h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I knew this might be problem.

There was a forum entry on Balboa Dam Recreation Center before I wrote my comments on Balboa Park.

While both Balboa parks are in southern California, the San Fernando Valley and San Diego are not the same place. In this article (probably because of their similar names) the two parks are mixed up. The San Diego zoo is in the park _no where_ near (universally speaking) the Northridge earthquake. That is, in the park in San Diego.

Balboa is some Spanish guy. I think he discovered something. I'm not really sure. There is a bunch of Balboa stuff in California. In fact, there are probably a few more Balboa parks.

Thanks for this..


I'll be splitting the entry up in to more maneageable bits and will make this amendment then.

Balboa is the Spanish Conquistador dude who was the first murderous European to discover the Pacific Ocean. I believe it went something like this: "Look, another ocean. It's so peaceful." Then he made his way back across Central America to his ship by following the blood trail.

And, to clarify the location of the Balboa Park you're talking about, it is bordered on the western side by California state highway 163, which conveniently, if you stay on it, will dump you straight into downtown San Diego. You can also get there, sort of, using the far more widely known Interstate 5, which at its nearest point, passes Balboa Park about 2 miles away.

Additionally, at night behind the Museum of Air and Space is a great place to watch planes land at Lindbergh FIeld, as the flight path (the most dangerous place to land in the U.S., due to the swift drop of altitude the pilots must make to account for the nearby hills) is directly overhead.

And, since Forest Park is two miles away from where I'm writing this, I would feel remiss in failing to mention that it is the second -largest municipal park in the U.S.--after Central Park--and there is a common rumo(u)r that the gigantic ferris wheel built for the 1904 World's Fair is said to be buried directly under what (I think) is called Sled (or Sledding, I may be wrong) Hill, as the thing disappeared shortly after the Fair, but a new hill in Forest Park--where the Fair had been held--had suddenly sprung up overnight. And finally, the St. Louis Zoo is usually rated #2 among municipal zoos in this country, San Diego's being largely accepted as #1 (but St. Louis' is free, and last I checked, I think San Diego's admission cost somewhere around US$30).

I thought the hill where the ferris wheel was supposed to be buried was named art hill. The St. Louis zoo is free, and boasts a menacing Okapi... which I believe San Diego does not.

It may well be Art Hill, since the Art museum's there and everything. Maybe it's just where people go sledding during winter. I'll let you know come winter.