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Photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/michael-seljos/, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
This popular science museum is filled with dozens of interactive exhibits of interest to children, young adults and grown-ups too. There's also an IMAX theater in the building, one of the world's first.
The Fleet Science Center is a science museum and planetarium in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. Established in 1973, it was the first science museum to combine interactive science exhibits with a planetarium and an IMAX Dome (OMNIMAX) theater, setting the standard that most major science museums follow today. It is located at the east end of the El Prado Drive walkway, next to the Bea Evenson Fountain and plaza in central Balboa Park.
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This museum has a large collection of artifacts and exhibits showcasing the history of the city. If you don't want to pay to enter the museum itself, you can just walk into the building (which contains three separate museums) and look at some historical photographs on the walls of the atrium.
Like any natural history museum, this one has a lot of big dinosaur skeletons. Exhibits on the local ecology and geology are also prevalent throughout the museum, as well as a massive Foucault pendulum in the entrance hall. There are also many changing exhibitions and a giant-screen theater.
Dedicated to the art and history of photographic arts, with works from famous photographers such as Ansel Adams. The museum also holds changing exhibitions and a theater that plays art and cult films.
One of the oldest youth theater programs in the country, the Junior Theatre holds many live performances.
If you have kids or know a train buff, a visit to this fantastic museum should be high on your list. Just like the name suggests, this institution is dedicated to model railroading, with some of the largest model railroad layouts in the world. There are also some interactive exhibits and displays on the history of railroads in San Diego.
A small art museum with collections of lesser-known pieces from famous European old masters, American, and Russian painters.