On Monday, October 7, we took the Coaster train to San Diego again and walked to beautiful Balboa Park. We walked through the Japanese Friendship Garden and ate lunch at the Tea Pavilion there. Many of the gardens and museums at Balboa Park were designed for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition which, according to Wikipedia, “celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal, and was meant to tout San Diego as the first U.S. port of call for ships traveling north after passing westward through the canal.” After walking through another garden and taking the free trolley (bus) around the park (which is larger than Central Park and the site of the San Diego Zoo), we went through the Museum of Man. Next week we’ll go to the park’s art museum and the Air & Space museum. Balboa Park can be quite noisy since it’s in the flight path for the airport which is downtown. When Wayne and I visited San Diego for a weekend in 1997, we learned on our guided tour of Balboa Park that actors on some outdoor stage (I’m not sure which/where that is now. I only see the Globe Theater on this visit.) stop like they’re frozen every time a plane flies over and then resume as though nothing has happened. As I was paying for some cards at the Japanese Garden, a man pushing a dolly to the restaurant was behind me, the bells of a nearby carillon were chiming, and a plane was flying overhead – not quite the Zen-meditation experience the designers had in mind, but still lovely and peaceful in its own way.
On Tuesday I rented a car, and we drove to La Jolla where we saw lots of sunbathing seals! We also saw pelicans and one sea lion in the gorgeous cove there.
In other news, Laurel used some savings to buy a guitar (to be sent to Barb’s house and retrieved on our next visit) which she plans to learn to play by watching YouTube videos and taking lessons wherever we are.
And in family news, I was talking to my mom Tuesday night, and she sounded fine. Early Wednesday morning, however, Jane texted and e-mailed to say Mom was in ICU with pneumonia. Fortunately she’s out of ICU today and will probably get to come home tomorrow – Saturday.

Japanese Garden – I didn’t notice the spot near Laurel’s head until I uploaded the photos from my camera and realized there was dirt on the lens. Either that or a dark cloud follows us wherever we go. 🙂

This fountain and the nearby gorgeous museums and restaurants at Balboa Park were built in Spanish-Renaissance style.

The La Jolla seals