Out and About in San Diego

After our drive down the coastline Terry next introduces us to the city of San Diego.

We drive to Balboa Park over the Cabrillo Bridge, an historic pedestrian and motor vehicle bridge providing access to Balboa Park and the uptown area of San Diego.

The bridge was built for the Panama-California International Exposition of 1915 which was held in Balboa Park; it crosses the Cabrillo Canyon and carries El Prado, the park's main street.

There is a great view of the bridge from the Cabrillo Freeway (State Hwy 163)  located on the floor of the canyon.

When you drive across the bridge, the view entering Balboa Park is stunning!

View from State Hwy 163

Balboa Park is the nation's largest urban cultural park. It covers 1,200 acres and is rich with museums, spanish colonial-style pavilions, art collections, performance spaces, glorious gardens and the famous San Diego Zoo.

We continue our drive on to Coronado over the Coronado Bay Bridge. We pass the Hotel Del Coronado, locally known as the 'Del'; then a drive through the Naval Base where Terry spent some years. On for lunch at Jalisco Cafe in Imperial Beach - an authentic Mexican restaurant.  Terry orders for us ...  small dishes to give us a range of tastes, and Mexican beer. It is all delicious!

Then we are on the road again, now into downtown - Broadway, the Gaslamp Quarter, Seaport Village, the Convention Centre, Old Town and Little Italy.

We are looking forward to taking the Trolley and exploring further. We were last in San Diego in 1987 more than 25 years ago. It is wonderful to be back.

Junipero Serra Museum

In the late 1700's Spanish explorers established missions throughout Southern California - several of the missions still exist today. Mission San Diego de Alcala, known as the 'Mother of the Missions' was the first of 21 missions to be built in Southern California.
On 16 July 1769 Father Junipero Serra, a Spanish Franciscan missionary and the soldiers of Spain dedicated the Mission San Diego de Alcala.

The Museum was built on the hill known as Presidio Park where the first mission and presidio (fort) was built. The architecture of the museum resembles that of the early missions.

We are struck by the number and size of the eucalyptus trees that are prevalent throughout San Diego. We can smell their leaves!!
Eucalyptus trees were introduced into California in the 1850's by Australians during the California Gold Rush. A similar climate encouraged them to flourish. There are some magnificent specimens especially around Balboa Park

Terry finishes our tour off with a drive into the country around the area known as El Capitan. The El Capitan Reservoir is in the hills east of Lakeside; it is formed by the El Capitan Dam on the San Diego river.







Its very nice country. Only a few days ago there was  snow on the ground!