My husband and I will be in San Diego mid February and will have a few days extra to go SOMEWHERE. We love the outdoors and beauty and animals and nature and nice weather and pretty towns... We are not the L.A. type.. So I am torn between San Fran (we are not huge wine drinkers but Sonoma sounds lovely) and Arizona and Yosemite and Joshua and all sorts of places. Is there a nice driving route we could take for those five days? Help!

Funny that you're not the "L.A. type", yet you'll be in a (very nice) town that in many respects is a "mini-LA"...!

Having said that, I love San Diego, you'll have a nice time there.

Now, some thoughts. You do realize that San Francisco is over 500 miles from San Diego? Yosemite is three hours east of San Francisco? Phoenix, AZ is about 350 miles east of San Diego?! I suppose you could hit all these spots in five days in a car. If you never stop.

Here are some ideas: Drive an hour north of SD to Temecula, enjoy the wineries there, hit the Pechanga Casino. Or go 4 hours north to Buellton, north of Santa Barbara, and visit the area featured in the film Sideways. These are doable drives and you can fill a few days in either place.

If you do want to go to San Francisco (a city I love passionately), FLY up. Much easier (hour's flight). A lot of posters here will give you great info on The City.

I didn't know LA had a "type" -haha. There's an awful lot to see and do there, I'd think there is something for everyone in Los Angeles.

Are you planning on driving or flying? If you really want to go all the way to San Francisco, I'd fly.

How about someplace just along the coast heading north like Santa Barbara and/or Santa Cruz?

Okay okay.. you both called me on the L.A. type thing.. You're right. We will already be in San Diego because we'll have been at a spa in Tecate Mexico. We have both been to L.A. and dont need to go back.. but I dont mean to diss the city. ;-)

Well, I'm calling rjw on the "mini-LA" thing! We'll post your picture at the county line! LOL!!

More seriously mkude, rjw had some good suggestions. Have you driven to Julian, located in the Cuyamaca mountains, from San Diego? You could do that, continue to Palm Springs, spend a night or two there, visit Joshua Tree, then return to San Diego via the wineries in Temecula.

If you wanted to go to Arizona, you could drive to Phoenix, then on to Sedona, in about seven/eight hours. It's a very boring drive to Phoenix, though, and much easier to fly Southwest from SD to Phoenix, pick up a rental car there and drive to Sedona.

Ha! Wanted to see if you were paying attention, Barbara!! But don't have me 86'd from San Diego County, please; I'm speaking at a conference at La Costa in April...!

Mmmmmmm.... La Costa....

The Julian/Palm Springs/Joshua Tree/Temecula loop is a great idea. I also agree that the drive to Phoenix is a dull one, so flying is a much better idea. Southwest and US Air/America West are the best carriers.

Thanks so much for your input! I'm gonna check that itinerary out.

Feb is not the best time to go to Napa/Sonoma - could be quite stormy, or cold an foggy. Or possibly decent - but more likely not.

Driving up the coast is also pretty iffy in Feb (I mean the mid/north coast - from monterey area to north of SF)

So if you want some place you can drive to my choices would be 1) stay in SD county somewhere, 2) Death Valley - Feb is usually a great time to visit, 3) AZ as already mentioned.

Good point about the weather in February (and reason to head east-ish to the desert, rather than do the coastline).