We planned to spend our last day in San Diego at Balboa Park, the site of the 1914-1917 Panama-California Exhibition. The park is actually much older than that, but the exhibition, which was meant to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914, is what turned it into a cultural attraction. So giving away the canal wasn't a total loss.
We wanted to have breakfast downtown before hitting the park, but the waffle place nearest the hotel was packed, so we just hit the road assuming we'd find something in the park. We arrived before 10 am, when most park attractions open, and just walked around for a while, getting reacquainted with the place, before settling in for breakfast at the cafe in the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center.
The museum opened soon enough, and we entered "Listen Here! Making Sense of Sound," an exhibit on sound perception and aural phenomena. Tessie is an expert on sound, especially making it, so she delighted in playing with all the noisy exhibits, and I particularly enjoyed the electronic drums. Then it was off to "Kid City," a special playroom for kids six and under which was meant to simulate an urban environment with lots of areas to explore. The main areas were a grocery store and a factory, and at one point the children at play divided themselves perfectly by gender with all the girls in the grocery and all the boys at the factory. Tessie avoided the plastic broccoli there just as emphatically as she does at home, and then we got her to break down the gender barriers and play in the factory for a while.
We continued touring the museum until Tessie conked out in her stroller, then we went outside into the beautiful San Diego sunshine. Balboa Park is pretty well spread out, so we walked for a bit, saw the botanical gardens in the Lath House, had a hot dog by the Spreckels Organ, and then wandered into the "International Cottages," which we had never visited before. The cottages are left over from a 1935 exhibition, and on Sundays they open to the public with docents, music and dancing, and, best of all, food from a variety of countries. We had Czech & Slovak cookies, Norwegian seafood pate, and Polish pastries, which were all delicious, all made by volunteers simply out of pride in their national cuisines, and all available for modest (~$1) donations.
Once Tessie woke up again, we took her to the miniature railroad for a ride. (This is not to be confused with the Model Railroad Museum, which we have visited many times, but skipped on this trip.) After waiting for the train to complete several circuits while Tessie downed a package of graham crackers, Hannah and Tessie boarded the train for a short ride. Short, but not uneventful, as live rabbits and stuffed African animals were sighted. That guy in front looks thrilled, doesn't he?
Our last stop in the park was at the carousel, where Tessie got her second lifetime carousel ride. She really does seem to enjoy them. 
From there we got back in the car for the drive home, but we stopped for dinner at the Stone Brewery in Escondido. We arrived too late to take the tour, but we did have dinner in their on-site restaurant. The food was good, if pricey, but it wasn't exceptional. The part of the restaurant that made the greatest impression was the architecture: stone was used everywhere. I had to keep reminding myself that the name of the brewery was, in fact, Stone; that was the only way to justify what would otherwise have been a completely oppressive environment.
Back in the car, we passed this guy on the way home.
I have some video from this trip to edit; I hope to post it soon.
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