Looking west from our place I can see another hill on which once stood the first permanent European settlement on the Pacific Coast of what is now the United States.  A fort established by Commandant Pedro Fages for the Spanish Empire and known as El presidio Reál de San Diego (The Royal Presidio of San Diego) no longer exists.  None of the original buildings of the settlement remain. The San Diego Mission de Alcalá which was located near the site of today’s Junipero Serra Museum, was moved in 1774 out to Mission Gorge where it stands today. With Mexican Independence in 1821 the fort was relinquished by the Spanish, and the Presidio served as residence for the Mexican Governor until 1829 when the Mexican presence in San Diego abandoned the hill in favor of the level area nearby that is now Old Town San Diego State Historical Park. It's typical of the way we do things in America that there is no mention in the names of the original Spanish or Mexican occupation.

Presidio Park belongs to the city of San Diego and is not part of the State Historical Park. My bike ride today took me out East for a few miles, then up to the areas known as Talmadge, Kensington, City Heights, North Park, Normal Heights, University Heights,Hillcrest and Mission Hills before I turned into Presidio Park before heading back home.  Of the original native Americans nothing is left there but a couple of plaques and a bigger-than-life bronze statue of an Indian that’s probably not a fair representation of the Kumeyaay people who lived in the area before the Spanish came and pushed them out to the East or used them as slave laborers. Most of the trees in the area are not native to the region.  I like the view of the University of San Diego across Mission Valley from the Park.