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Cosmos' Doggie Blog

5 'Don't Miss' Thanksgiving Weekend Exhibitions
posted on: 11/21/2012 - 1:25pm by Cosmos

With many stores opening as early as Thanksgiving evening this year, there’s no longer any point in hitting the malls this Black Friday, as you’ll only be foraging for scraps. That leaves an entire day, and weekend, open to treat your out-of-town packmates to the best of what San Diego’s cultural Mecca has to offer.

Cosmos Blog, Balboa Park, Chocolate, San Diego Natural History MuseumBehold, America! — The city’s three most prominent art museums, including the Timken and San Diego Museum of Art, formed their own pack for the very first time to showcase the rich holdings in American art—from colonial to contemporary—found in this little corner of the country.

Charles Reiffel: An American Post Impressionist — Forming another unique pack, the San Diego History Center and San Diego Museum of Art dug through a number of private collections to highlight the career of a forgotten painter who was as good as any of his better-known East Coast contemporaries.

Chocolate — If you’re like me and prefer your cultural displays to be a little more edible, then you especially shouldn’t miss this timely exhibition on the history and global impact of one of the most commonly consumed treats this season—or any season.

How Things Fly — Families trying to keep a brood of squirrely pups entertained will want to head over to the Air & Space Museum for this interactive exhibition filled with hands-on displays that will burn off that extra slice of pumpkin pie you ate at 3am the night before.

Flight of the Butterflies — Speaking of late-night snacks, for those still feeling drowsy from excessive amounts of tryptophan in their system, the Reuben H. Fleet IMAX theater may be just the place to passively immerse oneself in the visually spectacular life story of the monarch butterfly.

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Cosmos’s Holiday Season Best Bets for 2012
posted on: 11/12/2012 - 5:03pm by Cosmos

Shirley writes: Dear Cosmos, from one holiday hound to another, how can my family make the most of this season in Balboa Park?

Cosmos responds: Though Balboa Park December Nights, on December 7 & 8 this year, is a given for any true holiday-loving hound, that still leaves over a month’s worth of open dates to fill with some form of holiday cheer. Thankfully, a Santa’s-bag full of other yuletide treats awaits those who want to end 2012 with a bang!

Cosmos Blog, Balboa Park, San Diego Civic Youth Ballet, The NutcrackerPoinsettia Display: Like a warm puppy on Christmas morning, local residents know they can count on a spectacular display of hundreds of Poinsettia plants in the Botanical Building each and every year.

Lego Train Exhibit: Another popular tradition for pups of all ages, this elaborate cityscape built with colorful plastic bricks at the Model Railroad Museum will put a smile on any Grinch’s face.

Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas: Speaking of the Grinch, the one and only comes to life for a 15th-consecutive year at the Old Globe Theater in this musical extravaganza.

The Nutcracker: Dancing toy soldiers and other tutu-toting critters hit the stage once again in the San Diego Civic Youth Ballet’s annual presentation of this classical ballet.

Puppet Theater: Those with a lot of newly weaned pups in their brood will definitely want to keep an eye on the weekly rotation of holiday-themed shows at the Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater.

As I realize that may only provide you with a week’s worth of activities at best, be sure to bookmark this blogspace for further coverage of the Park’s busy holiday season.

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Photo Contest Winners Put Balboa Park in Focus
posted on: 11/07/2012 - 12:30pm by Cosmos

Focus on Balboa Park Photo Contest, 2nd place winner, Joy in Balboa ParkAs much as I love pawing over entries to Balboa Park’s annual Top Dog Photo Contest, I anticipate seeing the submissions to the Focus on Balboa Park Contest even more. Why? Because they teach an old dog new ways of looking at the Park’s attractions, gardens, buildings, and non-human inhabitants.

Take this year’s winners, for example: In the adult category, Danielle Zuest’s “Secretary Bird” (first place) and Evan Weatherford’s “Bee” (third place) zoom in on a couple of colorful creatures, enabling me to focus on details my dog’s-eye view would never catch (as I chase them from behind).

Focus on Balboa Park Photo Contest, 2nd place youth, Shire in Balboa ParkIn the meantime, I can relate wholeheartedly to the concept of “Joy in Balboa Park” as expressed in the second-place-winning photo by Leandro Iannacone. Nothing brings a hot dog greater joy on a toasty summer’s day than frolicking in a fountain like the pups in this picture.

Because I’m usually too busy focusing on the sensations coming through my snout as I explore the Park’s diverse foliage, I rarely see the colors the same way 12-year-old Allison Q. brilliantly captures in her first-place photo “Pink Essence” (youth category). Of course, being partially colorblind doesn’t help.

Also in the kid’s category, “Shire at Balboa Park” by second-place winners Aidan and Zach P. (age 10) and “Good Hair Day” by Abby Z. (age 12) remind us that the Park is home to a vast assortment of creatures great and small—and sometimes imaginary.

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4 Ways to Enjoy Balboa Park on a Limited Budget
posted on: 10/30/2012 - 2:10pm by Cosmos

Cosmos Blog, Balboa Park, Spanish Village Art Center courtyardThere’s nothing like an epic storm on the East Coast to remind us why we live in Southern California. The times that it rains cats and dogs here are few and far between, making almost every day a perfect day to take advantage of Balboa Park’s free outdoor amenities.

Though I’ve barked about many of these activities over the years, this seemed like a good time to groom old and new readers on how to enjoy this cultural paradise without breaking their piggybanks.

Free Tours: Even if you’ve lived here all your life, it’s doubtful you know everything there is worth knowing about an historic 1,200-acre park. For starters, each Saturday morning at 10am, a free Offshoot Tour sniffs out fun facts about the trees and landscaping on the Park’s Central Mesa, and Ranger-led Tours on Tuesdays and Sundays at 11am dig further into the Park’s colorful history.

The Botanical Building: I always let my snout do the walking in this monumental wood-lathe structure that bursts with seasonal flower displays, native and exotic plants, and hundreds of orchids. Did I mention it’s always free, except on Thursday when it’s closed?

Spanish Village Art Center: Clustered around a picturesque dog-friendly courtyard, the Spanish Village is home to dozens of artists working in quaint historic cottages. Visitors are treated to live demonstrations and free shows of quality handcrafted artwork, including this week’s annual exhibition of the Art Glass Association and the following weekend’s San Diego Potter’s Guild Semiannual Sale (Nov. 10-11).

Organ Concerts: We truly are lucky dogs to not only have such a beautiful park at our disposal, but one of the world’s largest outdoor pipe organs where free weekly concerts are performed every Sunday at 2pm by the city’s official civic organist and frequent fundraiser for pet causes, Dr. Carol Williams.

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Family Day Kicks Off Halloween Week with Sweet Treats
posted on: 10/24/2012 - 10:15am by Cosmos

Cosmos Blog, Balboa Park, Halloween Family Day 2012, Nano exhibition, R H FleetIt’s heeere… as in Halloween—a holiday devised by bipedal adults, I’m convinced, to justify putting out bowlfuls of human treats (a.k.a. candy) in their homes and offices for several days. They then came up with the idea of wearing costumes during the holiday to disguise who was in fact eating all the candy! I don’t blame them. Ingenious, really.

But what good are treats without fun activities to burn all that sugar-fueled energy? That’s where events like Balboa Park’s park-wide Family Day on Saturday, October 27, comes in—to provide hours of engaging hands-on activities, gallery tours, and crafts the whole family (including pets) can participate in and enjoy.

And to make it easier on everyone’s pocketbook (already lightened by all the candy purchases), participating museums are extending free admission to children 12 and under with a paid adult (no special coupon required). In addition, all the special Halloween-themed activities and crafts will also be free.

So what kinds of activities are we talking about here? you ask.

For starters, kids can make calavera masks as they learn about the Day of the Dead at the Museum of Man. Meanwhile, at the San Diego History Center, pups and their handlers can take the Tombstone Trivia quiz to test their knowledge of legendary local ghosts and notorious characters from the city’s past.

The annual Great Pumpkin parachute drop will hit the pavement in front of the San Diego Air & Space Museum at 2:30pm, preceded by various craft-making activities. And at the Model Railroad Museum, passengers can take a spooky ride down the haunted tracks, hear stories about haunted railroads and make candy-eating disguises, i.e., Halloween masks.

That’s just a small sample, not even a handful, of all the special treats in store for families at this year’s Family Day fest.

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