by Terry HunefeldSan Diego is the one of the world’s best vacation destinations. The San Diego Bay teems with life and surprises – its near-perfect weather make exploring it fun and interesting. You can take a moonlight paddle in a kayak, watch every-evening fireworks at Sea World or visit seventy miles of palm tree lined beaches to swim, surf or just chill. Following are six activities and things to do in San Diego that should not be missed on your visit.
1. Vibrant, diverse, and endlessly entertaining, the Gaslamp Quarter is where San Diego’s colorful past comes alive and exists hand in hand with modern development and commerce in an active urban setting. Covering eighteen blocks of downtown San Diego, “the Gaslamp” offers dozens of specialty shops, boutiques, art galleries, hip restaurants, fun bars and avant-garde playhouses. Here you’ll find an architectural mix of hip restaurants and bars inside renovated turn-of-the-century Victorian architecture. Most of the shops keep late hours, so delightful shopping, drinking, and dining can occur virtually simultaneously, making the Quarter one of San Diego’s most popular travel destinations.
2. Get Culture And Fun: Take in an organ concerts at 2 p.m. any Sunday at the famous Spreckels Organ Pavilion in pastoral Balboa Park. The Organ Pavilion features one of world’s biggest outdoor pipe organs and has been a San Diego landmark since 1914. Here you can see organists from all over the globe play their traditional favorites and fun show tunes on the huge thirty-two-foot pipes. A fun time will be had by all.
3. Star Watch from Balboa Park on the first Wednesday of each month courtesy of the San Diego Astronomy Association who sets up their big telescopes to offer guests a great view of stars, planets and the rings of Saturn in the night sky. One of the greatest thrills for anyone is to view the heavens through a telescope. Have you ever seen Jupiter’s moons? How about star clusters? Join them after dark outside the Reuben Fleet Science Center on the first Wednesday of each month.
4. Surf’s up! Head up to Oceanside and visit the California Surf Museum. Antique and classic surfboards along with profiles of famous surfers are give you an insider’s look at this unique SoCal sport. The museum is dedicated to archiving and displaying surfboards, surf art, skateboards, surf memorabilia, photographs and historical videos. Their “timeline of surfboards” exhibit includes wooden boards from the early 1900s all the way to today’s modern boards. There is something surreal in combining education with what is considered the ultimate beach bum sport.
5. Explore the tide pools just north of Swami’s Beach in Encinitas when the tide is low and see things most people never see: Hairy hermit crabs, willowy sea anemones, yawning barnacles, and perhaps even a two-spot octopus are a few of the many species that might be discovered in the nooks and crannies of tide pools. Low tides during convenient daylight hours are most common in the winter during full and new moons. San Diego travel tip: check the newspaper tide tables.
6. How can we not mention the beach? With over 65 miles of coastline, this best part of San Diego is absolutely free – and all the beaches are just perfect for trying your hand at surfing or boogie-boarding.
Where to stay? San Diego has many great accommodations from romantic inns to hotels to bed and breakfasts. Here are two informative websites with useful lodging information: Bed and Breakfasts in Carlsbad CA and Hotels in Del Mar California.
