Leaving San Diego

Tomorrow we head out to Palm Springs and the desert.  San Diego has been a fabulous place to stay and we could definitely see coming back here.  Our campground at Santee Lakes has been beautiful, convenient and quiet.  There are so many great places to visit in the San Diego area, we haven't really explored much of it.  The beaches and beach towns are great, the city itself is beautiful and clean, the freeways are fast and rarely clogged with traffic.The weather is about as good as it gets. People
who live here love living here and are very proud of their city. It is about as ethnically diverse as one could imagine and it is clearly a young city with lots of kids and young families.  We liked it a lot.

When I took Lucas to the airport (at 5:30 AM!) I took the opportunity to find some good shots of the pre-dawn and sunrise times around the city.

On our last day, we spent some time in Balboa Park, the site of the 1916 Exposition.  The architecture is wonderful, there are about a dozen museums and the grounds are amazing.  We were there on New Years Day and it was packed with people having fun.  We wish we had spent more time here.

The Sprekels organ pavillion.  A full size pipe organ outdoors.

The Artist's Studios of Balboa Park, a creative village within the park

We also visited the Hotel Del Coronado on our last day.  Opening in 1888, it is a vast relic of that luxurious era, set right on the beach with an ice skating rink, restaurants, shops, etc.  Fun place to visit and if I ever return to San Diego, I will definitely come back to do some night photography here!

 Goodbye San Diego, we'll miss you!