tc@amd.UUCP (Tom Crawford) (11/12/85)
*About a month ago I asked for advice concerning a trip to Balboa Park *in San Diego. Nine people were good enough to respond and here is *a summary: I visited the zoo about 2 weeks ago for the first time and was disappointed. There is a great deal of renovation going on and many sections were closed to the public. I noticed a lot of empty enclosures, and was advised by one tour guide, that it was 'physical check-up day' for some of the animals.( I thought they could have scheduled that on a weekday). I hope you find this somewhat helpful, also, here is the Balboa Park information number: (619) 239-0512 Enjoy your trip! Balboa park in many ways is like Golden Gate park here in S.F. with the exception of the zoo. It is a very good place for picnics and there are several museams (sorry about the spelling) there. I believe that there is also a laserium there also. By the way, don't forget Mission Bay and the new shopping village near downtown. In front of the Aviation Museum, they have a specimen of the Convair jet hydroplane that was developed for the Navy in the 50's and was dropped because they could not keep the jet from rusting. So stroll in the park, visit the Zoo, do not forget the Spreckel organ pavilion with a free outdoors organ concert every Sunday at 2:00 PM and stay in the well lit areas of the park after dark. In addition to the above, you will also find the Art Museums, the Museum of Natural History, the Museum of Man, the Reuben H. Fleet Planetarium and Science Center, Spanish Village, and, of course the Zoo. I don't know if I missed anything. But that is all I can think of right off. 1) The Rueben H. Fleet Space Center. This includes a theatre with very good films projected on a large screen, and a "hands-on" science museum. 2) Old Globe Theatre. This is a world famous known for very good productions of Shakespeare plays. Many of us who live in San Diego are members of the zoo and go often both there and the wild animal park. An important factor in seeing animals out and about is going when it is cool or raining. Only mad dogs and englishmen go out in the noonday sun. This goes for most zoo animals as well.