Balboa Park

 We arrived in  San Diego to visit family during Mother's Day.

Ella had her own list of places to visit based on the postcards

on her treehouse wall. The first place we visited was Balboa Park!

Balboa Park was originally preserved in 1868.

It is the property of both the San Diego Zoo

and Balboa Park, which is next to the zoo.

It was notably the location of the 

1915 Panama-California Exposition,

which contributed to its development.

One of the postcards in Ella's treehouse is the Botanic Garden

building. This is where Ella most wanted to be photographed.

Unfortunately, the day of our visit was very cloudy.

It was the day before it rained, so Ella's visit did not include

the sunshine and blue sky in the outside photos.

It helped to not have bright light on her face.

There were lots of people who stopped to photograph this building,

but I actually sat down to have the flowers more at eye level.

Even though the skies were not blue for that perfect photo,

Ella loved that it was a great historical location!

We were not able to go inside today.

I saw a "closed" sign on the door.
These are previous Google>images photos

of the plants and trees inside of the Botanic Garden.

Ella wanted just a few last photos with the building

she had a chance to visit.

We walked down the main road.

This building is on the other side of the street.
Many of the buildings in Balboa Park are art museums

with a visitor center and some restaurants.

They also have a theater near a quadrant of rooms

where I once took acting classes in 7th grade.

There were children's theater productions held in this theater.

I never auditioned or participated in one, but I enjoyed

watching other children in plays in this theater!

There was a large van on the sidewalk in front of the theater

when I walked by to take photos, so I only photographed the top. 

The van was possibly dropping off

some goods or making repairs, so these are other photos

of the full theater.

Near the the theater is an open area with a fountain

The Reuben H. Fleet Science Center is behind the fountain.

Ella waited patiently for children to stop running in circles

on the walk around the fountain. Then, it was her turn!

We walked back down the road to the area where we started.

The architecture is impressive!

We visited the garden behind the Mingei Museum,

where my mom was visiting.

The tower continued to ring tower bells for the time.
The tower is also notable in Balboa Park.
Ella was delighted to get her picture taken in front of it!

I was with my mom on this outing.

Both of us had phone batteries that were going low.

Since I had done what I wanted to do, I joined my mom

in the Mingei Museum so we would not get a point

where we had a harder time finding each other.

Ella found the Hinamatsuri doll collection

for the Japanese doll day!

There were Kokeshi dolls bigger than she is in the museum's

collection of dolls.

The vintage dollhouse behind it was charming.

A Palace for Wednesday is near the dollhouse.

It was built by Alice Hudson in 1981.

It has tiny figures in it.

There is a book with these figures in it.

I looked through the book in the museum gift shop,

but it was more than I wanted to pay for this book.

I ended up ordering it at home for 1/3rd of the price.
Ella looks forward to sharing the photos!

Both my mom and I had our own directions in what we

wanted to see in Balboa Park, but also enjoyed the time

together. Ella enjoyed seeing the buildings and the dolls.

It was finally time to finish our visit to Balboa Park.