Balboa Park in San Diego, CA was originally purchased as acreage for a large community park. As the Panama Canal neared completion community leaders saw an opportunity to promote San Diego as the U.S. west coast’s first seaport destination. In 1915 the Panama-California Exposition showcased Balboa Park with its Spanish Renaissance style buildings. Its popularity extended the Exposition through 1916 and twenty years later it was the site of the 1935-36 California Pacific International Exposition.
Today the park boasts a combination of museums, gardens, performing arts venues, and attractions such as the San Diego Zoo. For tourists like us the biggest challenge was to decide what to see and where to go in our short visit. The San Diego Model Railroad Museum, above, made it onto the list.
The museum had sprawling scale models with amazing attention to detail. Volunteers kept the trains running, maintained the dioramas, and worked to make it a great place to visit.
