Astral Nomads

One man, one woman, one rabbit......traveling with the stars.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Scratching the Surface of Balboa Park

Balboa Park is a huge urban cultural park that was the site of the 1915 Panama-California Exposition. The Astrals barely scratched the surface today since there are a bizillion museums there. It's gonna take a couple of trips for us to totally scope the place out. Hey, we do what we can.


The first thing you notice is the cool historical type architecture...

...and the lush formal gardens...

...and the arcades that make you feel like you're in

Then, of course, your reverie is broken by a Kachinka procession
and you're back to reality in the Museum of Man. 

The Museum of Man is pretty cool but I think the real star is the 
building itself.

They were pretty big on Mayan stuff, which is always a pleasure. Looks
like just another day at the human sacrifice pavilion.

For some reason, we felt compelled to yell "Stele"!

A big part of the museum covered human evolution, which is why it's in
San Diego and not Petersburg, Kentucky. Here's Lucy, not quite the missing
link but pretty damn close. And pretty damn cute too.

Baby needs a new pair of shoe.

When I awoke, the Dire Wolf
Six hundred pounds of sin
Was grinnin at my window
All I said was "come on in"

Don't murder me
I beg of you don't murder me
Please
don't murder me

The wolf came in, I got my cards
We sat down for a game
I cut my deck to the Queen of Spades
but the cards were all the same

Don't murder me
I beg of you don't murder me
Please
don't murder me*




Proving, through science, that the Mountain
Gorilla is much larger than the Bush Baby.

They have a reproduction of the Globe Theater here too.
Sweet!

Da Kettle Classics bag done stained me hand!

We also took in the San Diego Museum of Art which was rather small, I thought, for a major metropolitan area art museum. Small both in the physical size of the gallery space and in terms of interesting pieces. The following few caught our eye for one reason or another. It's not like we're experts or anything.

Tanquam Agnus by Zurburan

This Tintoretto was the best work in the museum for me.

A little something from the School of Canova.

Then, of course, some things just make you ask 'why?'

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I'm going
with the camouflage on this one.

There's a lot more to see. We'll be back!

I think that might be Mr. Balboa himself.

*Dire Wolf, Grateful Dead

5 comments:

  1. The Tintoretto seriously rocks. The eyes. Wow. I must add this to my SD to-do list.

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  2. Kat kaflug@gmail.comMarch 29, 2011 at 7:38 PM

    Hi there! I first found your blog when your son posted it on Reddit and have been following/enjoying ever since. It occurred to me today that I've only been lurking so I thought I'd pop in and let you know that I'm here! I love your pictures and reading about your travels. If you ever head up to Seattle/the Washington coast and are in need of food or camping recommendations, let me know!

    Kat

    ReplyDelete
  3. @Megan: Yeah, that alone was worth the price of admission.

    @Kat: Thanks, glad you're along for the ride.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Er...we still crack each other up."Funny things are everywhere!"

    ReplyDelete