Pacific Beach is half an hour away? Google says it’s like 7 miles??? I’m not averse to walking!
I was also a huge fan of the Broken Yolk Cafe for breakfast or brunch.
I’d defer to the locals to say whether it’s still that good.
I wish they wouldn’t list the calories, or give me the redacted version. How’s your health–I know you’re not doing well, and I want to tell you I always look for your posts…
Encinitas to Pacific Beach is about 20 miles or so, so I think you’re looking at the wrong beach. PB is south of La Jolla and north of Mission Beach. With no traffic it’s less than 30 minutes. You definitely don’t want to walk it, but if you go, consider not taking the 5 to get there (even if it’s the fastest way). Taking Coast Highway/Camino Del Mar/Torrey Pines Road is much more scenic.
San Diego is vast and there are activities galore for any interest possible.
I guess the counter-question is What do you want to do?
The second factor is definitely How far are you willing to go?
I grew up in Sandy Eggo (technically in the East County but really more in the center of the overall county) and left 20 years ago, but even then there was an abundance of venues for every taste and activities for every interest and orientation. ‘North county’ (roughly UCSD & Miramar College, northward) probably still wants to secede and people probably still equate Chula Vist and the border towns to be ‘South county’ worth annexing. So from the north end to the Mexican border and from the Imperial County line to the Pacific Ocean, you can visit desert, mountains, ocean, cities, farmland, and all kinds of cultures in between.
My original thoughts were that you wanted to stick close to Encinitas. Without leaving town, there’s a botanical garden and you’ll be close to Moonlight Beach (therefore a good bar or six every few dozen yards). I seem to remember a Spiritual/Meditation center thereabouts, though it may have closed by now. Just a bit north, not far from the Oceanside airport, there was a nice little shooting range (they called themselves an academy) that I used to frequent. Farther inland is the old Wild Animal Park, which became Safariland (not to be confused with Lion Country Safari, which I think went out in the 1970’s) in Escondido. Farther south is Del Mar and the County Fairgrounds/Racetrack/convention venue. March might be a bit too early to wager on a horse, and don’t let Barbara Streisand know you saw her house…
Still farther south would be La Jolla, UCSD, Miramar (the Air Station isn’t as glamorous as it looks in the movies, but if you have an interest it’s there. Really, though, it would help tremendously to know your ages (ballpark to the decade?) and top 5 or 10 interests. From there, I bet I could suggest a couple dozen ‘don’t miss this’ attractions just from memory and the people who have already replied could list a couple dozen more and people who haven’t responded yet could list even a few more dozen.
That’ll keep you occupied for a few visits, at least.
–G!
And if you manage to get down around the Mission Beach & Sea World area, get yourself an early dinner at the Green Flash and stick around for quite a while. Tell us if you see it!
The Green Flash closed almost 10 years ago.
It’s pretty good. We try to make it there when we are out there.
Mid fifties, interested in walking the beach, hiking in parks, eating good food. This is where we’re staying–near Stone Steps and just south of Moonlight beach, looks like.
It’s perfectly fine but nothing that’s going to linger in your memory. (Though, I’m a snob.)
The best breakfast in town (SD proper) would be Izola croissants in downtown. The best that I know that’s more Northerly would probably be Sugar and Scribe in La Jolla.
If there’s a Snooze restaurant somewhere, that’s going to be your best breakfast diner. Great Maple is also good but not worth driving a long distance for.
Though, I should say that you need to get there before 8:30am or it’s probably not worth going. They run out of most of the fancy options pretty early.
Just steps from the sand - yes, indeedas!