The Visible Woman...June 2, 2001

Saturday

June 2, 2001

"We're off to see the Wizard, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
You'll find he is a whiz of a Wiz! If ever a Wiz! there was.
If ever oh ever a Wiz! there was The Wizard of Oz is one becoz,
Becoz, becoz, becoz, becoz, becoz.
Becoz of the wonderful things he does."

lyric from The Wizard of OZ, 1939 MGM

a walk in the park

a walk in the park and down the yellow brick road

We get up in time to get some free breakfast and coffee in one of the hotel ballrooms, The Crown Room. The chandliers look like great big crowns and hang from an enormous, beautiful wooden ceiling. The chandliers were designed by Frank Baum, who authored The Wizard of Oz Stories.

We get bused to Balboa Park for our paid activity. We have a pass for any museum and we do the Museum of Photography and the Museum of Art. Then we have a prescribed, set lunch with the other participants. Then off to the Folk, Automotive, Sports and Aerospace museums. Then we suck down a cup of coffee to revive ourselves.

I didn't bring a camera, leaving at home not one, not two but three very nice still cameras of the digital, APS and 35MM variety. I just decided not to. Something made me decide to shoot a little, though, and I bought a disposible one at the photography museum. I only made a couple of shots, though, planning to use the remainder to shoot a few pictures of the Del Coronado hotel.

Balboa Park is nice and there are lots of museums, but the fake architecture, intended for a brief life for a fair and then perserved, gives the whole thing a slightly out-of-joint and seedy appearance. The sports musuem seems to just be getting started and the art museum a lesser light compared to other big cities. We did enjoy their "High Society" exhibit, though. It was the art of the rock era...posters and album covers. And the photography museum was well-organized and between a special exhibit from New York and their own collection made for a nice little museum.

We go back to the hotel on the bus and have a nap and a read before the last event. It has a Wizard of Oz theme in honor of the WOZ associations of the hotel.

The evening's festivities are nice but predictable. We have a reception and then a little show featuring a bunch of the history of the Del including Lucille Ball and Marilyn Monroe and The Wizard of Oz.. The meal is not bad and then the disco music starts. After a song or two that we dance, we bail for the bar with the jazz music and we wind up the evening there, drinking on our own nickel with music more to our liking. It's time to wind up this saga and head home. The place has a magic, I must admit, but I won't mind getting home. It would be nice to spend a few days here without the obligations of work.