pepper parking level, and we pry the oversized X-Terra out of its parking spot and get it safely outside. Whew!
Even though it's getting late, I want to see the ocean, so we drive out to Mission Beach. By some miracle, there is a parking spot near the beach. It's twilight, the sun's completely down, but it's still light enough, so we head out onto the sand. Hello, Sand, my old enemy - nice to see you again.
Then, down into the waves, because it's the freaking ocean, and I want to go see it. Whoosh! Hey, those are big waves, aren't they? Whoooshy-whoosh. Hey, those waves are getting bigger, aren't they?
 |
| Stephen at Mission Beach |
We feel happy about our day - no lightning storms, no cannibals. We weren't swept out to sea, and the closest thing to a road-of-no-return was the parkade, and we managed to squeak through that one as well. All in all, that's a good day!
Comments
Post a Comment