Article and Photos By: Scott S. Smith and Sandra Wells
In November 2020, with most of Metro L.A.’s interesting public places closed, we decided to write our second column in this series about San Diego, just beating its own shutdown and rainy weather. We covered the San Diego Zoo, Balboa Park’s Spanish Village Art Center, the Museum of Art, and Museum of Us. The second day we spent along the seashore visiting the Maritime Museum and USS Midway.
https://www.chattanoogan.com/2020/11/9/418091/Cool-Things-to-Do-During-the-Corona.aspx
It was far past time to revisit and experience what we were unable to then. Recently, a study found that San Diego placed fourth among all U.S. seaside cities in a ranking by DIPNDIVE
https://dipndive.com/ that combines the number of visitors per year (31.8 million), prices, and Instagram location posts (Malibu was No. 1, then Santa Monica, and Newport Beach).
We started with the San Diego Zoo
https://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/, since we only spent three hours there the first time to try to see its 3,700 animals of 800 species and 700,000 plants on nearly 100 hilly acres. The big attraction this time were the pandas from China, the first in 21 years, arriving in Aug. 2024 and to see them you need a free timed ticket when you enter the zoo (see photo). Also a not-to-be-missed amazing opportunityis to feed a giraffe, the world’s tallest mammal, on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays 11:30 am to 1:30 pm. Tickets are limited and on a first come, first served basis (be sure to buy a $7 biscuit at the Urban Jungle Adventures Booth).
San Diego Zoo Safari Park
https://sandiegozoowildlifealliance.org/ is in Escondido 45 min. to the northeast of the zoo and we had never been there (though we have been on an actual safari in South Africa, which was a life-changing experience, and this could be as close to that as many will ever have). Start with the half-hour tram tour around the African savanna (no reservation needed), which allows you to see a variety of animals from a distance. Depending on your energy and the weather, you could take a walk around the hills to the different habitats or pay for a group tour by cart to see lions, elephants, gorillas, monkeys, zebras, rhinos, kangaroos, and other animals. There are also aviaries to get up close to lots of beautiful exotic birds (see photo).
Balboa Park is an enormous area next to the zoo with restaurants, theaters, a miniature train, an archery range, gardens, a carousel, a visitors center, and much more. With just one day to spend there, we focused on some of the impressive museums we were unable to see before, mostly on El Prado. Buy the Explorer Pass https://explorer.balboapark.org/ that gives you free entry to most of them.
Fleet Science Center
https://balboapark.org/arts-culture/fleet-science-center-balboa-park/ at one end is a great place for the whole family, with interactive exhibits on everything from electricity to the cosmos (see photo of one of its illusions), games, virtual reality ride simulators, and IMAX films in a dome theater (“Blue Whales” was awesome, but all of their offerings are fantastic). Explanatory signs are in Spanish and English.
Natural History Museum
https://www.sdnhm.org/ across from Fleet exhibits the other side of nature, with its focus on dinosaurs, prehistoric mammals and fish, contemporary bees and insects, giant clams, bats, penguins, birds (including the once nearly extinct California condors), and spectacular gems (see photo of one rock combining pergmatite, tourmaline, quartz, albrite, microcline, and lepidolite).
Museum of Photographic Arts and the San Diego Museum of Art (see our original story) have merged
https://www.sdmart.org/the-museum-of-photographic-arts-at-the-san-diego-museum-of-art-welcomes-three-new-exhibitions-this-spring/ and the MOPA location is still evolving, but has had a range of rotating exhibits on photography, film, and video (see photo). Some tours are conducted in American Sign Language.
Timken Museum of Art
https://balboapark.org/arts-culture/timken-museum-of-art-balboa-park/ has been called the “jewel box” of the park and we agree. It features rare originals by the Old Masters of European classical art like Rembrandt, Rubens, and Bruegel, as well as 19th century Americans and Russian icons. One room was devoted to the work of Kehinde Wiley, best-known for painting the official president portrait of Barack Obama. Next to the 17th century original “Equestrian Portrait of Prince Tommaso of Savoy-Carignan” by Anthony van Dyck was her contemporary take, showing an African American with a lance on a horse and a background of flowers that is an equal masterpiece (see photo).
Air and Space Museum
https://sandiegoairandspace.org/ is a short drive away on Pan American Plaza and covers the history of aviation and space exploration, with artifacts from the Wright Brothers, Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and many others, from planes to the Apollo 8 command module (see photo). There are also interactive experiences that give one a simulation of flying and a 3D/4D movie theater.