San Diego, October 2008

Last year the big public health conference was held over Halloween. This year, the organizers had a much better plan and chose a more appropriate location and time (ending before Halloween and Election Day). San Diego is sunny and warm 10 months a year, a great place to go when the snow starts to fall in the North. They have the same May Gray/June Gloom phenomenon as LA, where it may be cloudy in the morning. Here is a misty early morning scene, the futuristic building on the left is the convention center.

The Gaslamp area has some nice historic buildings and is the big nightlife area of the region. It felt a little like the French Quarter with a different kind of flavor. Here are some advocates for one of California’s ballot initiatives.

I found suitable digs in the Gaslamp district, right on the main drag, 5th Avenue.

My room was just to the right of the mural.

One of the historic buildings in the Gaslamp district.

Cars do not rust down here and I saw several old VWs in good condition.

One of the buildings in the historic Old Town section, site of the first European settlement in California.

There are a handful of beautiful Victorian age houses in the Heritage Park historic district down the street.

Here is California’s first public school, founded in 1865. The desks are a more recent vintage, previously students sat on benches.

Unfortunately the Mormon Battalion museum was closed. Perhaps they heard about the less than valiant meeting with Mexican soldiers in Tucson .

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