Hi,
We'll be at a conference at will have only one free day to check out the city. I used to live in SD (PB actually) long ago, so I know a little of the city. Any recommendations as to what to check out. We were thinking about GasLamp vs Balboa vs LaJolla. I'm open to suggestions. We'll be at the Hotel del. My wife will be able to lay around the beach and pool while I'm at the conference, so we don't need to do the beach on our "travel around" day. Thanks.
Frank

You could either go to Balboa Park where you can see the Zoo and the museums in the park and where there is now an excellent restaurant, or go to La Jolla for strolling, shopping and a variety of very good restaurants. I wouldn't bother spending a day in the Gaslamp District, it's more of a night time place.

Our fist day in San Diego we did a wonderfuly hop on/hop off trolley tour. It covered all of downtown, Coronado, Old town. You could spend as much, or as little, time at each spot as you wanted. After the tour you could go back and get what you "missed"..It was a great way to have a quick look see of the city. I would encourage you that if you are into zoos, try to spend some time at the SD zoo. It was great!

the trolley idea is a good one.

If you're not familiar with San Diego, the references to Trolleys may be confusing. There are two. The Little Red Trolley is San Diego's light rail system and is great for getting across town in a variety of directions, quickly and easily. What I think most of the posters in this thread are referring to is The Old Town Trolley which is a wheeled bus driven on city streets that has been modified to look like a trolley. It's a great tool to use to hit the tourist highlights around the downtown area and you can buy an all day pass that allows you to hop on and off at the various attractions.

And the "little red trolley" is usually referred to as the San Diego Trolley.