END OF WINTER CELEBRATION
Drive and picnic
Sunday April 11, 2021
Now that the dark of Winter is behind us, let’s welcome Spring with another SDJC Drive and Picnic. If you haven’t been participating in our latest drives, you are missing a fantastic opportunity to take your Jag out for an enjoyable drive followed by a picnic at Kit Carson Park in Escondido. Our past drives were through Rancho Santa Fe, Fairbanks Ranch, Bates Nut Farm, Miramar Lake, and even the Orange County area with our friends in the Los Angeles Club.
Starting Location
The Old Spaghetti Factory
111 North Twin Oaks Road (off Highway 78) - San Marcos
Starting Time: 9:45 AM
Drivers Meeting 10:30 AM
Picnic Destination
Kit Carson Park adjacent to Westfield North County Mall Escondido
Our April drive will start in San Marcos, travel north toward Temecula traversing across I-15 to hopefully travel on some road you haven’t driven before. The drive will culminate at Kit Carson Park in Escondido which features three ponds and numerous picnic areas under beautiful large trees providing shade from the Spring sun. Also featured are beautiful walking and hiking trails. Hopefully by April 11th the Covid restrictions will allow us to visit and enjoy a 5-acre arboretum, The Irish Sankey Magical Garden, and the Queen Califia’s Magical Circle Sculpture Garden
What do you need to do?
- Pack a fun lunch, maybe something British?
- Don’t forget your chairs (just in case the tables are occupied), water, hat, sunscreen and most importantly your masks
- Be kind to your kitty, give her a bath, fill her with fuel, and point her in the right direction
- Enjoy the drive, lunch in a beautiful setting with your Jaguar friends, and perhaps an opportunity to participate in yards games for a little friendly competition.
Questions: Contact Nedra Rummell (760) 519 5400 nedrar1@roadrunner.com or
Diah Avery (619) 890 1613 diah@att.net
Kit Carson Park
Diah Indians of the acorn culture were the first inhabitants of Kit Carson Park. The park was named after Christopher (Kit) Carson, the famous scout who guided Captain John C. Fremont over the Sierra Nevada Mountains during a government exploration expedition. The park sits in a valley that is approximately five miles west of where Kit Carson fought in the Battle of San Pasqual. A historical monument commemorating the battle is located on Mule Hill, one mile southeast of the park.
The City of Escondido acquired the land for its largest regional park from the City of San Diego in 1967. One hundred acres of the park have been developed and 185 acres have been preserved as natural habitat. The newest addition to Kit Carson Park is Queen Califia's Magical Circle, the only American sculpture garden and the last major international project created by Niki de Saint Phalle (born France, 1930-2002). Inspired by California's mythic, historic, and cultural roots, the garden consists of nine large-scale sculptures, a circular "snake wall" and maze entryway, sculpturally integrated bench seating, and native shrubs and trees planted within the interior plaza and along the outer perimeter. The garden bears the brilliant, unique mosaic ornamentation that is an unmistakable part of Saint Phalle's later work.
The sculpture garden's key architectural features are an undulating circular wall measuring 400 feet in length (with varying heights from 4 to 9 feet) that surrounds the garden. Monumental playful serpents, decorated in colorfully patterned mosaics, slither along the top of the wall, their curved bodies forming a pattern of solids and voids that allows visitors to see landscape vistas beyond the garden. The "snake wall" opens into a maze whose walls and floors are covered with black, white, and mirrored tiles. Once through the maze, visitors enter the central courtyard.
There are nine freestanding sculptures in the garden. The imposing mosaic sculpture of Queen Califia standing on the back of a five-legged eagle commands the center of the garden. Eight large totemic sculptures surround Queen Califia. They are covered with symbols and forms freely drawn from Native American, Pre-Columbian, and Mexican art as well as the artist's own fantastic imagery. |