Peter Pan Gives Wings to Our Dreams

Wow! There are several big-time entertainers heading to San Diego, including Jimmy Buffet and Arlo Guthrie! But do you recall, the most famous reindeer of all? If you said, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, you’re pretty close.

Actually it’s Peter Pan. That’s right, that young man who flies around all over the place and even teaches some newfound young friends to fly.

As part of his national tour, Peter and a whole gang of folks will be presenting “Finding Neverland” at the San Diego Civic Theater, 1100 3^rd Avenue, in beautiful, downtown San Diego starting this week.

Show times are 7 pm Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 7:30 pm on Thursdays, 2 pm and 7:30 pm on Saturdays and 1 pm and 6:30 pm Sundays. There are several websites where you can purchase tickets, including http://civictheatre.net/?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=San%20Diego%20Civic%20Theater%20%20PQT&utm_term=San%20Diego%20Civic%20Theatre&utm_content=San%20Diego%20Civic%20Theater

Also, http://broadwaysd.com/

Now, Finding Neverland is not going to be exactly like the movie with Johnny Depp as Captain Hook or the Broadway musical with Mary Martin as Peter Pan. No, this is more a story about J.M. Barrie, the English playwright and how he discovered Peter Pan and introduced this wonderful lad to the world more than 100 years ago.

But to all of you who want to give wings to your dreams, you gotta go see Peter Pan during his short visit to San Diego! He’ll be flying away after his last show, Sunday, April 9.

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A carpet of Wildflowers in the Desert

Roses are red, violets are blue. The desert flowers are here waiting for you!

That’s right, the late winter weather may have killed a lot of the Washington, DC cherry blossoms, but the abundant rainfall has the desert in Southern California brimming with beautiful yellow wildflowers.

You’ve heard of the Super Moon—you know when the full moon is on its closest approach to us folks down here on earth. Well, this year we have a Super Bloom in our desert. Spring has sprung, and all those rainy days this year has the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park filled with colorful wildflowers.

Now, of course there’s a downside to all of this beauty: the tourists are jamming the highways and roads and packing the restaurants and shops. But if you are a flower-lover and a desert-dude, or dudess, you gotta make it over to the town of Borrego Springs to see this colorful canopy!

The Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is probably California’s largest park, and Borrego Springs—population about 1,500—has seen as many as 20,000 visitors during recent weekends.

Though the storeowners are struggling to keep their shelves full and their kitchens well stocked, they couldn’t be happier with the business boom. Of course, weekdays are not as busy and packed with tourists as the weekends.

How long have we been waiting for the Super Bloom? Some of the locals say the desert hasn’t been this colorful since the 1990s.

For more information, go to the Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association web site: http://www.abdnha.org/index.html

But whatever you do, don’t miss this breathtaking show of colorful desert flowers!

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Great News for Hikers and Mountain Bikers

Okay, all you San Diego hikers and mountain bikers, are you ready for this? The famous Stowe Trail—yeah, the one you’ve been using illegally for many years—is going to be open to the public next month!

That’s right, the 3-1/2 mile trail that runs from the Marine Corps Air Station in Miramar and connects to the Trans County Trail is opening up for one and all of you hardy folks!

Now, the exact date has not been set, and the trail is still a no-no because of ongoing negotiations between the U.S.  Navy Department and San Diego County officials, but it looks like a deal has almost been completed.

The Stowe Trail is located on the eastern portion of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar and links the County’s Goodan Ranch and Sycamore Canyon Preserves to the north with Mission Trails Regional Park to the south.  The County and the Navy have been trying to negotiate this deal for more than 10 years.

You know: it takes a little while to work out complicated stuff like this!

Apparently, the deal will detail steps that each party will take before the property—some 200 acres of land—will be turned over the the County in exchange for “in-kind consideration equal to the value of the land conveyed.”

Hip, hip hooray! Let’s hear a big round of applause for the Navy and the County for working so long and so hard on this deal!

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Marine Corps Battle Color Ceremony

Hey, Semper Fi folks, both vets and fans, there’s a really big deal coming up in San Diego this week: the Marine Corps Battle Color Ceremony!

Of course where else could this great patriotic event take place? Sure, Camp Pendleton, Harbor Drive at Vandergrift Boulevard. Camp Pendleton was opened in 1942 as a Marine training base during World War II. It’s now the home of the First Marine Division.

The Ceremony is the annual Esprit de Corps, as part of a nationwide tour of the Battle Color Detachment, based in our nation’s capital. In addition to the ceremony at Camp Pendleton on March 9, there will also be events on March 10 at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station and on March 11 at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot at 1600 Henderson Avenue.

So, what can you expect at this fantastic ceremony? How about some precision drill marches and maneuvers, all carried out with patriotic music? You can also marvel at the 24-member rifle platoon as they perform breathtaking drills and rifle spins.

The event at Camp Pendleton is free and open to the public. It will start at 3:30 pm in the Camp Pendleton football stadium.  The ceremony on March 10 at the Marine Corps Air station will start at 3 pm and is open only to authorized military patrons.

The event on March 11 at the Recruit Depot is scheduled for 2:30 pm, and is open to the public.

For more info, go to http://www.marines.mil/

Comic-Con Badges Are Up for Grabs

   Well, believe it or not, Comic-Con fans, your big show is only four months away, and the much-coveted badges for the convention go on sale Saturday, March 11.

If you attended last year’s Comic-Con, rush down to the San Diego Convention Center and try to snatch a badge before it’s too late. Last year attendance was 100,000+. Some 55,000 badges will go on sale Saturday.

You will need first to retrieve your registration code from the Comic-Con website. You can purchase up to three badges, including one for yourself.

There will be a second badge sale later this spring for all comic book lovers, whether or not you attended last year’s big splurge.

Now for those of my thousands and thousands of followers (I wish!) who are not quite sure what Comic-Con really is, here is their official Mission Statement: “Comic-Con International: San Diego is a nonprofit educational corporation dedicated to creating awareness of, and appreciation for, comics and related popular art forms, primarily through the presentation of conventions and events that celebrate the historic and ongoing contribution of comics to art and culture.”

The big show will be kicking off on July 20, with a preview night on Wednesday, July 19.

The prices this year are $60 per day for Thursday, Friday and Saturday and $40 for Sunday. Wednesday’s Preview Night badges are priced at $45.

Stay tuned for more Comic-Con stuff as we get closer to July!

Comic-Con is back in town

If you’re worried that now that the MLB All Star game is over that there’s nothing else exciting in store for San Diego, forget about it! Next week is going to bring the exciting and hugely popular Comic-Con International show to our city, and this year it’s even going to extend over to Coronado.

So all you sci-fi lovers, fantasy seekers and superhero followers get ready and set to go. Last year, Harrison Ford made a surprise appearance. This year Conan O’Brien will be front and center.

The event kicks off in the San Diego Convention Center beginning with Preview Night on Wednesday, July 20 and runs till Sunday, July 24. With 47 years and running, Comic-Con is arguably the USA’s longest continuously run comics and popular arts convention.

But this year there’s going to be a new twist: Comic-Con is going to jump over San Diego Bay to Coronado Island. Coronado Ferry Landing will host an old-fashion carnival for kids, young and old. The 100,000+ comic book fans can jump on the ferry right there at the Convention Center, cruise over to the Ferry Landing, where they will be able to ride a train, throw an axe, play with a pack of wolves or even try their hand—actually their feet—at log-rolling.

But let’s hope all 100,000+ conventioneers don’t all jump on the ferry at the same time. That would bring on some serious log-rolling!

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Poem of the week.

THE MAN WITH ONE SHOE

I once knew a man with only one shoe,

Romantically linked to the Queen of Peru.

The yarns he recounted near my backyard swing

Would make your blood curdle, make your heart zing.

Ah, the demons he battled the oceans he crossed.

And that one fateful day when hopelessly lost.

A woman appeared on a shiny, white steed;

She swooped him up high, and gave him some mead.

“My, isn't that tasty?” he said with a smile.

“It has just the right flavor, just the right style!”

They got along swell with a minimum of hassle,

And fell madly in love before reaching her castle.

The palace was adorned with diamonds and gems

Even the bathrooms had their own diadems.

But, alas, their love was never quite true.

How could a proud queen love a man with one shoe?

She cast the poor chap out of her sight

Sent him packing away one cold, lonely night.

He ended his journey in my very backyard,

Lonely and hungry, broken and tired.

I had no mead: we were not super rich.

But I gave him a bite of my jelly sandwich.

Yes, I once knew a man with only one shoe--

He limped a wee bit, but his stories rang true.