Alex loves going to
December Nights. We visited a few museums and ate everything that caught our fancy.
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| Traffic from the 163 |
The traffic is bad every year. We did our best to try to avoid it by arriving before night fall. Previous years we tried to take the bus/trolley or walk from an offsite parking area in downtown, but this year we decided to just drive right in and pay for parking at the closet lot. It was a good decision because this years transportation was the easiest we have ever experienced. It was really no big deal.
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| Shameless Car Selfie |
I wore red lipstick for a spell there.
I enjoyed getting there before dark personally. We had a chance to walk in, listen to Gator By the Bay, check out the international house food before the lines become unbearable, and watch some of the Rockettes-in-Training do their thing.
But, even before dark, the park was already swamped.
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| Rockettes - in -training |
We were able to wait in line at the
Art Musuem before they opened. The museums are all free or reduced price on during
December Nights. The buildings were illuminated with pastel colors. The effect was rather grand in person, but it did something else a little trippy to the camera. It looks hyper real.
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| San Diego Art Musuem |
They closed the Warhol / Gauguin exhibit to the public for the free night, which makes me want to go back really badly. I am full of painting inspiration right now, and I want to bring brush to canvas on some of my ideas before they dissipate into the ether.
Then we went to the
Mingei Musuem. Its a Folk Art musuem if you've never been. Alex Loves this one. They had an awesome exhibit in Surfboards which made me realize how much I really should be surfing more.
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| Surfboard Exhibit |
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| Shadow Selfies |
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| Permanent exhibit at the Mingei called "The Angel of Temperance" |
There was also an amazing architecture exhibit this time. I was really taken with how beautiful the models were.
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| This is going to be a chapel one day |
Then we went over to the Japanese Friendship Garden to eat Yakisoba.
We had apple Cider with it
And Miso Soup
Delicious Food was being cooked all over the park.
There was Baklava at Iran House in International Village.
Then Aebleskivers. At this point it felt like we may have been over indulging.
At this point in the night, the park was getting a little bit clogged up. It was impossible to walk in a straight line to get anywhere.
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| Look how crowded it was! I am in the photo illuminated in blue. |
My stomach was starting to turn over all the sweets we were indulging so I decided to go all in with thie ginger bread cookie I am modeling below.
The ginger bread cookies were sold near the
San Diego Floral Associations Christmas Tree presentation. I ate it while I strolled the themed trees.
The Belgium Themed Tree made me laugh out loud. Bread! Its decorated with bread!
We walked by the awesome illuminated botanical garden on the way to Sweden House.
Then we bought some
Glogg at Sweden house. Mulled Wine is in my top 3 favorite things to do during December Nights. My top three things being Glogg, free museums, and festive street performances.
Here I am sipping raisins from my glogg.
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| Alex and Glogg. |
This years Glogg was really strong. There wasn't enough of it to feel buzzed. There was just enough to feel a bit warm. We are thinking about bringing mulled wine up to Big Bear for our ski trip.
Here is my favorite photo from the night so far. The Musuem of Man illuminated reddish orange made a beautiful contrast with the sky.
Here is a nice shot from behind.
There was also a bit of a carnival but it was too crowded to really get to play the games.
I caught a bit of a UFO there when trying to get a shot of the San Diego Skyline.
This years December Nights visit was almost perfect. The parking, the timing, and the food was excellent. Next time I will fit in a substantial meal before I go so I can go for that one last funnal cake next time.
December Nights really jump started the holiday season. Its all downhill from here
