There are two more weeks remaining at the World of Orchids exhibit at the San Diego Botanic Garden in Encinitas. As promised, our second trip offered a whole new set of orchids to observe (since they are periodically exchanged). The size of these orchids vary greatly, some the size of softballs, others the size of …
Deer Park Winery and Car Museum in Escondido has been in business since 1979. It is just 30 minutes away from our home base in Oceanside, but this is our first visit. In fact, before we bought our Groupon, we had never even heard of it before. I love finding something new in our own …
The World of Orchids is currently blossoming at the San Diego Botanic Garden. This is the second annual spring showcase and it is nothing to be missed. Private orchid collectors and various local orchid societies have lent their spectacular flowering plants to the Botanic Garden, exchanging them each Tuesday, in order to display different ones …
Just a few blocks south of Oceanside’s Welcome Bell and a few blocks east of the Pacific Ocean, 60,000 visitors a year enter through the doors of Oceanside’s official California Welcome Center. This year visitors are in for a real treat, the Welcome Center got an amazing facelift. It’s new, modern appearance focuses on Oceanside’s …
Oceanside Unfiltered at the Oceanside Museum of Art is a photography exhibition that features local artists and their unfiltered perspective on Oceanside. The exhibit wasn’t the only local art on display, Wild7s Freestyle Krew performed, Deezy Hollow rapped, DJ Grande spun music, and the Members Only Car Club lined Pier View Way with classic lowriders …
San Diego Botanic Garden’s mission statement is “we garden to create, share, and apply plant wisdom to our world.” The gardens give people of all ages the opportunity to be impressed by mother nature, to walk amongst plants rarely seen in Southern California. Their hundreds of Botanic Garden gardeners are passionate about plants, evidenced by …
Agua Hedionda Lagoon is a 400 acre estuary, saltwater wetland, and watershed. Since 2006, the Discovery Center, which is on the eastern end of the lagoon, has been educating the public about this threatened coastal wetland and the plants, animals, and people that have depended on it. There is a 1/4 mile nature trail that …
Views of Temecula Wine Country never get old, and neither do the options of incredible wineries to visit. Each winery has something different to offer, and a visit can be justified with any occasion (an anniversary, a sunny spring day, a baby sitter, a Saturday, or any combination of situations/excuses mentioned). I happen to prefer …
Nestled within Collier Park in Point Loma is the Point Loma Native Plant Garden. The garden features rare and endangered plants found along side the San Diego River. Shaw’s agave, for example, is only found within a 200 mile stretch of coast in California and Baja California. The garden is very organized and well kept, …
Mission San Juan Capistrano is home to the oldest building in California that is still in use, Father Serra’s church, a chapel built in 1782. This chapel is the only building still standing that Father Junipero Serra has been documented to celebrate mass. Although we spent some time in the chapel, our favorite areas are …
With the addition of Wildlife Explorers Basecamp, the San Diego Zoo just got kid friendlier. The 3.2 acre area (built directly on top of the historic Children’s Zoo) was made possible by donors, who raised $88,000,000. Wildlife Explorers Basecamp isn’t just educational and fun, it is absolutely beautifully designed, using sustainable materials. That pretty much …
The San Elijo Ecological Preserve is one of the largest wetlands in San Diego County and it is conveniently located along both sides of interstate 5 in Solana Beach. The 1,000 acre reserve protects the land where Escondido and La Orilla creeks encounter the Pacific Ocean. The most popular hike in the preserve is Annie’s …
No matter the season, no matter the weather, we love the ocean side of Oceanside. Going to the “ocean side” from the farming ranchos inland started gaining popularity in the late 1800s. The name stuck, as did the popularity. Although sometimes you get lucky, and seem to have the ocean side to yourself.
Wilderness Gardens County Preserve is considered a SWAP (Small Wilderness Area Preserve), which provides a ‘mechanism by which people can preserve important natural areas of undeveloped land or small wilderness areas for the use and benefit of the general public.’ Thank goodness for forward thinkers. We, the general public, appreciate having the open space, with …
Just thirty minutes from our home base in Oceanside, perched on a cliff overlooking La Jolla Shores, sits Birch Aquarium at Scripps (a public outreach center for UCSD’s Scripps Institute of Oceanography). The Aquarium was established in 1903. Its name was later changed to Scripps in order to honor financial supporters Ellen Browning Scripps and …
Four Points Bulletin 