Think zoo and you think of San Diego. Think of San Diego and you think of the San Diego Zoo. For decades, this world-famous zoo has been attracting visitors from all over the world ' and its popularity is as great as ever.

Yet many people don't realize that the San Diego Zoo is just one part of an amazing collection of fascinating attractions and museums that, together, comprise Balboa Park. While you might allow several hours for your visit to the zoo, you could literally come back several different days to enjoy the 15 museums located on this picturesque piece of San Diego real estate.

The park has become a cultural centerpiece for a city that combines majestic seascapes with a cosmopolitan downtown ' and, oh, did we mention the weather? Reputed to have the best climate in the country, San Diego boasts hundreds of blue-sky 65-to-75-degree days every year.

And so, much more often than not, the sun casts a warm glow over Balboa Park, illuminating the park's stunning combination of historic architecture and lush landscaping. Many of the park's buildings were the result of two expositions ' the 1915-16 Panama-California Exposition and the 1935-36 California Pacific International Exposition. Everywhere you go in the park you are reminded of the ornate, almost palace-like designs common in the first part of the 20th Century.

While we had enjoyed many visits to the San Diego Zoo, the focus of our most recent visit was the OTHER side of the park ' the part that houses the museums, gardens and many other attractions. We'd suggest you allow lots of time for your visit. And, no question, you'll be getting your walking exercise.

After a quick visit to the park Visitor Center ' where you can buy combo passes that allow you to get in most of the museums for one flat price ' we stopped in first at the nearby Museum of Photographic Arts. Rows and rows of wall-mounted enlarged black-and-while photos were tastefully arranged just like you would expect in any exhibit of modern art. This modern art does a wonderful job of conveying many historic times from earlier in the century. Photos often seemed to be taken in the 30s or 40s.

The museum features photos by some of the greatest photographers in the country but we thought some of the most fascinating photos were part of an exhibit by film star Jeff Bridges. His wife gave him a special camera shortly after they were married and this camera, in effect, creates wide angle black and white photos that are the same shape as a movie screen. Bridges apparently has taken photos on most of his movie sets, and this "behind-the-scenes" look at movie-making is not only artful, but interesting.

Next door was the San Diego Model Railroad Museum, a sure-fire hit with our four-year-old and a reminder of our own boyhood memories of driving electric Lionel trains. Our own trains had track systems pretty much confined to the bedroom floor, and our scenery amounted to a train station and a few miniature people. The Model Railroad Museum offers us all the train set we always wished we could have had ' actually a series of trains and tracks that show highly detailed dioramas of the terrain in San Diego County and the Southwestern U.S.

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