Urban Stroll through Balboa Park in San Diego…

With Katie in town it only seemed logical to visit one of San Diego’s gems, Balboa Park. We first visited this park a few years ago and hadn’t been back since. Balboa Park is one of the nation's oldest city parks which was established in 1868. There are over 1200 acres of trails and trees but what makes Balboa Park unique are the museums, theaters,and artists' colony. Balboa Park is also host to one of the world's finest zoos which we have yet to visit but will do so very soon. Parking in the park is free and there is also a free trolley that runs every 15 minutes or so for one to hop on and hop off at will.  We found a parking spot near one of the museums so did not take the trolley this trip.

Most of the buildings in Balboa Park were built as a result of San Diego hosting the 1915 Panama-California Exposition and the 1935 California-Pacific International Exposition. Several of the buildings built for these expositions still stand while others are replicas of those that were destroyed. The architecture is quite intricate and interesting with many picturesque arches along the way. Also upon closer inspection one can see many interesting cornices…

 

We strolled throughout the entire park enjoying the gardens and cool buildings. We saw plenty of trails available for a good urban hike here as well. After walking across and all around the entire park we ended up at the west gate entrance which as I understand just recently opened back up after work was done on the bridge. Here there is a plaza where a Spanish styled building called the California Building stands with its stunning and colorful tower stand. The California Building is where the San Diego Museum of Man is  located and we almost went in to check out the exhibit on craft beer but thought it might be better to just go have one instead…

 

Before heading out to find a nicely crafted beer we took Katie over to see the artist’s village where there are many shops of local artists displaying their crafted and delicately created pieces. With Christmas around the corner it was fun seeing all the Christmas decorations in the artist village as well as all over Balboa Park… With this wonderful San Diego weather it is hard to believe that Christmas is right around the corner…