In San Diego, all of the museums are located in Balboa Park. Every Tuesday, San Diego County residents get in free to certain select museums, depending on which week of the month it is. So, on Tuesday, Amy and I went to the San Diego Museum of Art. Neither of us have bothered to get CA licenses yet or license plates, so being wonderfully clever we brought our lease. The museum folks were super impressed as in, "Whoa, these girls mean business" and chuckled at our post grad cheap skate means of entry. (As much as I love going to museums, I would only fork over money to go see the Met or MOMA in New York; I guess growing up with the Smithsonian has spoiled me). Anyways, the museum is just the right size for an afternoon of exploring, but also just small enough to feel a little too crowded. The museum has fabulous paintings from some old masters, but also has an impressive collection of American painting, sculpture and photography. By far and away, my favorite exhibit was Portraits of Power by Richard Avedon.
Here are two of my favorite portraits from the exhibit:
Marilyn...so innocent
And that was only the beginning. Avedon was passionate about people of politics, entertainment, media, etc and especially people who were outspoken and willing to change the world. He died in 2004 but but began his last photo spread during the 04 elections. He took this picture below of Sean Penn and yup, you guessed it, President Obama.
Who knew how famous he would have become? I guess Avedon had a knack for these things. You want a real cultural forecast? Google Avedon's The Family 1976 that was taken for Rolling Stone; it's 69 portraits of the people that he thought we shaping and making the world at the time.
Unfortunately, because the SDMA is a lot smaller than the National Gallery of Art and the Met, the selection of prints to purchase are few and far between. Come my first paycheck, I really would like to purchase the coffee table book they do sell--so grown up!
After the museum, we strolled around Balboa and happened upon the botanical gardens. My mom used to take my sister and I to the ones in DC every year around Easter time and it brought back some memories. However, San Diego is fortunate to have 3 huge ponds in front of the gardens full of coy fish. Pretty sweet.
Naturally I gravitated towards the most orange fish, can't leave cville behind yet. After a long day, Amy and I decided to try one of the numerous happy hours in PB. Who doesn't love $2.50 margaritas and $2 fish tacos?? Delicious, we went to Fred's pictured below, and then hit up Moondoggies later.
Good ole Fred's
We concluded the night at the bar a block away from us where the special was sangria with live flamenco dancing. As outgoing as I am, I politely refused to dance on stage with the dancers and was chided and mocked for my shyness. HA. If they only knew...
Off to study, clean and do mundane errands. I'll write about the farmer's market tomorrow!
Shout out to KMD, who just started college!! Miss ya dude!
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