San Diego Natural History Museum
Balboa Park
May 19, 2019
On the spur of the moment, we went to see the 50 Greatest Landscapes exhibit at the Natural History Museum in Balboa Park, because we saw an article about it in the San Diego Union Tribune that morning. Fifty of the best landscape photographs published in National Geographic magazine are displayed in the museum’s fourth floor gallery. They are arranged by season.
All of the photos were striking. Among the Winter photos, we particularly liked one that showed a dusting of snow in Monument Valley and another that showed the Norway sky lit up by the Northern Lights. In the other sections we liked an interesting time lapse photo of firefly trails at night; autumn frost on trees in a Romanian forest; and chinstrap penguins on a blue iceberg near Candlemas Island in the remote southern reaches of the Atlantic Ocean. The landscape photos will be on display through June 23; after the exhibit closes, a similar collection of National Geographic wildlife photos will open June 29.
Admission to the museum was included with our annual Balboa Park Explorer pass. Regular adult admission to the museum is $19.95; there are discounts for seniors, children, students, and military.
Looking out from the fourth floor we could see a bird’s eye view of the giant fig tree next to the museum. We remember years ago, when we could walk under the tree and climb on its roots and lower branches. Now, for the protection of both tree and park visitor, there is a fence all the way around the it.
