Downtown

After lunch, Shannon and I went over to downtown SJ. I managed to pick Venetian weekend for my trip so it took a while to find parking. I think this is the first time I've been in town for the craziness in 6 years.

While wandering, we found this:

which makes about as much sense as this:

(it's possible SJ is romantic for tourists but the locals think this is hilarious (even without the ostrich head in the corner). The city of SJ may have its problems but their PR department (or bribery budget) is fantastic)

Because of the Venetian mess, we had to see the beach from the bluff instead of heading down. The city is doing some strange things. We couldn't figure out what they were doing in the middle of the field here:

That's the train station in the front. There's an excellent pizza place in the back. Also, the lake! I've missed it.

The society to return a carousel to Silver Beach (I'm sure they have a more official title) has finally raised enough money to buy one and build a home for it. The rest of the building will house shops and restaurants, apparently.

For the past several years, SJ has had local businesses decorate random statues to decorate downtown for the summer (carousel horses, cars, bears...). This year's theme was jungle animals.