San Diego Notes

Timkin Museum in Balboa Park what museums ought to be. Small, doable in an hour. Roughly 12 incredible paintings in the Dutch/Flemish room alone including a Rembrandt.

Safari Park twilight tour worth the time and money. Saw a few different rhino species, giraffe, a lot of antelopes. I sheepishly asked whether predators get mixed with prey. The guy laughed and said a lion in the park would mean the end of the other animals. 

Barrio Logan in SD. Gentrifying, but still feels like "the barrio." Kids wanted to play on playground with drug addicts around, possible gang graffiti, and no other children around -- my answer was "no." Went to eat at Las Cuatro Milpas, a Mexican restaurant open since 1933. An hour long wait. Worth it for the experience and to "have done" it. Food was good, but perhaps not remarkable. Best thing was chorizo and huevos...basically a stew with chorizo, eggs, beans, and rice -- you could barely tell there was chorizo and eggs in there. Squeeze some lemon, eat with the magnificent homemade tortillas - very good. I'd skip the "rolled tacos" which are just taquitos. 

North Park neighborhood. Like other hipster areas but with a San Diego vibe. Tribute Pizza joint in wonderful old post office location. Got a Jeni's ice cream shop. Felt younger than LA hipster areas or maybe I'm just older...

Hillcrest brunch...place called Trust. LGBT blah blah blah flags flying everywhere. Sort of weird. Wasn't pride month several months ago? Menu looked terrific, food was solid.

Might San Diego whether the current California weirdness better than LA and SF? Both LA and SF have noticeably declined in the past 7-8 years. And I noticed a considerable homeless problem in San Diego, so it wasn't immune. But certain characteristics - military presence, older folks, a science-oriented UCSD, and just being generally less attractive to the most batshit people on the planet suggests selling LA/SF and buying some San Diego.