Hey all! Just looking for some suggestions. I’m being sent to San Diego during the last week in September (starting the 26th) for a seminar. The seminar ends on Thursday, but I’m planning to stay til at least Saturday, maybe Sunday. Other than the zoo (that’s a given), does anyone have any suggestions for stuff to do?
Please keep the following in mind:
I am a female in my mid-twenties.
After Thursday, I will pretty much be by myself (all alone in a big ol’ city), so I’d like to play it SEMI-safe.
I won’t have a rental car, but if a certain suggestion sounds fabulous I suppose I could get my hands on one for a day trip or something (although I’d really rather not). So public transportation (bus, cab, subway) will be my main means of travel.
Money is no object. Well, that’s not true, but I’m willing to listen to suggestions that may be in the pricier range, then I’ll decide whether or not my savings account takes a hit.
That’s it. Thanks in advance for the input.
(And I have no idea why I decided to go “undercover” with this. I guess I figured I’d like to be a little stealthy this morning. Gosh, I like that word. Stealthy. Almost sexy… almost. Oops, sorry, got lost in my own little world there for a sec.)
[ul][li]Tijuana (recommend daytime for solitary female) - trolley takes you there[/li][li]Balboa Park (the zoo is part of this). Think Smithsonian West - lots of museums, could spend lots of time here.[/li][li]Old Town - historic part of San Diego[/li][li]Sea World[/li][li]Padres game[/li][li]downtown shopping mall - name might be something like Hudson Plaza - it’s open air, but covered & has a terrific variety of places in the food court.[/li][li]beaches[/ul][/li]
Not bad for somebody from El Paso, Sue. It’s Horton Plaza, not Hudson, but all your other suggestions were right on the mark.
Other possibilities:
The Hotel Del Coronado (across the bridge from downtown).
Cabrillo National Monument on Point Loma
Seaport Village.
La Jolla Cove.
Del Mar Races (may be over by the time you get here.)
The roller coaster in Mission Bay. (For that matter, sailing, windsurfing, waterskiing, etc. on Mission Bay.)
The Gaslamp District downtown has some great restaurants and clubs. Or if you’re interested in theater, the Old Globe in Balboa Park is the place to go. Harbor tours are always popular, but I’ve never actually taken one. On the other hand, whale watching tours should just be starting up again by then. Don’t try to do everything though!
I’ve only been there once, and spent most of my time at the zoo, but the rest of my time I spent at the Balboa Park museums. I loved the Model Railroad museum. You won;t go wrong there.
“Sherlock Holmes once said that once you have eliminated the
impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be
the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible.
The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it that the merely improbable lacks.”
– Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective
Hey, I thought of another one. In Del Mar they give balloon rides. Apparently Del Mar has ideal conditions for balloon, because the prevailing winds at different altitudes blow different directions. The pilots can actually fly in a big circle if they know the winds well enough.
I’ve always wanted to try that, but my wife is too timid. (Although she says she just doesn’t want to waste the money.)
Nony: I can think of worse places to hold a seminar Thing you forgot to mention is where the seminar will be held/where you’ll be staying, especially if you don’t want to rent a car and only have a couple of days free. BTW, renting a car when you don’t know the city you’re in and you don’t have a navigator can be a bit of a problem. Not to mention, in this specific case, that San Diego - which I LOVE, incidentally - is probably the freeway-tailgaiting/speeding capital of the world (Greg will probably back me up on this, unless he is one of THEM
Balboa Park is an excellent suggestion. One additional spot we really like when we go there is La Jolla (which is a suburb of SD to the North); you can, among other things, stroll along Coast Boulevard, where the view is not to be missed. If “tourist attraction (trap)” is not your forte, I would skip Tijuana altogether.
P.S.: If you can, try to stick around until end of March, especially if you’re from a Northern State. You’ll thank me for it!!
from my friend Jeni: “I go to San Diego every chance I get. My favorite thing to do is go to La Jolla in the evening and watch the waves roll in. If you miss this you miss it all. This is the best part of San Diego. Number 2 is the gorillas at the San Diego Zoo.” Jeni kind of looks like a gorilla herself, so that’s understandable. No! Don’t hit me! Ahhh! LOL
Thing you forgot to mention is where the seminar will be held/where you’ll be staying, especially if you don’t want to rent a car and only have a couple of days free. BTW, renting a car when you don’t know the city you’re in and you don’t have a navigator can be a bit of a problem. Not to mention, in this specific case, that San Diego - which I LOVE, incidentally - is probably the freeway-tailgaiting/speeding capital of the world (Greg will probably back me up on this, unless he is one of THEM 
