Every day we have the opportunity to discover our city, and connect with the beautiful people who call it home. This morning, thanks to the help of our resident historian, Antonette, we all learned a little more about our Wednesday morning playground, Balboa Park. A stunning piece of our city with fascinating history. Now, next time you have friends or family in town visiting, you can let them know about the nudists in the Zoro Garden, or the 58 species of palm in the Jungle, or the world’s largest open-air organ! We got to run, sweat, hug, laugh, further discover our city, and connect. To so many, November Project represents far more than a workout. 43 cities around the world, thousands of members, and countless lives impacted. But don’t take my word for it. Hear what November Project World, Tribe Member X has to say…
Dear November Project,
Thank you. Thank. You.
You have a cut-the-bullshit way of touching me right in the feels. In ways that I can’t even begin to understand or describe. And this past weekend was such a testament to that community have you forged. You know what, November Project? Over the last few years, I had convinced myself that I’m better off in this world as a party of one. That it was me against the world, and I had taught myself some pretty awesome emotional self-defense. I decided that I had officially missed my train… that I was a failure, and that the best years of my life were behind me.
Then… This. You. And every single person who decided to justshowup in my life through you. Who decided to look at me. Not past me. And tell me that they’re glad I’m here. For not doing anything other than also justshowingup. Not for owing them anything or being able to offer them anything other than just coming as I am. For so much more than a sweaty workout.
I’ll share with you a quick moment from this past weekend… have you ever noticed the mirror in airplane bathrooms? They’re. Right. There. Staring at you as you tinkle. Not the most flattering mirrors, but awkwardly closer than you usually get to a mirror. Well, on the plane after this weekend, I caught eye with myself in the bathroom mirror on the plane, and for the first time in a while, I smiled at the person staring at me. Full. Teeth. Smile. It wasn’t a quick grin… it was the cheesy, unrestrained, gushy, first-date, mad-crush, kind of smile. That one like when you fell in love for the first time.
You’re so crazy, and weird, and unpredictable, and ironic like that, November Project. Because I had been joking around with my friends that I was going to find my spouse at Summit and fall madly in love. Well, I ended up falling in love. With that person staring back at me in the mirror. And I’m positive it was a direct result of feeling so loved by perfect (perfect!) strangers… people who are showing me that I deserve love, and am worthy of love, and there’s nothing I can do/be to chance that.
So, thank you, November Project… for being my best mirror. A mirror of love. For really looking me in the eyes, not looking past me, and acknowledging and affirming me.
Thank you, November Project. Seriously. Thank. You.
-Tribe Member X
You might like to know…
Monday: La Jolla Cove – We are tagging for PRIDE Month – Don’t forget to bring white t-shirt!
All those positive vibes from this morning… Don’t keep em’ to yourself – spread the love, NPSD!
Reuben Fleet Science Center/Fountain
- Who the hell is Fleet? Some badass war hero? Kind of…he started and expanded the US Air Mail Service during WWI, then started an aircraft company in San Diego.
- https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Reuben_Hollis_Fleet_01.jpg/220px-Reuben_Hollis_Fleet_01.jpg
- This was the first museum to have an IMAX theater as a part of it. Wooooo!
Zig Zag Hill
- There are over 60 miles of trails throughout Balboa Park. You can run some of them during one of the best races and longest running races in San Diego, the Balboa Park 8 miler (the only older race west of the Mississippi is Bay to Breakers). The weird distance was chosen by San Diego Track club to attract LA runners who had been used to 6 and 10 mile runs.
Rose Garden
- The rose garden here was the first rose garden in San Diego, built in the 1960s. It is officially called the Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden. She was an old school wealthy benefactress of San Diego causes who passed away in 1971.
Plaza de Panama
- The park was originally cars only and has been slowly but surely working its way back to a car-free state. The first person to drive a car across the Cabrillo Bridge was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, but not as president. He was assistant secretary of the Navy during the 1915 exposition.
Palm Canyon (the Jungle)
- There are 58 species of palms in the canyon, the oldest of which dates to 1912.
- https://photostore.sandiegohistory.org/product/palm-canyon-bridge-balboa-park-c-1930/
Reflection Pond
- http://www.sandiegoyesterday.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/LiliPondSwimmers1.jpg
- Balboa Park, as a whole, was first developed to celebrate the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal linking both coasts (and to drive tourism money to San Diego after they did not get the 1915 World’s Fair).
- During WWI and WWII, the park was used by the Marine Corps and the Navy as training bases/camps – this pool was a watercraft training pool and later a water rehabilitation pool for injured veterans.
Zoro Garden/PR Hill
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zoro_PC3.jpg
- During the 1935 exposition, which was focused on entertainment rather than education, hired actors and actresses were “nudists” who performed “Sun God ceremonies” five times a day – wearing no tops, but covering their privates. Visitors could pay to enter the garden or peer through holes in the fence surrounding it for free.
Moreton Bay Fig
- Planted in 1914 to be ready for the exhibition (the Natural History Museum stems from exhibits at that exhibition as well), it is an Official California Big Tree National Champion. Until 1989, you would have been able to climb all over it, but the foot traffic was damaging the sensitive roots, and it’s been fenced off ever since.
Spanish Village
- Built as a part of the 1935 exposition as a fake Spanish town, the village was used as barracks during WWII, then converted to artist studios in 1947. The village is also home to the San Diego Mineral and Gem Society.
Spreckles Organ Pavilion
- Gift for the 1915 Exposition – Teddy Roosevelt gave a speech here in 1915 that guilted the city of San Diego into keeping the buildings from the exposition after the fair. It is the world’s largest open-air organ, after adding a few dozen pipes in 2015 to retake the title.
- The dude on a horse on the way here? El Cid, a medieval Spanish hero. The sculpture was built in 1930.
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