For my birthday, Gail and I spent a day at Balboa Park, San Diego. This was a first for me, and I was blown away by the beauty of the grounds, buildings, and all the wonderful museums. The 1400 acre park dates back to 1868, and was built on a mesa overlooking the city. Most of the buildings were built around 1916 for the World's Fair.
Below, is the Shakespearean Theatre in the Round, for open air summer plays.
This is the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. The immense pipe organ is played every Sunday, free of charge. The organ has 4,530 pipes ranging from pencil size to 32 feet long. I can't wait to hear it!
Next, it was on to the Auto Museum where there was a special exhibit of woodies. I thought of Soren often as I toured this museum.
I loved the old and antique motorcycles having had motorcycles in my younger days. I really like the visible mechanics, the beauty, and raw function of these machines. I'm truly glad I survived my love affair with motorcycles without ending up paralyzed or dead!
This is a beautiful 1948 Norton Manx. My first motorcycle was a 1961 Royal Enfield Bullet, also a British bike. There were no Enfields in this museum. The most amazing vehicle in the whole place, though, was Louie Mattar's 1947 Cadillac. You must read the sign after this picture to fully appreciate what he did!
In the back seat is an ironing board, and toilet, among other things.
Running boards and wheel changing platforms could be extended out from under the car when needed. Wheels could quickly be changed while traveling at 30 miles an hour down the road. That is a shower above the front fender!
On the dashboard is a Turkish hooka, tape recorder, and full bar.
To see Louie's car in action, check out this Youtube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT8azxnVAC4&noredirect=1 Louie lived to be 99!
The trailer held 230 gallons of gas, water and oil, etc.
This is the Arboretum, an indoor tropical jungle.
This odd fig tree had fruit growing right out of the trunk! We can't wait to take visitors to this remarkable park. We also toured one of the art museums, and the Museum of Photograpy - it rocked!
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