One of Balboa Park’s best kept secrets is a little place I like to call hound heaven. Tucked away in a quiet residential area at the intersection of Grape and 28^th Streets in South Park, the Grape Street Dog Park spans five glorious acres, making it the largest of the three dog parks in Balboa Park.

The open grassy fields are surrounded by groves of mature eucalyptus trees that provide plenty of shade on hot summer days. Other amenities for cooling off include two doggie water fountains and a restroom for people. When I’m not reacquainting myself with all my buddies and their scents, I like to take in the spectacular views of the downtown skyline and Florida Canyon. The park is located near a driving range, so sometimes I get to chase little white balls that come bouncing through.

Some things are just too beautiful for me to chase, including this little critter I encountered the other day while cruising Zoro Garden. This garden, located next to the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, was specifically designed as a sanctuary for butterflies, so even humans are cautioned against chasing them.

One of the best aspects of checking out all the activities in Balboa Park for my blog is that many of them involve food! And the free Sunday afternoon lawn programs hosted by the House of Pacific Relations International Cottages give me new flavors to try out every week.

Just a couple of Sundays ago, in fact, I took in a 2:00 p.m. lawn program hosted by the House of India. Like most of these cultural festivals, there was music, dancing, colorful costumes, arts and crafts, and ethnic cuisine (usually for a small fee). The country of India is especially diverse in its traditions, making this a particularly rich experience for me (burp).

Over 30 different cultural groups promote goodwill through the Cottages, which offer free open houses every Sunday from 12:00 noon to 4:00 p.m. The various “houses” alternate hosting the lawn programs from March through October, presenting me with plenty of opportunity to taste my way around the world.

Next up on July 27 will be the House of Lithuania, featuring their own Jura dancers who perform polkas and other fun folk dances. Lithuanians are also known for their great sausages with sauerkraut and potato pudding, called kugelis. And wouldn’t you know, I am a meat and potatoes kind of gal.

On these warm summer nights I usually turn into quite the hot dog. Fortunately, there’s plenty of outdoor goings on in Balboa Park each evening. In fact just this past Monday night, I took in a performance of the International Summer Organ Festival at Spreckels Organ Pavilion. The 7:30 p.m. concert featured the German-born recording artist and UCLA professor, Christoph Bull.

OK, I know what you’re probably thinking. How does a cool rockin’ hound like myself find herself at an organ concert? Well let me tell you, there ain’t nothing like it in the world…literally. Imagine an international group of world-renowned performers playing under the stars on the world’s largest outdoor organ in a 2,400-seat historic venue, built in 1915 for the Panama-California Exposition. The organ’s powerful sound is driven by 4,530 individual pipes whose size ranges from that of a small fetching stick to a 32-foot-long sausage (drool), all encased in an ornate vaulted structure. Oh, and by the way, even humans get free admission to the weekly event.

Next week Sophie-Veronique Cauchefer-Choplin, the assistant organist for Saint-Sulpice Church in Paris, takes the bench, and later this month, on August 18, it’s movie night as Dennis James provides the music to the silent film The It Girl starring Clara Bow. Hot Diggity Dog!!!

The Net isn’t the only thing us dogs like to surf. Check out my buddy TJ, winner last month of the 3rd Annual Loews Coronado Bay Resort Surf Dog Competition (40-pound-and-under class). BTW, all my buddies are treated like VIPs (Very Important Pets) at Loews Hotels, which extend lots of great amenities to us four-legged fur balls.