San Diego Natural History Museum
This museum focuses on the flora, fauna, and mineralogy of Southern and Baja California. Kids marvel at the animals they find here, including live snakes, tarantulas, and turtles. As a binational museum, research is done on both sides of the border and most exhibits are bilingual. You can see them all in about half an hour. Call or check the museum's website for a current schedule of special visiting exhibits. There's a 300-seat large-format movie theater, and two films are included in the price of admission.

Museum of Photographic Arts
If names like Ansel Adams and Edward Weston stimulate your fingers to do the shutterbug, then don't miss a taste of the 7,000-plus collection of images housed by this museum -- one of few in the United States devoted exclusively to the photographic arts (which, at MOPA, encompasses cinema, video, and digital photography). A 1999 expansion allowed the museum to display even more of the permanent collection, while leaving room for provocative traveling exhibits that change every few months. Photos by Alfred Stieglitz, Margaret Bourke-White, Imogen Cunningham, Paul Strand, and Manuel Alvarez Bravo are all in the permanent collection, and the plush cinema illuminates classic films Friday, Saturday, and some weeknights. Allow 30 to 60 minutes to see the collection.

Botanical Building and Lily Pond
This serene park within the park is one of my favorite hideouts. Ferns, orchids, impatiens, begonias, and other plants -- about 2,100 tropical and flowering varieties, plus rotating exhibits -- are sheltered beneath a domed lath house. The graceful 250-foot-long building, part of the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, is one of the world's largest wood lath structures, and emerged from a complete renovation in 2002. Kids love the "touch and smell" garden and the smelly bog of carnivorous plants. The lily pond out front attracts sun worshipers, painters, and street entertainers.

Ramada Gaslamp
This 10-story hotel stands within the historic Gaslamp Quarter, just two blocks from Horton Plaza, seven blocks from the Convention Center, and a half-mile from Balboa Park.This 10-story hotel still exudes period charm. The lobby, with small seating areas and potted palms, sports circa-1913 crystal chandeliers, vintage elevators, and a marble staircase. Beyond a beveled-glass wall is Brian's ...

Ocean Park Inn
Located on the beach and famous Boardwalk in Pacific Beach, this is the vacationer's destination of choice. The hotel is situated eight miles from Lindbergh Field, three miles from Sea World, and just seven miles from the World Famous San Diego Zoo. A 100% NON SMOKING PROPERTY. The exciting Gaslamp District is a comfortable 10 miles away. Other area attractions convenient to the hotel include Legoland of California, the US/Mexican Border, Maritime Museum and the Wild Animal Park. The Ocean ...

Lafayette Hotel and Suites
Welcome to Lafayette Hotel & Suites San Diego. Hollywood's most glamorous stars came night after night to what was the resort hotel's fashionable Mississippi Ballroom to drink, dine and dance to the music of Ted Fio Rito and other top-drawer big bands. The Mississippi Ballroom is now a popular wedding and banquet Hall.The hotel's popularity and tradition of gracious hospitality continues today. This elegant Colonial-style mansion is a San Diego landmark and has maintained its elegant charm ...