Our main destination in Balboa Park was the Fleet Science Center in the southeast corner of the park, Afterward, we explored other areas as well. We headed north toward the Balboa Park Carousel and the Balboa Park Miniature Railroad. On the way we passed through the Spanish Village Art Center. Neither the carousel nor railroad was open on Wednesdays, only on weekends. Whoops... that was poor planning on our part. We did not get to ride either of them, but we did get to see each to some extent. Afterward, only Frank and I doubled back south to see the Japanese Friendship Garden. John & Sue and Margaret opted instead to return to the cafe at the Fleet Science Center for ice cream.
The visiting exhibit at the Fleet Science Center was how to survive worst case scenarios. The first words of advice were always "Do not panic". These worst case scenarios included
- surviving a group of stampeding elephants (if they think you are a log they will step over you)
- extricating yourself from the coils of a constricting snake (free one hand to grab it under the head and free the other hand to methodically uncoil it... yeah, right)
- picking a lock (very time consuming)
- scaling a wall
- jumping about on the top of a moving train
- escaping a rattle snake
- avoiding injury in the path of a herd of stampeding giraffes (climb a tree?... hmm, not many trees on a savannah)
- sinking in quicksand (do not struggle...I tried this one and failed miserably... see photos)
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Frank was unable to rescue me. A stranger needed to come over to do it. Margaret, Sue, or John were unwilling to even try getting in. John cited his reason as "too many germs". I may have needed help to exit, but I survived the worst case scenario germ portion of the scenario unscathed.
Frank liked an exhibit called Roller Coaster Hills. He would release cars from different heights on a slope and have them land on a metal tube to produce a particular tone. If you ask me, it was a very roundabout way to pick out a tune.
Other exhibits were about San Diego waterways and power sources, titled "So Watt!" I kind of agreed. The museum also had a entire section optical illusion, most of which I had seen before. They included the kiss/vase, bunny/duck, and hag/maid, classic illusions.
In the electricity education section, we got to see and hear the snapping of a Tesla Coil discharging while museum staff were testing it repeatedly.
Spanish Village Art Center (2 on the initial map)
On our way toward the carousel we crossed the brightly colored stones of the Spanish Village Art Center Plaza. The variety of happy colors made me smile. I thought this was an excellent opportunity to take one of our traditional all feet photo. Clockwise from the top are John, Frank, Margaret, Sue, and Diane.
I am sure the top foot is John because I captured this photo of his shoe near a brilliantly colored leaf that I thought was so pretty. I also thought the image of John & Sue side by side as they emerged from the Spanish Village Art Center was also pretty and worth capturing.
Frank and Margaret led the parade toward the Balboa Park Carousal. The carousal is a work of art with hand carved figures for the animals in sixteen different species. It is one of the few remaining carousels in the world with an operational brass ring game feature and organ music from original paper rolls. Unfortunately we learned that it is only operational on weekends and, although we could not ride it, we could still see it. Or could we?
Then, after I'd walked around the entire building, I spotted mail slot. I lifted up the flap and was able to get this photo, free and clear of mesh. Yes, there are tons more photos at Google Images, but they are all of individual animals or have random people in them. This photo proves we were there!
These whimsical structures around the carousel building were cute. The ticket booth and a place for parking bikes have a personality of their own.
Both the carousel and the Balboa Park Miniature Railroad are associated with the zoo and so are only open on weekends when the crowds are the biggest. We still walked around and looked at the ticket station. Per the train website
The Balboa Park Railroad takes a four-minute, half-mile loop through four acres of Balboa Park. The train station is located outside the Zoo's exit. The miniature train is operated by the San Diego Zoo.
On our way southward toward the Japanese Friendship Garden Frank and I passed a sign disclosing the presence of a nudist colony. It is really close to the San Diego Model Railroad museum, too. This discovery aroused my curiosity and so I investigated it online. The garden certainly does look beautiful, even without the "enhancement" of naked bodies. Zoro Gardens is currently a ceremony site for weddings, but not for any receptions.
Located next to the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park sits a sunken, 1915 stone grotto that’s looks like something out of a fairytale. It is both whimsical in design and due to it now being a butterfly garden, has plenty of attractive plants and butterflies fluttering about. In 1935-1936 during the Pacific International Exposition at the park, Zoro Garden was actually a nudist colony (although both men and women wore nude-colored bottoms). It is said for .25 cents, you could enter the garden and spectate while the actors sunbathed, socialized, played games and even performed a quasi-religious play called “Sacrifice to the Sun God.” If you didn’t want to pay to enter, no problem. Due to the many holes in the fence, spectators could peek through for free.
The Japanese Friendship Garden was the final location of the day for Frank and me to visit. Not far from the entrance was a Koi pond and we arrived just at the time they were being fed. The fish were large and beautiful and hungry!
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