After going through the Aerospace Museum, Mike, my brother, and I walked through Balboa Park. Many people had recommended that I at least take a quick trip through the park during the time we lived in SoCal. We never made it there while living in California, so we made sure to take a quick trip through some of the gardens before going to the Wild Animal Park.
The first thing we passed was an outdoor theater with a guy playing an organ. His banner read "Spreckels Organ at 90".
He just sat there playing, never turning around, never saying anything. He was still there playing as we were leaving the park.
We also passed an archery range:
and some gardens:
This fountain was in the courtyard of a building where we thought about eating lunch, but the restaurant was too busy.
So, we bought some hot dogs from a street vendor and ate here.
The building ahead is a botanical garden. I just couldn't escape the feeling that I should be looking
for a pterodactyl inside.
In front of the botanical garden was a lily pond, complete with turtles, koi, an African cichlid
(carnivorous fish, pronounced "sick-lid"), and a
sign asking people not to introduce fish to the pond...which we figured must refer to the cichlid.
Inside the botanical garden, we found lots of neat flowers
and some sort of plant trophies. We were joking about the wood plaques with labels and how it looked like a vegetarian
had gone hunting when a lady who worked there informed us that those are cliff-dwelling plants.
We ventured into a second part of the park, passing through another long walkway of arches, past a garden
and into a courtyard.
There were two signs describing the park:
To commemorate the discovery of California Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo who landed on the shores of San Diego Bay September 28, 1542.
Balboa ParkMay 26, 1868 on the petition of Alonzo E. Horton and Ephraim W. Morse these 1400 acres of Pueblo lands were dedicated by the trustess of the city to be forever a public park.