San Diego was expecting more heavy rains on Friday so it was a good day to visit the Natural History Museum. They were showing an exhibit about pirates and had a few people hanging from the building to entice the patrons. We weren't so interested in the exhibit, but enjoyed the advertising.
They even had a pirate sitting in the front row of the 3D theatre, as well as in different halls and staircases. It's a wonder that they would have some left for the display.
We took in two movies, one about smaller dinosaurs and the other on the abundant aquatic life off the Baja peninsula. The first was in 3D, both were kind of loud but we were well entertained and learned a lot.
We also saw a photographic exhibit of the natural beauty around the San Diego area. This exhibit had a mix of large prints for sale at around $500 each. We didn't see any 'sold' stickers, but enjoyed some of the photographs which were very well done.
At the end of one of the halls, just where the stairs begin, we saw this case of a working miniature replica of the Balboa Park carousel. It took 18 years to build. It's now on loan to the museum. Feel free to click on the photos to see them larger. This piece was absolutely stunning and we would have loved to see it work. Enjoy!
This first shot is of the mechanical base that makes it all work. There are two music cylinders and all manner of chains, levers, and things that grind and go bump.
This next shot is an overall view of the carousel, it's almost a yard high.
And lastly, a close-up of the carousel itself. Note the extreme attention to detail. You can understand why it took so long to build.
Since the wind was just howling when we left the museum, we returned to Imperial Beach to see the sea.
The pier looked nasty, but Joan and I walked half-way anyway. We were being sand-blasted by the wind, and our respective coiffes were untidy to say the least.
The wind was broadside to the pier and the waves so the spray went sideways for quite a distance. The wind was strong enough to remove hats, loose glasses, and anything that wasn't tied down. Fun!
Looking back towards shore told us it was time to scamper back to the car. We made it just in time as a new downpour started as we closed the car doors.
As mentioned before, San Diego has been suffering a serious drought since early Fall. The three days of rain we're now having will help a fair bit to refill reservoirs a bit, I just hope it will be enough to help out the farmers since California is the bread basket of the USA. Meat and veggie prices are already on the rise, fruit will soon follow. Not a good thing.
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