San Diego - So Cool.....
Mar 14th, 2008 | 09:04 PM
#1
Original Poster
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 133
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San Diego - So Cool.....
So first I want to tell you how much I love Fodorites. You help me plan every trip. I will admit now that I am not the best at giving back....I try but by the time I come back I am off planning my next trip. Also I think my self esteem must be a little low because I always feel that what I have to offer is much less than what I get from this site. But I want to offer a "little" trip report of our week in San Diego.
Firstly we are coming from Ontario Canada in one of the worst winters in recent memory. "Worst" being tons of snow and storm so for those Ontarians who love that sort of thing I apologize. I am not speaking for all of you.
We left Canada from Toronto on March 1 flying to San Diego California, Sunny South...oh please we can hardly wait. Now all of you people who live in Southern California know that your sunny South is not nearly as warm as the Caribbean but trust that to those who are coming from Canada the warmth looks pretty good.
Next we chose to stay on Pacific Beach, and I am not sure why because there were many who suggested this was just not the place to be, tattoo parlours and pizza joints and such but someone recently had suggested "Capri by the Sea" and off we went. A week in a condo on the beach with all the surfers out there diligently waiting for the perfect wave. We actually we looking for somewhere on the beach, just to open the window and to hear the waves...and seeing the surfers was pretty cool too.
We arrived midway on Saturday, both of us with colds, hacking and coughing so we got settled in and watched the surfers and went to the grocery store.
The next day we headed out to La Jolla. We hit the beach there, Windansea Beach, which was beautiful but when we moved on there were so many cars that we could hardly get near the Cove. Man it is not hard to tell where the beautiful people hang out because there were so many cars. It looked great, without a doubt I think the restaurants and shops and maybe the beach were up a notch from Pacific....but hey we didn't come to shop.
Next we headed up to Mount Soledad to check out the view. It was an extremely clear day and I think we could almost see forever. It was absolutely beautiful. There was some sort of tribute there to soldiers but my guide books didnt' exactly list the details. There are thousands of pictures and details an for while I was afraid that my husband was going to stop and read every one. Luckily he stopped after about 500 but I must say it was lovely, a great tributes to the dedicated souls who gave so much to protect so many.
We headed off north to see Torrey Pines, we are sort of golfers you know and we had to at least check it out. Off we went and found our way no problem. We found the pro shop and bought a couple of souvenirs. The course looked nice but we didnt' see Tiger anywhere. We stopped for a drink. I know I should have asked the price when I ordered my glass of wine....$13.50..it was nice but I am not sure if it was worth that.. but who cares I am where Tiger and all the others were and maybe they sat in this chair. We wandered around and headed up to Torrey Pines State Beach and Reserve. Unfortunately, I believe, because we got there late they were no longer allowing cars on the top level. My husband is an old fellow, well sort of, with not very good knees and as we were not allowed to drive to the top parking lot at that time of day we had to give it a miss. We will be back.
On our way back to San Diego we stopped at the Torrey Pines glider Port. So cool . There were so many glider floating around. We had never seen gliders that take off by running, just right of course, and taking off over the water. It was really nice there and I would strongly recommend this to anyone. So worth a stop.
We did drive by the Birch Aquarian and Salk Institute but at that point we were not up to the stop. And there you go, Day 1 in San Diego.
So far we are just loving it. Will be back with more, not intention to bore.
Firstly we are coming from Ontario Canada in one of the worst winters in recent memory. "Worst" being tons of snow and storm so for those Ontarians who love that sort of thing I apologize. I am not speaking for all of you.
We left Canada from Toronto on March 1 flying to San Diego California, Sunny South...oh please we can hardly wait. Now all of you people who live in Southern California know that your sunny South is not nearly as warm as the Caribbean but trust that to those who are coming from Canada the warmth looks pretty good.
Next we chose to stay on Pacific Beach, and I am not sure why because there were many who suggested this was just not the place to be, tattoo parlours and pizza joints and such but someone recently had suggested "Capri by the Sea" and off we went. A week in a condo on the beach with all the surfers out there diligently waiting for the perfect wave. We actually we looking for somewhere on the beach, just to open the window and to hear the waves...and seeing the surfers was pretty cool too.
We arrived midway on Saturday, both of us with colds, hacking and coughing so we got settled in and watched the surfers and went to the grocery store.
The next day we headed out to La Jolla. We hit the beach there, Windansea Beach, which was beautiful but when we moved on there were so many cars that we could hardly get near the Cove. Man it is not hard to tell where the beautiful people hang out because there were so many cars. It looked great, without a doubt I think the restaurants and shops and maybe the beach were up a notch from Pacific....but hey we didn't come to shop.
Next we headed up to Mount Soledad to check out the view. It was an extremely clear day and I think we could almost see forever. It was absolutely beautiful. There was some sort of tribute there to soldiers but my guide books didnt' exactly list the details. There are thousands of pictures and details an for while I was afraid that my husband was going to stop and read every one. Luckily he stopped after about 500 but I must say it was lovely, a great tributes to the dedicated souls who gave so much to protect so many.
We headed off north to see Torrey Pines, we are sort of golfers you know and we had to at least check it out. Off we went and found our way no problem. We found the pro shop and bought a couple of souvenirs. The course looked nice but we didnt' see Tiger anywhere. We stopped for a drink. I know I should have asked the price when I ordered my glass of wine....$13.50..it was nice but I am not sure if it was worth that.. but who cares I am where Tiger and all the others were and maybe they sat in this chair. We wandered around and headed up to Torrey Pines State Beach and Reserve. Unfortunately, I believe, because we got there late they were no longer allowing cars on the top level. My husband is an old fellow, well sort of, with not very good knees and as we were not allowed to drive to the top parking lot at that time of day we had to give it a miss. We will be back.
On our way back to San Diego we stopped at the Torrey Pines glider Port. So cool . There were so many glider floating around. We had never seen gliders that take off by running, just right of course, and taking off over the water. It was really nice there and I would strongly recommend this to anyone. So worth a stop.
We did drive by the Birch Aquarian and Salk Institute but at that point we were not up to the stop. And there you go, Day 1 in San Diego.
So far we are just loving it. Will be back with more, not intention to bore.
Mar 15th, 2008 | 02:16 PM
#5
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 268
Likes: 0
You sound just like me with your first paragraph. Thanks though for your report as we are headed there in April, driving from Santa Monica (visting). Looking for "tips" and "not to miss" kind of things........Looking forward to the rest.
Mar 15th, 2008 | 02:22 PM
#7
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 9,285
Likes: 0
Sprig- great report....that Glider port is great, isn't it! I forgot about that. That is certainly something to add to the recommended list. I have some recommendations while you are here: 1) for a great view, go to Island Prime restaurant, near the airport and have a drink at the bar, Level C. Amazing view right on the water of the san diego skyline. 2) I like the Estancia hotel in La Jolla for a drink at Mustang and Burro's bar. Sit outside by the giant fireplace. This is not uniquely san diego but still nice. 3) Try shopping on Cedros Ave. in Solana beach.
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Mar 15th, 2008 | 09:41 PM
#8
Original Poster
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 133
Likes: 0
Day Two - We had chosen San Diego because we wanted to golf and sight-see of course and enjoy the warm weather. I wanted to avoid the really high-priced courses because we were only two and I am not a great golfer. I have been golfing quite a while and don't hold anyone up but I am not good. I don't think I try to be. I just love being outside on the course and hitting the ball. It is a lot more fun when you have a good round than bad for sure but I hate being paired up, especially with hotshots as I usually feel that I am ruining their round and they often ruin mine. We played at Arrowood near Oceanside, which is really a very nice course and quite good as well. Actually it was a little tough for our first round of the year but we had a good time. The only downside that it was a little backedup, waiting on every hole which doesn't do much for your game.
If was pretty late by the time we got off and we stopped at the 19th hole before heading back. Boy we were really surprised at the traffic on I-5 heading back to San Diego. Now we understand about Southern California traffic.
Back in Pacific Beach we went looking for Seafood which didn't seem as plentiful as we expected. So we ended up at Joe's crab shack. We liked it. I know that there are lots of posts pro and con but we had mussels, whcih were great, followed by Dungeoness crab which was not bad and all and all it wasn't a bad experience. The decor is a little different, intentionally of course but we didn't think it was bad. We got there a little later than most people on a Monday night I gather. It was cool for Day 2 in California.
Tuesday we visited the San Diego Zoo, a must I heard from everyone. We hadn't been to a zoo in something like 30 years, when we last visited Toronto Zoo, with our kids when they were young.
By the way Toronto has a very nice zoo and we were surprised that San Diego Zoo was much smaller, 100 acres compared to Toronto's 710 acres, one of the largest zoos in the world.
That being said we thought the San Diego Zoo was great. San Diego has about 800 species of animals compared to Toronto's 460. It wasn't a contest though because I think they are both great. We found San Diego well layed out and wandered through it for the entire day and still didn't see everything. We loved the pandas. The last ones we saw were in Beijing zoos and the ones in San Diego looked much more comfortable. The zoo does a lot of work with endangerd species and is a really great place. Quite different for us. We planned on going for a couple of hours and spent the day, well spent.
Back to Pacific Beach and time for some Mexican food. We ate at Gringo's which is a really pretty place. We sat on the patio under very warm heaters and really enjoyed it. It is a lively place. We weren't blown away by the food. It was OK but I guess we expected more.
We just loved going back to our condo on the beach for the beautiful sunsets. The die hard surfers were out there till the last ray died. I think you have to have a lot of patience as a surfer waiting for that perfect wave.
The next day was Wednesday and time to golf again. We ended up back at Oceanside, determined this time to finish a little earlier and to tackle I-5 in the daylight which we did. We golfed San Luis Rey Downs and had a pretty good time. The course is not exactly in good shape. We were so surprised at all the dead trees. It is in a flood plane apparently but if anyone can tell us what happened to all the trees we would really be interested. The back nine wasn't so bad but the front was really in bad shape, especially the trees.
We ended early and got back to the beach before the traffic got bad, watched the beautiful sunset and stayed in for the night. The weather was absolutely incredible for the entire week that we were there.
Thursday we had to visit the USS Midway. I was not looking forward to this as military stuff is not really my idea of a good time but my husband just had to see it. Again we thought we would pop in and out in a couple of hours but you really do need about 4 hours to get through it. I was pretty impressed with the tour. The self-guided audio tour is really well-done. It is quite independent so you can wander around at your own pace. You really get a feel of what the ship was like when it was in action. I have to admit I found it really interesting. We did the entire thing from top to bottom and looked at all the aircraft, twice I think. Definitely a worthwile way to spend a day.
Afterward we headed downtown to check out Horton Plaza and the Gaslamp area. The older buildings in the area have been beautifully restored and we really enjoyed our walk around. It is too bad that more cities can't manage to keep their historic buildings the way San Diego has. That combined with the great shopping and all the great restaurants make it a really great area. We stopped at Trattoria La Strada on 5th Avenue for the best pasta I have tasted in years. We sat outside and enjoyed the evening under the the heaters as the day had really cooled off and we unfortunately we still dressed for the sun. The end to another great day in San Diego.
We couldn't believe how quickly are week was going.
Friday, our last day and we hadn't been to Coronado, toured the harbour or visited the aquarium. My turn to pick today, after our military tour the day before, and I really wanted to visit Tijuana, although I am not sure why. I guess I had heard so much about it. We were going to take the trolley down and walk across but my husband wasn't that keen and because it was Friday we were worried about the lines at the border when we came back across. We heard they were heavier on the weekends so we chose to take an afternoon bus tour. We didn't really want to shop a lot, just look around a little. We traveled down with San Diego Scenic tours. We ate lunch there and really enjoyed this Mexican food. I guess it was really authentic because we were in Mexico. We have been to Mexico before, Puerta Vallarta, but it wasn't quite the same as Tijuana. The bus driver was an interesting fellow and had lots of stories to tell us and made the trip very interesting. We were particularly interested in the double fences at the border, particulary with all the crosses on the Mexican side, indicating those that gave their lives try to get across to the U.S.
That was for sure the most interesting part of the tour and I must say the local cover provided by our driver/tour guide really added to that. We didn't buy much, a couple of bottles of tequila and that was about all. We were a little disappointed that we missed the last sunset as we got back from Tijuana after dark.
Back at the beach we ate our last dinner at Chateau Orleans in La Jolla. It is a really artsy little place and we really liked surroundings and the music. They had a bluesy fellow singing and it was really nice. The food was not bad but not as good as we expected although I find that by the end of the week of holidays we are getting a little hard to please with restuarant meals. It was a fun last evening.
We tried to make our holiday a combination of relaxation which included touring around, golfing and lots of walks on the beach. We had always heard what a great city San Diego was to visit and it was absolutely true. We aren't too upset about the things we didn't see because we know we will be back. Next time I think we will stay for longer than a week.
Saturday morning it was time to go home but there was huge storm happening at home. Luckily we weren't stuck at the airport, our plane actually got out and we made it home even though there was so much snow that we didn't know where to park. Big change for our beautiful Southern California week. We loved San Diego and can't wait to go back.
Thanks for listening and hope that there was something of value in this report. I know how much all of you Fodorites help me when I am planning a trip and always feel quite guilty for not giving more back.
If was pretty late by the time we got off and we stopped at the 19th hole before heading back. Boy we were really surprised at the traffic on I-5 heading back to San Diego. Now we understand about Southern California traffic.
Back in Pacific Beach we went looking for Seafood which didn't seem as plentiful as we expected. So we ended up at Joe's crab shack. We liked it. I know that there are lots of posts pro and con but we had mussels, whcih were great, followed by Dungeoness crab which was not bad and all and all it wasn't a bad experience. The decor is a little different, intentionally of course but we didn't think it was bad. We got there a little later than most people on a Monday night I gather. It was cool for Day 2 in California.
Tuesday we visited the San Diego Zoo, a must I heard from everyone. We hadn't been to a zoo in something like 30 years, when we last visited Toronto Zoo, with our kids when they were young.
By the way Toronto has a very nice zoo and we were surprised that San Diego Zoo was much smaller, 100 acres compared to Toronto's 710 acres, one of the largest zoos in the world.
That being said we thought the San Diego Zoo was great. San Diego has about 800 species of animals compared to Toronto's 460. It wasn't a contest though because I think they are both great. We found San Diego well layed out and wandered through it for the entire day and still didn't see everything. We loved the pandas. The last ones we saw were in Beijing zoos and the ones in San Diego looked much more comfortable. The zoo does a lot of work with endangerd species and is a really great place. Quite different for us. We planned on going for a couple of hours and spent the day, well spent.
Back to Pacific Beach and time for some Mexican food. We ate at Gringo's which is a really pretty place. We sat on the patio under very warm heaters and really enjoyed it. It is a lively place. We weren't blown away by the food. It was OK but I guess we expected more.
We just loved going back to our condo on the beach for the beautiful sunsets. The die hard surfers were out there till the last ray died. I think you have to have a lot of patience as a surfer waiting for that perfect wave.
The next day was Wednesday and time to golf again. We ended up back at Oceanside, determined this time to finish a little earlier and to tackle I-5 in the daylight which we did. We golfed San Luis Rey Downs and had a pretty good time. The course is not exactly in good shape. We were so surprised at all the dead trees. It is in a flood plane apparently but if anyone can tell us what happened to all the trees we would really be interested. The back nine wasn't so bad but the front was really in bad shape, especially the trees.
We ended early and got back to the beach before the traffic got bad, watched the beautiful sunset and stayed in for the night. The weather was absolutely incredible for the entire week that we were there.
Thursday we had to visit the USS Midway. I was not looking forward to this as military stuff is not really my idea of a good time but my husband just had to see it. Again we thought we would pop in and out in a couple of hours but you really do need about 4 hours to get through it. I was pretty impressed with the tour. The self-guided audio tour is really well-done. It is quite independent so you can wander around at your own pace. You really get a feel of what the ship was like when it was in action. I have to admit I found it really interesting. We did the entire thing from top to bottom and looked at all the aircraft, twice I think. Definitely a worthwile way to spend a day.
Afterward we headed downtown to check out Horton Plaza and the Gaslamp area. The older buildings in the area have been beautifully restored and we really enjoyed our walk around. It is too bad that more cities can't manage to keep their historic buildings the way San Diego has. That combined with the great shopping and all the great restaurants make it a really great area. We stopped at Trattoria La Strada on 5th Avenue for the best pasta I have tasted in years. We sat outside and enjoyed the evening under the the heaters as the day had really cooled off and we unfortunately we still dressed for the sun. The end to another great day in San Diego.
We couldn't believe how quickly are week was going.
Friday, our last day and we hadn't been to Coronado, toured the harbour or visited the aquarium. My turn to pick today, after our military tour the day before, and I really wanted to visit Tijuana, although I am not sure why. I guess I had heard so much about it. We were going to take the trolley down and walk across but my husband wasn't that keen and because it was Friday we were worried about the lines at the border when we came back across. We heard they were heavier on the weekends so we chose to take an afternoon bus tour. We didn't really want to shop a lot, just look around a little. We traveled down with San Diego Scenic tours. We ate lunch there and really enjoyed this Mexican food. I guess it was really authentic because we were in Mexico. We have been to Mexico before, Puerta Vallarta, but it wasn't quite the same as Tijuana. The bus driver was an interesting fellow and had lots of stories to tell us and made the trip very interesting. We were particularly interested in the double fences at the border, particulary with all the crosses on the Mexican side, indicating those that gave their lives try to get across to the U.S.
That was for sure the most interesting part of the tour and I must say the local cover provided by our driver/tour guide really added to that. We didn't buy much, a couple of bottles of tequila and that was about all. We were a little disappointed that we missed the last sunset as we got back from Tijuana after dark.
Back at the beach we ate our last dinner at Chateau Orleans in La Jolla. It is a really artsy little place and we really liked surroundings and the music. They had a bluesy fellow singing and it was really nice. The food was not bad but not as good as we expected although I find that by the end of the week of holidays we are getting a little hard to please with restuarant meals. It was a fun last evening.
We tried to make our holiday a combination of relaxation which included touring around, golfing and lots of walks on the beach. We had always heard what a great city San Diego was to visit and it was absolutely true. We aren't too upset about the things we didn't see because we know we will be back. Next time I think we will stay for longer than a week.
Saturday morning it was time to go home but there was huge storm happening at home. Luckily we weren't stuck at the airport, our plane actually got out and we made it home even though there was so much snow that we didn't know where to park. Big change for our beautiful Southern California week. We loved San Diego and can't wait to go back.
Thanks for listening and hope that there was something of value in this report. I know how much all of you Fodorites help me when I am planning a trip and always feel quite guilty for not giving more back.
