We traveled to sunny San Diego last week. However, it wasn’t all that sunny. #Boo 🙁 While I prefer hot, sunny weather over cool, overcast days, my husband loved the break from the Texas heat, and we still had a fabulous time. I am not complaining, because with all the flooding and devastation in Texas following Hurricane Harvey, we are feeling pretty lucky right about now.
San Diego has been on my bucket list for quite some time. My husband and I had planned to take a trip here — but a certain someone popped the question last year and our course changed direction. #blessed We are super excited to travel here to celebrate our 1st anniversary. We traveled a bit early to celebrate, due to some work schedule/commitments, with our anniversary not until early September.
Where we stayed
We stayed in the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego. It is in the heart of the city, which allows access to the bustling downtown area, and is within walking distance to a variety of restaurants and bars, the San Diego Convention Center, Petco Park, etc. Our hotel, Hotel Indigo, is only four miles from the San Diego Airport. San Diego has a huge variety of attractions and hotels. You can find a basic no frills hotel or a luxury hotel, depending on your preference and what you plan to do.
The hotel was comfortable, pet friendly, and the service was excellent. They had a rooftop bar called Level 9, from which you could see Petco Park. The room did not have a kitchenette, which means no cooking for me. #darntheluck But it did have a Keurig coffeemaker and mini fridge, which was really all we needed. This hotel also offers Aveda products for bathroom toiletries, which was a nice #bonus. I prefer a kitchenette if we are staying a week or so, as I don’t like eating every single meal out. But for a long weekend, the kitchenette was really sufficient. We found a CVS nearby for incidentals and late night snacks. . . . and chocolate. Because #onvacation
If you aren’t familiar with San Diego, it is home to several beaches, the San Diego Zoo, Leggoland Park, The USS Midway Museum, Art Museums, Historic Old Town, and more. It’s a happening city with so many options, we were excited and overwhelmed with all the fun things to do. Thanks to some tips from friends who had visited San Diego, we had some ideas of where we wanted to go. We wanted to see as much as we could, knowing we couldn’t cover it all in our short stay. This city really has something for everyone. Our main mission was all things beaches. Well, that and all things tacos! 🙂
Mission Beach and Old Town
Warning: The beach pictures here are slightly drab. Blame it on the overcast skies on our trips to the beach. Every. Single. Day. But we did the best we could and caught a beautiful sunset on the last day of the tour (pics below).
We chose to walk a lot to work in some exercise while sight seeing. I may have even lost a pound if it hadn’t been for all those fabulous fish/shrimp/lobster tacos. #youonlyliveonce #caloriesdontcountonvacation We walked all over the Gaslamp Quarter, and found a lot of Instagram worthy places. We also walked to Seaport Village for some shopping, and walked to dinner and brunch/lunch each day. If our desination was over a couple of miles away, we found a ride via Uber. A note about transportation. San Diego has many options for getting around town. There is the Metro transportation system, the trolley, taxi cabs, Uber and Lyft. We had never taken Uber before, and were pleasantly surprised at how easy and convenient it was to use. We opted for the ‘pool’ option, which means you share the ride with other riders. While this may not always be the best option, it worked out very well for us. We met a lot of interesting and friendly people while riding Uber who shared their experiences in San Diego, and shared their recommendations. The pool option saved money, as it was the least costly Uber option. Our taxi ride from the airport to the hotel (approximately 4 miles) cost us $25. Our Uber ride from the hotel to the airport (the same 4 miles), cost less than $9.00. #youcandothemath
Old Town San Diego is considered the “birthplace” of San Diego, where the first mission was established in 1769. You can shop, visit the museum, eat at one of over 25 restaurants or take a Trolley tour of Old Town.
Hotel Del Coronado
We visited Hotel Del Coronado, at the advice of many friends and family, and were so glad we did. The island is only two miles from downtown San Diego, across the San Diego Bay. You can access the island by boat, ferry, or by the Coronado Bay Bridge. Hotel Del (as the locals call it) is a luxury hotel built in the 1800s. It is a majestic hotel that is designated a National Historic Landmark. It has hosted many celebrities, dignataries and U. S. presidents through the years. It is the 2nd largest wooden structure in the United States, and also was featured in the 1958 film ‘Some Like it Hot’ with Marilyn Monroe and Tony Curtis.
Pacific Beach and La Jolla
Our next day trip was to Pacific Beach and La Jolla. We visited these beautiful sites on Sunday, our last full day in San Diego.
Along the boardwalk of Pacific Beach (PB, as the locals call it), you can rent bikes, and we saw many people on roller blades, roller skates, skateboards, and segways. It was quite crowded on this particular Sunday, so we played it safe and walked the boardwalk rather than riding a bike.
The Sea Lions were quite comfortable chillin on this rock. They were adorable, and are one of the popular tourist attractions in La Jolla.
La Jolla is a small beach, with sandstone cliffs and a small surf in the summer months. It is ideal for swimmers and scuba divers, where the water visibility can sometimes exceed 30 feet, however, the swells can be very strong, requiring excellent swimming skills to navigate the waves. The Cove is an ecologically protected marine reserve, therefore, surfboards, boogie boards and other flotation devices are not permitted. There is also no fishing allowed, and all sea animals are protected in this area. It is the most photographed beach in San Diego. If the sun had been out, I am certain we could have captured much more appealing photos. For more pictures and info about La Jolla, go here.
Favorite part of the trip:
The Sunset Cruise with San Diego Sailing Tours.
There are many options for touring San Diego. There are bike tours, trolley tours and cruises. We chose a sunset sailboat cruise to see San Diego from a different perspective. We booked a private group sailing tour, on a sailboat that accommodates six, plus the Captain. We met at Cabrillo Isle Marina. We hopped on the boat with Captain Andy, and were joined with some ladies from Tucson, Arizona and all became fast friends.
We had the best time cruising around and enjoying the city from the water. To see the San Diego skyline from the water at sunset was spectacular. We were able to witness ‘the Golden Hour’ where the sun begins to set, shining on the downtown skyline which gives a golden hue.
The Sunset was fabulous and since this trip was to celebrate our anniversary, we stole a kiss at sunset on the cruise. We are celebrating a whole year of marriage — and we still like each other. Haha
Where we ate
I could really write a whole post on the fabulous restaurants alone in San Diego. There are so many choices, with a variety of food fare. Seafood and Mexican food were high on our list while visiting. We also stumbled upon a few surprisingly good restaurants that weren’t seafood or Mexican food, shocking–I know! We were never disappointed with any food choice in San Diego. The only disappointment was we did not make it to Little Italy, but we will save that for another trip.
Rockin Baja Lobster
There is one location in the Gaslamp Quarter, and one in Old Town. We visited both, because #lobstertacos
The lobster tacos were excellent, as were the chicken nachos. The blood orange margs were award winning. They had me at #fruitydrinks
Voted best taco of Pacific Beach for several years and best taco of San Diego in 2015. Fabulous fish and shrimp tacos. It’s right off the beach, so casual dress, even a swimsuit and cover up is appropriate.
Café 21 was a unique farm to table place serving brunch, lunch and dinner. They serve organic, gluten free, hormone free and locally sourced food. The dress code was everything from summer dresses to yoga pants for brunch. Excellent food, with healthy options. The sourdough French toast looked to-die-for. We didn’t try it, but salivated over the person next to us enjoying it. She let me take a picture of it. I might have stolen a bite, but she was watching too close. lol.
Serving fresh oysters and other seafood with a New Orleans, French Quarter flare. The food is slow kettle cooked, with a variety of menu options. I don’t eat oysters, but while the hubs enjoyed his oysters, I had a nice salad with salmon. Boring — maybe, delicious — definitely.
A popular spot with the locals, serving California coastal cuisine. This is the place to enjoy good food, brunch and/or local craft beer while watching the sunset on Pacific Beach. Since is right off the beach, people wear anything from a swimsuit and coverup to sundresses or shorts and a golf shirt.
A casual neighborhood grill with numerous burger choices. Have fun building a burger to your own tastes, and build your own mac and cheese as well. Two words: Truffle oil, garlic mac and cheese. Okay, technically, that’s more than two words, but that stuff was one of the highlights of the trip and #thebombdotcom
I suppose I should have warned you this was a lengthy post. I hope you have found some useful information, and this post will encourage you to visit San Diego. We can’t say enough good things about it. Have you been there? What was your favorite thing about San Diego? I would love to know.
