15. San Diego – Balboa Park

We spent an entire day in Balboa Park, exploring on foot. We started in the cactus garden.

We then moved on to the International Cottages. Luckily it was the weekend, and all of the cottages were open! Each cottage was a dose of that country’s customs, culture, history, geography, and our favorite – food! We wanted to explore all 34, but we probably only made it to 15. The kids loved every bit of it, and the volunteers in each cottage were so excited to share their knowledge & stories of living in that country.

We bought this Inca Kola inside the Peru cottage. While sitting outside & sipping on it, a man beside us asked us what we thought of it. It turned out that he was originally from Peru, and he told us a little about his country. He said most Peruvians drink Inca Kola when they have a meal out at a restaurant, as it’s a “goes with everything” kind of treat. I asked him how he felt Peru was represented in the cottage, & he said Peru is made up of 3 regions – coastal, mountains, and rainforest. He said most people’s understanding of Peru is the mountains and alpacas, which is the bulk of the information in the cottage – but, he said it was a good representation overall. This has become one of our favorite parts of traveling: talking to people from all over the world. So many people have great stories and want to connect. It’s wonderful.

The Model Railroad Museum was our next destination. I love how they combined models of actual railroads in the US, history about the railroads, and fun whimsical settings.

We continued walking around the park, taking it all in. I can’t believe how massive this park is! It could be a week-long destination by itself! Chase got to be a magician’s assistant. We walked through the Palm Garden. And we had dinner at The Prado.