Del Mar Fairgrounds

The Del Mar Fairgrounds is most recognized as the location of the Del Mar Horse Racing and the San Diego County Fair each summer. Although these are two of the more popular attractions at the fairgrounds, there are events running nearly every weekend. Last weekend was the Silver Bay Kennel Club Dog Show. This dog show has a wide variety of dogs and is one of the larger shows in the country. The dog show was free and a great place to walk around for an hour or so and see some of the of the top dogs of each breed.
The fairgrounds may even have several events running. In addition to the dog show, the off track horse racing http://www.dmtc.com/ was open and the San Diego Sockers http://www.sdsockers.com/ were playing later in the day at the arena building.
The fairgrounds are a fun place to check out all year long. You may be surprised at what could be happening. For more information about the fairgrounds and the San Diego County Fair go to http://www.delmarfairgrounds.com/ and http://www.sdfair.com/ .Enjoy!

Museums and Balboa Park

February is museum month in San Diego. Macy`s offers a brochure for half off museums throughout San Diego County. We decided to head to Balboa Park on Sunday. It had rained on Saturday, so Sunday was one of those bright clear winter days. Everything seemed clean and the air was cool. A perfect day for museums and a walk in the park. We visited the San Diego Natural History Museum http://www.sdnhm.org/ which had a 3D movie of sea turtles in Hawaii, a gem and mineral show and several other interesting exhibits. After the museum we walked the Prado to some of the other attractions in Balboa Park. There are normaly street entertainers in the park on Sundays as well as the beautiful buildings and gardens. This is a true San Diego treasure. I often wonder why we don`t visit the park more often. Just deciding on which museum to visit can be difficult. Anyway it was another great San Diego day. For more information go to http://www.balboapark.org/ . Enjoy!

Daley Ranch

Again, we were lucky to have another weekend of awesome weather. A hike in Daley Ranch seemed like a good idea on Sunday morning.
Daley Ranch is a 3058 acre habitat preserve in north Escondido. The preserve has lots of trails for hiking and biking as well as several ponds. This is an area of spectacular views, coastal oak and many other California native plants and animals. It is a great place to hike or bike.
The property was settled by an English immigrant Robert Daley in 1869. He farmed and raised horses on the land. Robert Daley died in 1916. His family continued ownership of the property until 1996 when the city of Escondido purchased the property to be used as a habitat preserve.
Daley Ranch is free to the public and is open from dawn to dusk everyday.
For more information check out http://www.fodr.org/ . Enjoy!

San Diego Brewers

Last weekend was Super Bowl Weekend so I thought that this would be a good time to mention beer in San Diego. San Diego County has become one of the premier beer brewing areas of the United States. There are 32 brew houses in San Diego. For those who do not know, specialty beers are a very hot commodity and their popularity is on the rise. People in other parts of the country and world will pay a premium for certain beers. Many of these beers can only be purchased at the brewery in limited quantities. Some of us long time beer drinkers can find this surprising, but specialty beers are becoming a rage much like wines. Anyway, a fun day can be had visiting some of the local brewers. Many of them also have restaurants. Just be sure to have a designated driver or take one of the beer tours that are available. A good resource for beer in San Diego is http://www.sandiegobrewersguild.org/ . Enjoy!