Week 45: Visiting Balboa Park

The next t-shirt is a bit unique: no print on the front or the back – just on one sleeve. It is from the San Diego Air and Space Museum in Balboa Park from the “Science of Aliens” exhibition a few years ago.

See. Nothing in Front, Back looks the same.

My husband gave it to me as a gift after he spent the day exploring some of the different museums in the park. I was in San Diego working for a couple of days, and he decided to tag along … and play (not a fair deal, I tell you).

Balboa Park is an incredible place. We have visited the park on previous trips to San Diego and are amazed at the variety of different botanical, cultural, and historical attractions. My favorites are probably the Botanical Garden and the Japanese Friendship Garden. In that trip, my husband visited four museums including The San Diego Air & Space Museum, the Automotive Museum, the San Diego Model Railroad Museum, and The San Diego Museum of Photographic Arts. In our half-dozen visits to San Diego (while I am either working or training in Aikido), he claims that he has visited each & every museum in the park: an amazing feat on its own especially for someone who is just visiting.

Sleeve Detail

Don’t get me wrong; it’s not all work and no play for me. We were able to explore the park (and some other San Diego attractions) together during the weekend. We enjoyed lunch at the award-winning Prado restaurant (also in Balboa Park) and, spent most of the afternoon at the Museum of Man, San Diego’s only museum dedicated to anthropology. As with all our museum visits, we spent some serious time walking from exhibit to exhibit. By the end of the day, my feet were sore and my brain was full! The museum was fascinating – especially since I fancy myself as an Indiana Jones wannabe (without the boulders, poisonous darts, and snakes – “I hate snakes”). We treated ourselves after that to a fabulous Spanish dinner and tapas at Café Sevilla in the Historic Gaslamp District. 

San Diego is probably our favorite destination in Southern California. In addition to Balboa Park, we love the Gaslamp District for its gastronomic adventures, Ocean Beach for its casual atmosphere, inexpensive eats and the fact that it is a beach town, Old Town San Diego for the fabulous Mexican restaurants and arts & crafts shops, and of course Hotel Coronado and the Silver Strand Beach. We’d love to return to San Diego for a long, long weekend sometime soon.

Or maybe I can go there for work again!