Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Fourth of July Weekend

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This past weekend my friends Jim and Alan came down from Long Beach for a visit. One of the reasons for the visit was to check out the Gustav Stickley exhibit at the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park. We also went to the Marston House which is also in Balboa Park. I've been to the Marston House several times but this is the first time since SOHO had taken it over. The tour was much longer and went in areas that you didn't see before. They also moved the gift shop out to the carriage house. The place needs a lot of work but hopefully the new management of it by SOHO will allow that to happen. I'm still hoping they can take over the Villa Montezuma before it's too late.

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The exhibit at the museum was great. Very diverse collection of items and well displayed. They didn't allow photos to be taken. I had my camera with me but I'm respectful of rules, and anyway there was some staff member tailing us to make sure we didn't snap any photos. After the visit to the museum, we walked over to the Botanical Building to check out the plants. There were quite a few orchids in bloom there. After that it was time for lunch so we walked back through the park to the car with a stop by the Spreckels Organ Pavilion which houses the world's largest outdoor musical instrument.

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After lunch we went for a drive to see a couple more San Diego landmarks. The first was the San Diego Administration Building. This building that serves both the city and the county of San Diego was built in the 1930s as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project. It has amazing tile work and plenty of WPA symbolism in its details. Next we went to the 1915 Santa Fe depot to look at the impressive tile work it has. A lot of running around but I enjoy being the tour guide when it's places like that.

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Click here for larger view.

Jim and Alan left early Monday to head back to Long Beach. I headed off to the junkyard to get some parts for my Hall GTC and then went to dinner with my friend Max and his partner Jim. We walked down the street from his place to watch the fireworks over the harbor and then back home. Overall a relaxing weekend.

1 comment:

  1. Nice photos. I would have enjoyed the Stickley exhibit. Today is Bastille Day and we had our Roquebrun fireworks last night. Quite a good display for a village that in winter is lucky to find 600 people!
    bonnie

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