JEREMY THE BLOGGER

Located on the northern border of Downtown San Diego, Balboa Park is a 1,200 acre park with museums, botanical gardens, walking and hiking trails, venues and home to the world famous San Diego Zoo.  Established in 1835, the park is one of the oldest in the United States dedicated to public recreational use. In 1915-1916 and again in 1935-1936, the park hosted the World’s Fair (Panama–California Exposition and California Pacific International Exposition) leaving us with most of the historic ornamented Spanish Baroque and Spanish Colonial architecture we see today.  As of right now, there is plenty of free parking found throughout the park but keep in mind that this is a main tourist attraction visited by 20 million people every year, so it can get busy at times. I recommend visiting in the early hours before anything opens, that way you can really appreciate the grounds and architecture.  

Situated on 127 acres in the city of Arcadia, CA, the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden is not only a lush landscape with a rose garden, lake and and dozens of garden zones, it is also a historical site with more wild peafowl than I have ever seen in one place. While there were mostly peacocks with the occasional peahens, they were everywhere; way up on the top of fifty-foot trees, atop other structures and wandering the grounds. Another feature of this sprawling botanical garden are its historic structures. There is a Queen Anne style cottage that was constructed in the 1880’s, a matching Victorian coach barn with slats of cedar and redwood paneling covering the interior with original iron grillwork and the original adobe home from 1840, just to name a few. Keep in mind when you visit that they are going through a few remodeling projects, mainly one of the entrances and some refurbishment of the adobe home and Queen Anne cottage, but in no way does this affect the overa...

The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens really has it all; flowers, art, architecture, great food and the list goes on.        Photo Notes: The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens | San Marino, CA | September 2019 | Canon Rebel