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San Diego For Free: December Nights at Balboa Park – The Biggest Celebration in Town

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A weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free! We have a great city and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.

December Nights – The Biggest Celebration in Town

Location: Balboa Park

Best For: Revelers, families, holiday cheer, San Diegans both native and adopted

Date & Time: Friday, December 7 (5 – 10 PM), Saturday, December 8 (Noon – 10 PM)

Website

This Friday and Saturday mark the 35th annual December Nights celebration in Balboa Park. The event is expected to draw more than 300,000 people over the two-day stretch and is a great time to visit Balboa Park since most of the museums and other sights are free to visit. Additionally, there are is wide assortment of food and drink to enjoy and presentations of song and dance to take in.   [Read more…]

San Diego For Free: Walking – It Does a Body (and Mind) Good

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A weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free! We have a great city and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.

Walking – It Does a Body (and Mind) Good

Address & Neighborhood: Anywhere
Best For: Ramblers, wanderers, cubicle dwellers, homebodies, lost souls
Free times: Anytime

In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks.
– John Muir

One of the most simple and enjoyable activities that is good for both body and mind is walking. Living in San Diego affords the opportunity to stretch your legs anytime of year, indeed any day.   [Read more…]

Spreckels Organ Concerts – Outdoor Auditory Enjoyment in Balboa Park

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A weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free! We have a great city and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.

Spreckels Organ Concerts – Outdoor Auditory Enjoyment in Balboa Park

Best For: Music players, music listeners, picnickers, people watchers

Free concert times: Sundays at 2pm, see Website for additional special performances

2215 Pan American Road San Diego, CA 92101, Balboa Park

Every Sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park is the site of a free organ concert, performed by Dr. Carol Williams, the San Diego Civic Organist since 2001.   [Read more…]

San Diego for Free: America’s National Parks – Free Admission to Our Greatest Natural Treasures

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A weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free! We have a great city and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.

America’s National Parks – Free Admission to Our Greatest Natural Treasures

Here is their Website.

Best For: Hikers, bikers, bird watchers, wanderers, weekend warriors

The United States is fortunate to have many areas across the nation protected from development and preserved and enhanced by the National Park Service. Throughout the year there are a few select days when admission to all of the 398 national parks is waived. This upcoming weekend, Veterans Day weekend, is one such free admission period. Also, of the 398 national parks, 264 of them are free everyday.
  [Read more…]

San Diego for Free: Free Brewing Tour at Ballast Point Brewing

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A weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free! We have a great city and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.

Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits
Website: http://www.ballastpoint.com
Address & Neighborhood: 10051 Old Grove Road, San Diego, CA 92131; Scripps Ranch

Best For: Beer drinkers, politicians, gregarious types, kind souls
Free tour times: Daily at 12:00pm, 2pm, 5pm

San Diego is home to many breweries and it seems like a new one opens nearly every week. Per the local beer-centric magazine WestCoaster, there are currently 60 operating brew houses in San Diego County and an additional 27 in planning or development. With San Diego Beer Week beginning tomorrow, 11/2, and running through 11/11 I thought a free activity related to San Diego’s suds scene would be appropriate. There are also an incredible amount of events going on during Beer Week – check the website for more information.

Touring a brewery is an opportunity to learn about the brewing process and about the history of the brewery and the styles of beer they produce. Although the brewing process portion of tours can get repetitive if you’ve been on a couple before I find it interesting to experience the personality of a brewery that comes through on a tour, and the opportunity to try some their wares at the conclusion.   [Read more…]

San Diego For Free: Balboa Park Trails – Beauty and Exercise in the Heart of San Diego

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A weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free! We have a great city and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.

Website: See here.
Neighborhood: Balboa Park
Best For: Runners, walkers, hikers, bicyclists, nature lovers
Hours: All day, every day, always free

In, through, and around Balboa Park are a multitude of trails and pathways for biking, running, and walking. The trails offer a wide range of sights and levels of difficulty and are a great way to feel out of the city without having to travel.

There are officially 65 miles of trails in the park, which are outlined in this detailed pdf map. If you haven’t been on the Balboa Park trails before I recommend taking a look at the map before you head out since some of the trails and turns are not clearly marked. You probably won’t get lost if you don’t have your entire route memorized but you may end up going further than you intended.   [Read more…]

San Diego For Free: Amazing Campus Art at The Stuart Collection at UCSD

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A weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free! We have a great city and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.

The Stuart Collection at UCSD

Website: http://stuartcollection.ucsd.edu/
Neighborhood & Address: La Jolla; 9500 Gilman Drive, San Diego, CA 92093
Best For: All ages, modern art fans
Hours: All day, every day, always free

The University of California, San Diego (UCSD) sits on 1,200 acres above the Pacific Ocean about 10 miles north of downtown San Diego in the neighborhood of La Jolla. UCSD is the highest ranked university in San Diego, ranked #38 among national universities in the most recent U.S. News & World Report rankings.

  [Read more…]

SD For Free – The Timken Museum of Art

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Just to the east of the Plaza de Panama parking lot in Balboa Park is a squat white marble building that contrasts with the Spanish Colonial Revival style buildings that dominate much of the architecture in this part of the park. This building is the Timken Museum of Art, opened in 1965. Although many of the museums in Balboa Park are free on certain days through the Residents Free Tuesday program, the Timken is always free to all visitors.
The free admission aspect of the Timken Museum makes it a nice place to enjoy without feeling the need to justify paying admission by staying for an entire day. A visit to reflect on a piece or two during a visit to Balboa Park is a relaxing way to spend an hour. Of course, a longer visit can be nice too and there are docent-guided tours available each day to give an overview of the collection on display and answer questions. Tour details can be found here.   [Read more…]

SD For Free An Old Favorite – The Public Library

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A weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free!  We have a great city and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.

Website: http://www.sandiego.gov/public–library/

Best For: Readers, thinkers, learners, children

I love to read and my earliest memories of books are from reading at bedtime with my parents and trips to the library for reading hour.  Many years later, and many states away, I am on the other side of these memories and trying to foster a love of reading in my daughter.  We often visit the library to find new books, meet other children, and read together.   [Read more…]

San Diego for Free: Coronado Central Beach – America’s Best Beach

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San Diego has many beautiful beaches where you can enjoy the sound of waves while sunbathing, the thrill of catching waves while surfing, or take children for fun in the sun. Only one beach in San Diego can lay claim to the title of America’s Best Beach for 2012, however, and that is the Coronado Central Beach.

Compiled annually since 1991, the Dr. Beach Top 10 list is curated by Dr. Stephen Leatherman, Professor of Coastal Research at Florida International University. Dr. Leatherman uses a set of 50 criteria to evaluate beaches all over the nation and 2012 is the first year that a California beach has taken the top spot on his list.   [Read more…]

San Diego For Free – Canyon Hikes, Exploring the Peaks and Valleys of San Diego County

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A weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free! We have a great city and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.

San Diego has an amazing breadth of natural features: coast, mountains, deserts, oceans, lakes, rivers, and much more. If you’re looking for a good way to get acquainted (or reacquainted) with the natural side of San Diego County check out the Canyoneer Hikes from the San Diego Natural History Museum.
  [Read more…]

San Diego for Free: Museum of Photographic Arts

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A weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free!  We have a great city and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.

Balboa Park is known as the crown jewel of San Diego.  Continuing this analogy, the many museums located in the park would have to be the rubies, sapphires, and emeralds that make the crown shine in splendor.  Most of these museums are free to visit for San Diego County residents each Tuesday, on a rotating basis.  The full schedule for the Resdents Free Tuesdays program can be found at http

The Museum of Photographic Arts (MOPA) is free on the second Tuesday of each month.  My first visit to MOPA was for a mayoral debate about environmental issues that was held on Earth Day (April 22) earlier this year.  The auditorium in the building was lovely, but I had been looking forward to a return visit to view the exhibits.
  [Read more…]

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