Category: Beyond the Olympic Peninsula

Balboa orchid mania

Balboa Park in San Diego, Ca is a fabulous place to wander and take in a 100+ year-old vision of the world. As the site of the 1915-16 Panama-California Exposition it’s filled with architectural beauty at every turn and a great place to walk.

The Botanical Building was built in 1915 and is one of the world’s largest wood lath structures. I wasn’t sure what to expect inside.

Immediately inside the doors we were greeted with a display of orchids that made my heart go pitter-pat.

We were in for a treat. Inside the building was a big, lush display of cymbidium orchids and we couldn’t have timed our visit better. They were at their vibrant peak.

Two big groupings massed dozens of plants.

The building contains more than 2,000 permanent tropical plants but, for me, this visit was all about orchids and they were a knockout.

Decisions, decisions

Balboa Park in San Diego, CA was originally purchased as acreage for a large community park. As the Panama Canal neared completion community leaders saw an opportunity to promote San Diego as the U.S. west coast’s first seaport destination. In 1915 the Panama-California Exposition showcased Balboa Park with its Spanish Renaissance style buildings. Its popularity extended the Exposition through 1916 and twenty years later it was the site of the 1935-36 California Pacific International Exposition.

Today the park boasts a combination of museums, gardens, performing arts venues, and attractions such as the San Diego Zoo. For tourists like us the biggest challenge was to decide what to see and where to go in our short visit. The San Diego Model Railroad Museum, above, made it onto the list.

The museum had sprawling scale models with amazing attention to detail. Volunteers kept the trains running, maintained the dioramas, and worked to make it a great place to visit.

Let’s get away

I’ll be the first to admit that Washington winters get long for me. I know I’m a wimp but by February I need a change of scene. Since I’m a planner by temperament anyway, I start planning getaways around the time days start getting short. That beach hut in Fiji may not be in the stars, but a more realistic trip to Southern California took shape recently.

A very brief excursion to Balboa Park in San Diego during a business trip years ago left me hungry for a chance to see more. I felt I’d walked onto a movie set of a location I couldn’t quite put my finger on. My indelible memory was of a place made of eye candy.

I’ll show you more of Balboa Park over the coming days, then take you to another part of Southern California. After a long winter, aren’t you ready for a little travel too?