Balboa Park Resident Free (5th Tuesday)

Hey There:

A few times per year there will be a 5th Tuesday in the calendar, since this is not a common occurrence all museums are at their normal rate. Nevertheless families can still enjoy a few museums that are always free to the public

• Timken Museum
• Botanical Building
• Walk Around!

Timken Museum

This museum is always free to the public and it features a beautiful permanent collection with European old master painting, Russian icons and American art. The artwork is breathtaking and their current exhibition is a loan from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts: Francisco de Goya's Self-Portrait with Dr. Arrieta on display until September 9th. Photography is not permitted inside the museum, the following images were taken directly from Timken's site.

Portrait of Marguerite de Sève, Wife of Barthélemy-Jean-Claude Pupil, 1729, 
Nicolas de Largillierre 

The Magnolia Blossom, 1888, Martin Johnson Heade

The Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ, 16th Century, Moscow School 

Self-Portrait with Dr. Arrieta, 1820, Francisco de Goya

Botanical Building

Nature as a work of art, the Botanical Building is one of the most recognizable structures in Balboa Park with beautiful displays year round, a huge koi pond and during December the building is full of poinsettias. Movie trivia: a scene was filmed in this building in the 2000 film Traffic with Michael Douglas, Benicio del Toro and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Walk Around 

Of course, the best thing about Balboa Park is all the places you can walk around and take pictures. So even  on the 5th Tuesday of the month, there is a lot to see and do!

Check out what Balboa Park has to offer during the month:

• 1st Tuesday - RHF Science Center, Centro Cultural de la Raza, SD Model Railroad, SD Natural History
• 2nd Tuesday - Musuem Photographic Arts, SD History Center, Veteran's Museum and Memorial
• 3rd Tuesday - SD Art Institute, Mingei, SD Museum of Art, SD Museum of Man, Japanese Friendship Garden
• 4th Tuesday - SD Air & Space Museum, SD Automotive Museum, SD Hall of Champions

Encinitas Day Trip

Hey There:

I've met very cool people on Twitter, I have a tweep (Twitter/peep) who's great, we mostly talk about food, places to eat and things to do. He usually mentions places in North County, especially in Encinitas, I soon realized I've never been there before! I know where it is since I pass it every time I drive to OC or LA but never been there in the 13 years I've been living in San Diego. Another thing I've never done is take the MTS Coaster from San Diego to the cities in North County....that's how a Day Trip to Encinitas idea was born!

The first part of the trip was to arrive at the Santa Fe Train Depot where I could grab the Coaster that would take me to Encinitas. The Coaster departed at 12:40 PM, cost $11 round trip and would take 45 minutes to get there.

The Coaster is very comfy, with good leg room and with some seats facing each other so groups of friends can sit together. They even have small tables, I'm sure commuters with laptops use them since wi-fi is available at no extra charge. Once you get closer to the coastal cities then you get to see very nice views of the ocean and beaches.

I arrived at Encinitas and went to El Callejon, a Mexican food restaurant where I met a member of the Geek Girls of San Diego meetup group since I added this excursion as a meetup in case anyone else was interested in being a tourist in our own city. By the way, this is a great meetup group, very interesting and smart ladies are in it...like me <grin>

My time was limited and my mistake was spending too much time at the restaurant, but don't regret it, the conversation was great! At El Callejon I had one taco al pastor and ceviche, the portions were just right to satisfy me without leaving me dying from eating too much...give me a lot of food I will eat it all!!

When we finally left the restaurant and went to the shops I realized I only had 40 minutes before I had to get back to the station for the 3:53 Coaster back to San Diego, so we made the most of it!

Coast Hwy Traders

Was in awe in this store! They have the best Day of the Dead collection I've seen anywhere, not even in Old Town have I've seen so much! While I was drooling over skulls, my Geek Girl friend was drooling over mermaids and I couldn't resist and bought a magnet of St Isidore of Seville, the patron saint of computers...AVG I don't need you anymore! Just kidding.

Whole Foods

We did a quick pit stop here and just had to take a pic of organic watermelon gherkin...what the hell are those?

Chuao Chocolatier


Another one of my tweep's suggestions, we walked a few blocks for the most amazing and delicate truffles. I am not one for delaying pleasure, bought two truffles and ate them within five minutes...at least I made them last 5 minutes! 

I had one Wild Truffle and a Honey Orange one 

All these shops and so many more are found in Encinitas, CA walking through S. Coast Highway 101. I saw a knitting shop I didn't have a chance to stop at, several bookstores, restaurants, a historical school house and only got a glimpse of the beach when I was rushing back to the Coaster station.

Great trip, I will do this again!

Balboa Park Resident Free Tuesday (4th Tuesday)

Hey There:

So now we come to the last Tuesday of the month for Free Museums for San Diego residents. This Tuesday we have:

• San Diego Air & Space Museum
• San Diego Automotive Museum
• San Diego Hall of Champions
• Select House of Pacific Relations International Cottages

San Diego Air & Space Museum

In this museum, my favorite exhibitions have to do with Space, the final frontier...sorry, had to add that, and with the early history of airplanes. But seems like more than half the museum is dedicated to planes used in all the different wars and that's when I loose interest and leave the museum feeling queasy. But if you're into that, then you'll love this museum!

San Diego Automotive Museum

This one has pretty neat exhibits and it's one of the cheapest museums to get into, with admission tickets ranging from $4 to $8. While I'm more of a person who thinks a car is just to get from point A to point B, I have to admit, these cars look awesome. While here I haven't taken too many pics, after all, they're only cars...I do have some images of current exhibitions, the Steam Punk thing going on now looks interesting.

San Diego Hall of Champions

OK, so I will admit I haven't been to this one yet, not a sports fan and doubt any of the names will ring a bell, other than Junior Seau and I only know about him because of his restaurant in Mission Valley and his recent demise. But anyone whose into sports will get a thrill at looking at the displays and San Diegans contributions to greatness.

House of Pacific Relations International Cottages

Only select cottages are open today, but the main fun here is every Sunday, when all the cottages are open with native people from the different countries ready to talk about their country and culture. Each country one day out of the year a Lawn Program where they showcase their music, dance and food. Here's an example of the Lawn Program offered by the House of Ireland

Check out the rest of the Tuesdays:

1st Tuesday - RHF Science Center, Centro Cultural de la Raza, SD Model Railroad, SD Natural History.
2nd Tuesday - Musuem Photographic Arts, SD History Center, Veteran's Museum and Memorial.
3rd Tuesday - SD Art Institute, Mingei, SD Museum of Art, SD Museum of Man, Japanese Friendship Garden.
5th Tuesday - Timken Museum, Botanical Building, walk around!

Comic-Con 2012: Saturday / Sunday

Hi There:

OK, so I know Comic-Con is now old news - after all it ended 3 days ago, but my slight OCD won't let me leave this series unfinished. But my OCD will let me do one post for two days! The thing is, Saturday and Sunday were a bit of a blur to me because two things happened that just made everything else minor in comparison:

Saturday

I went into an Epix channel panel promoting two movies. The first movie was Attack of the 50ft Cheerleader by Roger Corman which will be released on August 25th, but Comic-Con attendees had an exclusive showing....oh yeah, and this movie is in 3D...yup a 50ft cheerleader in 3D.

The second movie is a documentary by William Shatner called Get a Life! focused on hard core Trekkies, this documentary will air July 28 as an Epix original.

What was awesome about this panel was that I sat in the second row in front of the panelist table and not only was Roger Corman and William Shatner 10 feet away from me, but the panel was moderated by Kevin Smith!! It was so amazing to hear them reminisce and still talk about current and future projects. And I was right there....dream come true!!

Sunday


I made my riskiest Comic-Con move ever! The Doctor Who panel started at 12:30 PM and I got in the line for Hall H at 11 AM! I was almost certain I wouldn't get in, but I had to try. My original plan was to get there at 6 AM, but I just couldn't do it, and since I was at that panel the year before I wasn't too concerned if I missed.


Luckily I didn't miss it, actually it was very close...the line was cut off 4 people behind me. My line friends and I high-fived, hugged, jumped in joy and as we walked towards Hall H sent our regrets to those staying behind. The panel was great and as always we learned nothing new, Steven Moffat says nothing! All we know - because it's all over the internet - is that the Ponds are out of the series....the question is will they die? All Moffat said when asked that question was "You know me!".....which can mean anything!


OK, one thing that will be coming in the next season.....Dinosaurs in Space!


After the panel there was an impromptu meetup in the autograph area with Dr Who Cosplayers....I Love The Doctor!

This guy was there last year too!!