San Diego 9/10: Model Railroad Museum, MOPA,Timken

San Diego Model Railroad Museum - Sunday, September 10th
Sunday, John & Sue and Margaret went to Mass at a nearby Catholic church - not difficult at all to find in a place called Little Italy. Frank and I joined them after, for breakfast pastries at a sidewalk bakery called Frost Me Cafe. The apple strudel I had and Frank's cinnamon bun were huge, enough to save some for later. Yes, we were indeed acquiring a stockpile of food at home. We had to build up our strength for the day's outing, Frank's most anticipated event of the trip, the San Diego Model Railroad Museum.

The San Diego Model Railroad Museum is in Balboa Park, and is reputed to be North America's Largest Railroad Museum. John & Sue walked the 1.7 miles 41 minutes to Balboa Park, getting in those 10,000 steps which I learned is about 5 miles (upper half of following map). Margaret, Frank, and I took a 10 minute Uber ride service (lower half of following map).

We walked along the stone arched corridor down to the Model Railroad Museum.

On the right upon entering, we saw the Cabrillo & South Western exhibit in O scale a 1:48 size ratio, one the most popular and oldest scales in the model railroad industry (bottom-most area on museum map). Scavenger hunts printed on slips of paper listed items to look for among the layouts, such as a graveyard,  dog in doorway of a store, or a stage coach. The O-scale had whimsical scenes such as a Halloween picket fence and a train conductor leading along his pet dinosaur. 

On the left upon entering we saw  the San Diego & Arizona exhibit in HO scale, a 1:87 scale or 3.5 mm to 1 foot. It is roughly equivalent to half O scale and hence the nomenclature HO. The HO exhibit was more extensive and had viewing from three sides. Both of these layouts were at waist to chest height with intermittent convenient stair risers for children and very short people. The detail was incredible. Scavenger hunt items included a woman feeding birds, skunks, or a crop duster. Most clues were tiny and a challenge to find. Those birds the lady was feeding were less that ¼" high; they would show up as specks, at most, in any photo I took.  Following is one scene from an accident complete with police car and victim under the overturned vehicle. 

Running along the floor between the O and HO displays were railroad ties listing donors to the museum. This arrangement was a creative alternative to selling bricks for donations. This was a good spot for Suite Six's traditional photo of all our feet. Clockwise from the top are Frank's, Diane's, Sue's, John's and Margaret's shoes.

Along side the display wall (right side of museum map) Frank and Diane paused for some photo ops by life size train signals.

 

Still on the lowest level, the Pacific Desert Lines N Scale exhibit (upper left corner of map) was built as if looking in through the windows of a passenger car. N scale is a popular model railway scale, 1:159 which is  9 mm to 1,435 mm. Standard regulation full scale rail spacing would be 4 ft 8 ½ in. Scavenger hunt items included a radio tower and an ice storage building.

There was a model locomotive displayed in one corner that was large enough to ride, 1/8 full size with a scale of 1 ⅜" = 1 foot. It was a near replica of a 1863 type of Civil War Era locomotive.

Contrast that locomotive with the Z scale models we'd seen at the far end of our first aisle in (far right bottom corner of museum map). Z scale is one of the smallest commercially available model railway scales (1:220), with a track gauge of 6 mm / 0.25 in. The chart below summarizes the scales. Frank's father's trains are not on the chart. His were S scale 1:64. S scale track gauge (space between the rails) is 22.48 mm (0.885 in).

We briefly walked up to the mezzanine level where there was a display of Tehachapi Pass Southern Pacific Santa Fee HO layout. Since this track was traveling through a mountain pass area, it was heavy on scenery and light on small activity details like the HO layout along the entry. We did not find the oil sludge pits nor the peacock. We moved on to the far room where we were positively blown away by an extensive, extremely detailed, toy train layout by the San Diego 3 railers built on O gauge track. The large size of O scale trains had often required a third rail of power in order to run smoothly. The larger scale also provides the opportunity for complicated landscaping and creative expression. These photos cannot capture it all.

We learned that the club also deployed live cameras on the set up @SD3R.com that can be viewed on the internet when the gallery is open and the trains are running. The signs confirm that you are never too old to play with trains. A friendly museum goer took a photo of all of use prior to us leaving the museum.

We broke for lunch at the nearby Cafe in the Park, a floor above the train displays. Thinking it was a modest little snack bar, we were surprised at the variety and quality of the food... salads, sandwiches, desserts, coffees. I had a huge, plump, cheese quesadilla, from which had at least a third left over for another meal, and Frank had a chili dog. Afterwards, Frank wanted to go back for more train viewing at the Model Railroad Museum. The rest of us moved ahead to make brief visits to a couple other art museums, the MOPA (Museum of Photographic Art) and the Timken

Museum of Photographic Art
Just down the arched corridor from the train museum was the Museum of Photographic Art MOPA. An exhibit there at the time of our visit was The Water Holds Me with the work of artist Suda House. The scenes were all in cool blues and greens with women submersed in water. Reading about the collection, we learned the coordinating theme was the struggles of women such as between motherhood and career. The two tall side by side images are from her saving grace series; they are Electra with the turtle and Celaeno with the whale photos. When I returned to the Museum of Photographic Art the next day to share these photos with Frank, I learned they were closed on Mondays. I was glad I could go the website to show him and see his take on the strange images. I did not understand them but I liked them to the degree of their calming tones and intricate poses. More of Suda House's work can be seen can be seen at https://www.sudahouse.com/. 

Timken 
The Timken Museum of Art at Balboa Park offers a rare and intimate encounter with world-renowned European Old Master paintings—including works by Rembrandt, Hals, Bruegel, and others—as well as 19th-century American art and a unique collection of Russian icons. Unfortunately I was plum tuckered out by then. I plunked myself down in the lobby while Margaret went off to view two galleries branching off at either end. John & Sue had already set off on their walk home. I have only entrance and lobby pictures as proof I had indeed been there.

Frank eventually caught up with Margaret and me and the three of us took an Uber home. All five of us rested up from our busy Sunday and stayed home for the evening, enjoying a dinner of leftovers. We also finished the Harbor Town puzzle.

San Diego 9/8, 9/9: Arrival and Locale

Overview
Frank and I joined our college friends John & Sue and Margaret for a vacation week in bright, sunny, seaside San Diego. This is an annual tradition we enjoy in a different city every year. An overview follows, divided up into series of blog posts about our adventures. The first two days and last two days are paired in one post but all other days have one post each.

Fri      9/08     Arrival and settling in 
Sat      9/09     Market and locale
Sun     9/10     San Diego Model Railroad Museum, MOPA, Timken
Mon    9/11     SEAL tour
Tue     9/12     Midway
Wed    9/13     Fleet Science Center
Thu     9/14     Maritime Museum and Hop-on-hop off Trolley
Fri       9/15     Departure

Arrival - Friday, September 8th
Frank and I landed at the San Diego airport around 3:00 pm at Terminal 1 for Southwest and Margaret arrived within 15 minutes of us in Terminal 2 for United. We met midway between the two terminals to share a taxi to our VRBO. Along the route Frank and I paused briefly to admire the highly detailed bas-relief of an octopus, along with other textural images, adorning the outdoor concrete walls of the airport.

Once we had our luggage, we crossed a pedestrian bridge over lanes of traffic to get us in the correct location to hail a taxi. The "windows" looking out to either side of the span were quaint and added a comical touch.

Settling In
Our rental villa was a deeply colored teal-blue, impossible to overlook, in a section of San Diego called Little Italy, walking distance to many restaurants and sites. We were on the second floor; the window triplet to the left looked out from common living area.

I jokingly said we should call our home-away-from-home for the week the "Halfway House". Certain decorating artistic accents seemed to like dividing items in half: a painted ladder, a painted stool, and even a table with a ½ " gap down the center. Initially, we thought the gap down the center would pose a problem for doing jigsaw puzzles, but we used the kitchen island counter instead and it worked out fine.

The bathroom associated with Frank's and my bedroom had a walk-in, sill-less shower that amazingly worked well with a sufficiently slanted floor that kept the water in. A skylight overhead was bright enough that in the daytime neither Frank nor I could remember if we had turned the light on or off. Our twin windows looked out at a dog park. The playful romping of the dogs was fun to watch and brought smiles to our faces. We could also watch the canine antics at another angle from the common area. The happy yips were a joyful addition to our stay and not at all abrasive or offensive. The dog park was a plus that added to the ambience. Since it was so near, I used it as a reference point in a map of the restaurants we walked to for meals.

From the top down in the following map:

Little Italy Dog Park to Mona Lisa 9 min (0.4 mi)
Little Italy Dog Park to Mimmo's 5 min (0.2 mi)
Little Italy Dog Park to Frost Me Cafe and Bakery 3 min (0.1 mi)
Little Italy Dog Park to Queenstown Public House 4 min (0.2 mi)
Little Italy Dog Park to Claim Jumper Steakhouse & Bar 16 min (0.7 mile)

When we arrived on Friday, John & Sue, who had arrived a few days earlier to meet with relatives in the San Diego area, told us to keep our distance. They'd had a 24 or 48 hour bug from which they were recuperating. We just chatted for a while and then went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant called Mona Lisa. The food was great and plentiful; I had fantastic chicken parmigiana. There was enough for me to take home for another meal. The pictures on the wall sparked conversation, especially the oval ones with convex "bubble" glass such as the example shown. I looked into those type of photos and learned that not only is the glass curved but also the photo behind it. Here are some key points from the website https://www.inlineovals.com/blog/a-brief-history-of-convex-glass/

Convex glass, also known as bubble glass, is a type of framing in which the glass is curved outward... Between the years of 1880 and 1940, these convex portraits were considered very trendy for your home. Although a complicated process, and one that can not be duplicated today, these portraits were considered a luxury... They are always going to be in a circular or oval in shape... The glass is curved, but the original photograph is as well. The glass is bent by adding heat to make it droop.

We relaxed back at the rental for the remainder of the evening, sharing memories of old times. We discussed what we would do the next day, keeping plans loose in case we needed to accommodate low energy levels from traveling or being ill.

 

Market and Locale - Saturday, September 9th
Frank and I awoke the next morning to see a series of tents erected along the street. It was the weekly Farmer's Market with food and craft items for browsing. Little Italy is really dedicated to maintaining a pedestrian environment. I walked the length of the line of tents with Sue in the morning.

 

I convinced Frank to join me for a while as I pointed out that crafts that caught my eye.

I showed this lamp to Frank thinking it would be perfect for our grandson and his dad who are avid Star Wars fans. I said a green light saber would be perfect since it is Isaiah's favorite color and we could mail it directly to him. Thinking Frank would talk me out of purchasing this unique, possibly white elephant, gift, I was amazed when he said, "But aren't they dueling? Wouldn't you need to buy two?" Apparently, when I told him it would not be coming to our house, he was so relieved, he encouraged the double purchase. They arrived in Oklahoma ten days later, and we had one grinning grandson basking in the green (good guys) and red (the dark side) dueling lights.

In the afternoon I broke out a 1000 piece puzzle Frank and I had brought with us. The theme was Harbor Town by Peter Pauper Press and seamed appropriate for our locale. It had special areas and details that could be earmarked for a certain person per his/her choice. We could all work simultaneously without trampling on each others' toes. The large area of the kitchen island was great space or this fun activity.

We also were intrigued by planes flying so low and close to our window. Since San Diego's airport is within the city and has only one runway, the flight path of planes was very near us. Note the airport, indicated as a yellow box off to slight left of middle, and Little Italy, indicated as a yellow box off to the lower right of the following map. The dotted lines parallel the one runway. I kept trying to get a photo showing a plane very large and centered in the window. I kept failing to ready the camera in time, even though we could hear a low hum and get prepared. Many, many scurrying tries later, even with companion help and warning, we giggled as I kept missing. It seems that the human eye perceives things differently than a camera lens. This photo is the best of my many failures. 

That evening we walked to dinner at Mimmo's. The weather was balmy and extremely enjoyable and we dined al fresco at one of the roadside tables shown here. Once again, my order of cheese lasagna and Frank's order of meat lasagna was generous enough to have large portions to take home.