Riding the San Diego trolley- April, 2008

My second day in San Diego was filled to the brim. I bought an all day bus pass and began getting on and off buses, trying to find the way to go to get to the office to buy my trolley ticket. This city has great public transportation systems and I made great use of them! The trolley tour lasted two hours, if you stayed on the trolley the whole time, or you could get off and on at your leisure. Having spent so much time in Old Town, I was very limited so decided to ride most of the loop before getting off again.

We went down to the waterfront and saw the Star of India, the world's oldest, active sailing ship, drove through the Gaslamp neighborhood, known for shopping and evening entertainment, Chicano Park, where the underside of the Coronado Bridge is decorated with Hispanic murals, and over the bridge to Coronado. The bridge is over two miles long and connects the city to the island. The large building in the 4th picture is the Hotel Coronado and is similar to the grand hotels in New England.

I spent the largest amount of time in Balboa Park, an amazing 1,200 acres filled with plantings, fountains, recreational areas, museums and a botanical garden. The San Diego Zoo is also located at one end of the park. When San Diego was first being settled, there weren't any trees. The park was all scrub brush and cactus. But thanks to a woman named Kate Sessions, the park is now a lovely place. In 1884, she rented a small portion of the park to use as a nursery, and in exchange, she planted 100 trees per year in the park and 300 more in the city. Kate was a college graduate from Berkley in the field of science and an extraordinary horticulturist;a real woman pioneer.

Besides the plantings, the buildings in the park are incredible. Many of them were designed and built for the 1915-16 Panama-California Exposition, to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal. The style chosen was Spanish Colonial and later buildings, added in the 30's, continued in the same theme. Though the buildings originally were intended to be temporary, they now house incredible museums. I could have spent at least two days just roaming the park and visiting the museums, but time prevented it.

My last stop for the day was Heritage Park, which is located on the hill above Old Town. A half dozen beautiful, Victorian homes were moved to this hillside and restored as each of them was going to be demolished. Several of them are now serve as "Bed and Breakfast Inns."

I saw a great deal while in San Diego but didn't begin to scratch the surface! That's okay...it will give me a reason to try and return someday!