Natural History Museum in San Diego

The San Diego Natural History Museum is a fun place to wander and explore in San Diego, California's historic Balboa Park. Founded in 1874 as the San Diego Society of Natural History, it's the oldest scientific organization in Southern California. 

Featuring a variety of collections from dinosaurs to sea creatures to insects, the Natural History Museum (or theNAT as it's also known) has something for everybody. It's also located in a beautiful building surrounded by other notable museums within Balboa Park. Interesting side note, in World War II the United States Navy moved in to use the building as a hospital. Today, it remains a popular San Diego museum and attraction.   

Stephen Avenue in Calgary, Alberta

Stephen Avenue is a popular pedestrian mall located in downtown Calgary, Alberta. Featuring a variety of restaurants, pubs, retail and commercial spaces, Stephen Avenue is most notable for its high concentration of historic buildings dating back to the early 20th century. In fact, the avenue was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 2002 for this very reason. 

Stephen Avenue is populated by landmarks such as the Hudson's Bay Department Store, the Core Shopping Centre, Bankers Hall, Scotia Centre, the Telus Convention Centre, Glenbow Museum, Flames Central, and Olympic Plaza. Even the iconic Calgary Tower is just a block over. 

There's no denying the vibrant and eclectic ambiance found in this part of Calgary. Stephen Avenue's close proximity to the train tracks is one of the main reasons for its early success, and why it's had such an interesting evolution. The name of the avenue actually comes from George Stephen, who was the first president of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

In addition to being a fun place to eat, shop, and wander in downtown Calgary, Alberta, Stephen Avenue is also a fascinating place to explore some of the early history of the city (and of Western Canada for that matter). I shot several ghosting images updating archival photographs from around downtown Calgary that I also encourage you to have a look at here. 

"Conversation" sculpture on Stephen Avenue in Calgary.

"Trees" sculpture designed to reduce wind gusts on Stephen Avenue.

Cozy Dog in Springfield, Illinois | Route 66

If you're looking for an interesting stop along the Illinois stretch of Route 66 try the Cozy Dog Drive-In in Springfield. Having just driven Route 66 through California last year, I was looking for a few unique stops as I detoured through parts of the Midwest on my latest road trip. 

Cozy Dog is a restaurant chock-full of Route 66 memorabilia and they're famous for their "hot dog on a stick" AKA corn dogs. I liked that there was a Route 66 marker out front as it made the stop seem a bit more novel. It was also a great opportunity to see just where I was. Springfield, Illinois is about 200 miles south of Chicago, where Route 66 officially begins.