MaiTaiTom's Visit To Balboa Park
 

It had literally been decades since I had visited Balboa Park in San Diego. Tracy and I had missed the park’s 100th anniversary in 2015, but 101 is a good anniversary, too. In our six hours, we climbed a tower that had been closed to the public for 80 years, checked out some different type of art, visited some of my favorite SD sports stars, found some unique statues, stepped inside the most photographed building in the park, made a quick visit to a camellia festival, toured a historical house owned by a gentleman who ran for mayor of San Diego twice, and we even had time to fit in a martini and enjoy a gloriously warm San Diego winter’s day.

<B>http://travelswithmaitaitom.com/21708-2/</B>

You captured Balboa Park so well, a real treasure. And lunch at the Prado is a treat too. I would encourage travelers to San Diego to see the whole park with it's significant architecture, not just the Zoo.

Thanks for posting, I enjoyed reading about the park and will have to check it out for ourselves now.

<<we climbed a tower that had been closed to the public for 80 years...>>

I keep forgetting it's now open to the public. I'd like to do that. Thanks for the great report. Have you thought about publishing this, it would be a great guide for not just tourists but locals as well.

I have been to the Air & Space Museum but it was awhile back, $20 is pretty steep! Yikes. It is a great museum especially for kids as they have a lot of hands on activities.

I've never been to the Hall of Champions, but plan to after reading your report. I love the SD Chicken (I often have to correct myself when I forget he's not the KGB Chicken anymore - from the local radio station - KGB - which sponsored him in the beginning. He is also a grad of Hoover High School. Go Cards!

Maitaitom, we've been away from Fodor's for a while. . .and just discovered your reports on more interesting attractions in SoCal, one of which is Balboa Park! Although we've visited it in the past, in no way did we exhaust all the facets of this great park. Thanks for tempting us to a return visit sooner rather than later!

"I keep forgetting it's now open to the public. I'd like to do that. Thanks for the great report. Have you thought about publishing this, it would be a great guide for not just tourists but locals as well."

Thanks nanabee...It's on my website that has lots of subscribers; it's free by the way...shameless plug (: but I also sent this down to the folks at Balboa Park. Don't know if they'll do anything with it. I also put my website out there for some local "Neighborhood" sites, to let them know about some places they might want to see in Southern California.

I can hardly wait to go back to see the stuff I missed. It is quite a beautiful spot.

((H))

I'm bookmarking for a future trip - thanks for all the great details!