The "Mall" of San Diego

In Washington, DC, we have the National Mall, an area filled with monuments, museums, and cultural experiences.  San Diego has Balboa Park, a place of amazing gardens, beautiful architecture, historical museums, and artistic entertainment.  We only had part of a day (the zoo is on one side of the park), and most of the buildings were closed by the time we got there, but we enjoyed our sunset walk and dinner overlooking the park and the ocean (far away) before our show at The Old Globe.

We saw A Room with a View, a romantic play dealing with a damsel who's plight is choosing a sensible fiance or running after a stormy near-lover.  Who do you think she ends up with?  The theater isn't that different from its Hollywood counterpart sometimes.

Fight Club...Artic style.

While visiting with family over the Easter weekend and showing off our trip pictures, we decided our best photo shoot was with particularly active (for zoo animals) polar bears.  Thankfully this all happens behind reinforced Plexiglas walls...can you imagine catching this in the wild?

The Animal Kindgom of San Diego

One of our favorite parts of the trip was visiting the San Diego Zoo.  I won't be including the exotic animals names, mostly because my memory wasn't prepared for so much information while on vacation.  Please enjoy the photo-shoot anyhow.

Escaping chickens!

Napping fox...they are nocturnal.  Look at those ears!

Dr. Doolittle, I presume?

Tapir...a.k.a. "diaper butt"

I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas...

Red Panda

Hide-and-go-seek panda

Orangutans...getting the honey from the hole in the rock.

"Jonathan, I think its a sloth...wait, no, its a bear."  Actually, its a Sloth Bear.

Feeding time!

They don't have these in Kuwait.

It seems as if Giraffes come from the dinosaur age...

All aboard!

The Taggart family did a lot of traveling, mostly by minivan (the good ol' Ford Aerostar, God rest her soul) and camper, all over the United States.  There are two types of places we'd visit, the historic (Civil War battle fields) and the natural (e.g. national parks), but not so much the contemporary or "amusement" venues unless it was convenient and cost-worthy.  Two adults and four kids...it adds up, for sure.

So from Joshua Tree, we headed south to San Diego...another scenic route with breathtaking views of mountains, vineyards, valleys, and finally the Pacific.  Our first stop was the USS Midway (CV-41), an aircraft carrier (Essex class) that was built and commissioned right after World War II.  It's pretty much the only aircraft carrier that anyone can board without being Active Duty Navy and assigned to the ship.  The history is fascinating, but its also amazing that so many of the parts and workings of that ship are similar to the sailor's life on Navy ships today.  So now Jonathan knows how I spent my 6 weeks aboard the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), sleeping underneath the catapult and waiting in the long chow lines.  It was incredible!

USS Midway

In the hangar

First aircraft carrier on the left...planks on top were the airstrip!  Right side is the next generation of carriers.

Touring the flight deck

Amber is the color...Fresnel Lens Optical Landing System and the meatball!

Classic...enormous statue on the ground next to the carrier.

Go Navy!  Beat Army!

View from the Island.

The Captain of his own ship.

We were hoping to catch a glimpse of the USS Reagan because she's usually across the way from the Midway, but she is up in Washington state, dry-docked for maintenance.  I guess we already got enough "Reagan" for the week though.

Joshua Tree = Desert.

DESERT: (Dictionary.com definition) a region so arid because of little rainfall that it supports only sparse and widely spaced vegetation or no vegetation at all; synonyms: barren wilderness.

 Joshua Tree National Park is a beautiful barren wilderness, full of open views, rock pilings that are prime climbing spots, Joshua Trees (its a desert tree), and hiking trails with honey-pots for bathrooms.  Driving from LA to Joshua Tree, we ran into a windmill "energy farm" that made us think we were driving through a sci-fi movie set.  I wish I knew how much energy was being made...more than half of the thousands of mills weren't actually moving.  Hmm.

Small story on the hike...our hike was noted as 4 miles in the brochure, but 6 miles on the sign.  Which would you believe?  Well, after 1 hour to the supposed mid-point...then another hour without seeing a soul, circling down a desert mountain without roads or cars in site, and no cell phone tower...praise the Lord for his goodness and patience, and for blessing me with a husband who can handle an anxious wife who panics mid-hike.

Twilight Zone Wind Farm

As per the usual, we missed the sign on the way in, so we did a U-turn on the way out to catch a glimpse.

Desert...you get the general idea.

Objective: find the rock climber...

View from Keys View in the park...lookin' good, right?

View #2...we could see two snow-capped mountains from here, both taller than all the mountains in the park.

The start of Lost Horse Mine Trail...the owner of the mine apparently was looking for a lost horse when he stumbled on the mine.  If the horse got lost, how well were we going to do?  And note Camelbaks...we both drank about 70 ounces that day.  Thank goodness we didn't go in the middle of a hot summer!

Lost Horse Mine.  My Lost Horse?

She's in the Navy. 

Objective: find Shelley

Namesake of the park...Tree of Life

 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.

- I Peter 5:6-7