My Travels Around the World

Category: San Diego

Escondido, California – Queen Califia’s Magical Circle

June 16, 2022

As you, my readers and followers, know, my posts are generally about my trips around the world. During the pandemic of 2020, when all travel stopped, I began exploring my native San Diego and posted about those adventures. In 2021 I started traveling the world again. But I find there are still discoveries to be made in my own backyard.

Last week, my friend David, and his friend (and my new friend) Gail, drove up to Escondido to the Kit Carson Park to see the Queen Califia’s Magical Circle. I loved it so much that I returned a few weeks later with my family.

Kit Carson Park

But first a word about the Kit Carson Park. The park is named after Christopher (Kit) Carson who was a famous scout who guided Captain John C. Fremont over the Sierra Nevada Mountains during a government exploration expedition.

The park itself in in a valley just five miles from where Kit Carson fought the Battle of San Pasqual. And should you be interested, there is a historical monument commemorating the battle on Mule Hill, one mile southeast of the park.

The park has its origins in 1967, and there is lots to see and do there. But many people come to see the park’s newest addition, Queen Califia’s Magical Circle, the only American sculpture garden by the internationally acclaimed artist, Niki de Saint Phalle.

The Flower Fields in Carlsbad

March 8, 2021

Well, it is still COVID season. All my scheduled trips abroad to new and exotic places have been falling by the wayside, one-by-one, like dominoes. So, I continue to search for new things to do and see locally, and places to practice my photography with my new Olympus Om D Em1 Mark III. One of the trips cancelled was to see the tulips blooming in Amsterdam. So, my friend Debbie K (who was going to join me on that trip) and I headed just up the road to the Flower Fields in Carlsbad. For those of you following my blog, this one is a short one with more pictures than words.

Western Grebe Pas de Deux at Lake Hodges

January 14, 2021

Those of you familiar with my blog know that I love to travel to places off the beaten track, the exotic, the hard to reach. My motto is get there before Starbucks does (although I love my Starbucks at home). But in this time of the pandemic, with Covid-19 nipping at our heals, with hundreds of thousands of people dying and with all the experts saying “Stay home,” there is no travel to be done. So we don our masks and make the best of it.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t safely explore our own surrounds. While I have traveled the world, it seems I have missed some beautiful sights in my own backyard. Luckily, I have a friend who also loves to shootpictures so we have been exploring, all at a safe distance and all while wearing masks.

Which is how I got to Lake Hodges. I had never been to Lake Hodges, although it is only 30 minutes from my home.

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén