san diego, richard varr

The ocean breezes cool down the warm summer sun as I gaze upon the city's modern skyline -- the glass and steel decoratively shrouded by the gleaming white sailboats and gentle deep-blue water. I dodge the joggers here along Harbor Drive when I stumble across the path of a well-dressed passerby.

"Most people say the weather is so nice," he explains.
No question there.
"But that's the problem," he continues.
"The weather hardly ever changes."
"It gets a little boring because of the weather once in a while."
What? Boring?

Are there not enough chalk-white and rock-chipped beaches? What about the catamaran rentals, or the rows of sailboats, motor boats, kayaks and wave runners to skim the calm waters in Mission Bay? And just how boring is biking and hiking through miles of trails with great ocean views?

Should we overlook San Diego's more than a dozen prominent museums, or the rich Spanish legacy and Wild West heritage? Don't forget the quaint art galleries and "Dining by the Cove" in La Jolla. How could anyone find the spicy-hot Mexican food in Old Town dull?

So on the fifth and last day of my visit to San Diego, I don't feel sorry for the nice fellow who was having a "boring" June day -- all because of the near perfect weather. Maybe boring for him. But man, it must be tough living in a place where

the year-round temperatures hover around 70 degrees; where the seemingly endless California sunshine reflects off the shimmering Pacific Ocean; and where the rocky coast and beaches are the envy for many

of us who live in midtown America. I guess howling winterwinds, or fierce summer heat make life exciting. I'll take this low humidity, clear sky boredom any day.

The deep powerful notes of Phantom of the Opera welcome us in Balboa Park. My wife and I step out of our rental car to the shrill of the booming "Dahhhh---dah-dah-dah-dah-Dahhhhh----dah-dah" of the Phantom theme song thundering from the world's largest outdoor pipe organ. But nowhere do we see the obscure shadow of a disfigured Phantom lurking atop darkened catwalks, or slipping through candlelight as it flickers shadows in underground caves and passageways of an old Paris theater.

Nonetheless, we are at a theater of sorts. But green palms gently sweeping across enchanting sunbeams surround

this one. The blue sky caps the expansive Spreckels Organ Pavilion -- an airy and bright outdoor concert hall with its 4,428 pipe organ.

The pavilion is our first stop in Balboa Park -- the cultural heart of San Diego and home to the world famous San Diego Zoo. But instead of spending the day with the yawning hippos or tempestuous primates, we instead admire the sunlit, golden facades of ivory-white Spanish Colonial architecture.

We find the stone-chiseled designs on nearly all the city's museums along the park's main walkway -- the palm tree-lined El Prado. Spanish gardens, fountains and botanical displays flank the buildings. The fountains spew water vapors, which waft along with the sweet-smelling honeysuckle and flower fragrance in what a brochure calls "one of the most lushly planted urban parks in America."

Balboa Park is named after Vasco Nunez de Balboa, the first European explorer to see the Pacific Ocean. It was Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, however, who first set foot on what is now San Diego upon sailing up the California coast 50 years after Columbus embarked on his voyage to the new world. Atop the rugged hills and cliffs of Point Loma stands a gallant-looking statue of Cabrillo, the centerpiece of the Cabrillo National Monument and State Park.

Cabrillo's part in the Spanish Age of Exploration led to the Spanish Colonial influence and the subsequent Mexican heritage we see in San Diego today. That heritage is evident with the likes of Balboa Park's Alcazar Garden to the prominence of Spanish Baroque Paintings in the San Diego Museum of Art. Other examples include Old Town's 19th century La Casa de Estudillo adobe home and the La Casa de Bandini hacienda, which now houses a Mexican restaurant.

In Old Town, the Mexican influence blends together with the Wild West. Stroll through the rebuilt or restored adobe and wooden structures, including San Diego's first spartan public school house and the small wooden-framed

San Diego Union Newspaper Historical Museum -- restored to the way it looked in the 1860's when the first San Diego Union was printed.

But if it's a true California lifestyle you want, then check out La Jolla. In Spanish, it means "the jewel," where as the name implies, a sparkling and no doubt expensive tourist delight.

I just get a good feeling about it," my niece tells me. Kristen graduated from high school here and is our makeshift tour guide. Our visit began with a drive up Mount Soledad, where on a clear day you can see the water-bounded San Diego skyline in the distance. Nestled between the mountain top and the beach is La Jolla. "The beach is beautiful, almost everywhere you look there's water," my niece says. "And all the houses have views."

The drive down the mountain brought us to Prospect Street, where Gucci, Ann Taylor and Armani are now what the eye can see. And within the trendy shops are views of some fine collectibles and jewelry -- glittering like the waves with their cresting white tops as they hug La Jolla's shoreline.

"Top of the line, top of the line," a saleswoman softly pitches. "We have pieces you now see in Europe or back East." Indeed so. Hand blown glass, bronze pieces, Italian porcelain from Florence, including many delicate pieces and limited editions locked within glass casings.

"There's art from France, England, Hungary, Chile, Colombia, Russia – art from all over the world," one gallery director boasts. The art galleries here are second in California only to those in Monterey – proven by the thousands of dollars asked for some oil paintings of a seaside Spanish town or rocky Italian Cove.

Yes, everything here is "Top of." Top of the line and Top of the Cove. That's the name of a fine restaurant with a grand view of La Jolla's famous inlet, where the rich smell of garlic combines with the saltwater-scented ocean breezes. My wife and I indulge in a fine choice of onion and bacon burgundy soup followed by a burgundy sauce-smothered filet mignon, and topped off with a fruity Merlot and caramelized apple brandy-sauce cheesecake for dessert. Deliciously top choices for top dollar prices.

The Mission Beach and Bay area is another "top" spot, but no doubt different in flavor. Fast food and retail shops line the boulevard, with teenagers and young people roller-blading and bike riding. If La Jolla is the cultured, manicured and sometimes standoffish older sister driving around in a jaguar, Mission Beach is her more carefree younger brother scuffing his sneakers while pumping away on his skateboard.

While in downtown San Diego, check out the nightlife at the trendy bars and restaurants in the historic Gas Lamp District. And there's nearby Horton Plaza with its colossal six-floor shopping mall. Or shop at the Seaport Village waterfront on the edge of Downtown, near the city's convention center and hotel towers. While there, catch an elevator and zip up to the Hyatt Regency Hotel's 40th floor for yet another terrific view of San Diego and Coronado.

However, I'll put my money on the view of downtown from atop the Coronado Bridge. Coronado Island's own jewel is the Hotel Del Coronado where the 1950's Hollywood classic "Some Like it Hot" was filmed. The creaks in the old floors of that hotel with its Victorian elegance and signature red turrets are testament to its grandeur and history.

The kids may instead insist on a day with Shamu at Sea World, or with the elephants and kangaroos at the renowned San Diego Zoo, where a few thousand animals live in carefully created habitats throughout the 100 acres there.

When the rain falls in sunny San Diego (it does occasionally, especially in the winter months), spend the day visiting the 30 or more museums, theaters, gardens and special exhibits – all in Balboa Park. The park contains a complex of museums and galleries that Park literature describes as "second in size only to the Smithsonian."

Buy a "Passport to Balboa Park" ticket (valid for one week) which provides entry into 11 museums there, including the Natural History Museum, the Model Railroad Museum, the Automotive Museum, the Aerospace Museum, the Museum of Man, and the impressive Museum of Art, housing its renowned collection of Spanish Baroque and Italian Renaissance art.

Other attractions in the park include a children's theater, the Botanical Building, the Mingei International Museum of Folk Art and the Timken Museum of Art.