San Diego
/Overview
San Diego
Things you need to know:
Plan your day trips to avoid peak traffic times.
Hit the farmers Markets.
Check Groupon for whale watching trips and other activities. https://www.groupon.com/local/san-diego
Favorite Places:
Windansea Beach at Sunset
Mt. Soledad
USS Midway Museum
Coronado Island - photos of the cityscape
Ocean Beach Farmers Market
Scripps Pier Beach - amazing photo opportunities and a fun beach to play on
San Diego - day by day
Day 1 – Sunday
We arrived at San Diego in the early afternoon. We first went to our hotel to unload our rental car not wanting to tempt any thievery. Next we decided to get the lay of the land and our first meal in the city and headed out to Seaport Village.
It was extremely windy as this was the day of the huge windstorm. It felt like a typical spring day at the Oregon Coast so we weren’t too put off by the weather. At Seaport Village we found a nice little place to enjoy some fish tacos. (insert photo here) They were pretty good, but we were sure there must be better ones in the city where they were created. A slight walk around the corner brought us to a cupcake shop which boasts winning Food Networks Cupcake Wars. (insert photo here)
We enjoyed walking along the promenade taking a few photos (well more than a few). The wind was really kicking up and so we decided to go on out to the Children’s Pool at La Jolla because it’s a great place to take photos of waves breaking against a sea wall.
After a short drive north, we made it to the sea wall where we discovered that we weren’t the only one with this idea. We were met with a beautiful rainbow, lovely light, and nice big waves. (insert photos here) One thing that we’ve learned since is that the largest waves don’t come at high tide. There is too much water to get a good spray. The best splash action comes mid-tide.
Seaport Village –
Food – ranging from nicer restaurants to smaller cafes
Photos – Water front, sculptures, people, naval ship, pier, boats.
Day 2 - Monday
Our first full day in town, we decided to check out Balboa Park. We’d already decided to not go to the famous zoo on this trip, but we wanted a taste of the famous park. Our first stop was to check out the Botanical Garden. An orchid show was on display. The flowers were quite beautiful. There is a wonderful water garden complete with a family of ducks in front of the Botanical building. Later in the morning the local musicians arrived to play for the crowds.
Each museum has its own building. These buildings are beautiful reminding me of what I’ve seen in Europe. There is beauty in all of the details. I loved the covered walkways with ornate lighting throughout. Each museum seems to have its own unique feature from large tolling bells that play songs as well as alert you to the time of day it is, towers, water gardens, indoor atriums, and interesting sculptures. In the center of the square is a gorgeous water fountain. One thing we learned is that several of the museums aren’t open on Mondays.
Balboa Park –
Food – ranging from nice restaurants to smaller cafes and coffee shops
Photos – Buildings, water features, flowers, people, sculptures, Japanese Garden, art, and the zoo if you have the extra money.
Mt. Soledad –
We stumbled across this beautiful monument built on a scenic hillside. There are beautiful views of the city and the coastline. The walls surrounding the base of the cross are covered with beautiful memories to our veterans.
Food – only what you bring
Photos – city view, coastal view, great reflection photos, people, flag, cross.
Scripps Pier – Institute of Oceanography 8622 Kennel Way, La Jolla, CA
We were intending to go on the beach at Scripps Pier, but the sunset was quickly approaching, and we couldn’t find it. Later in the week we learned our error. Our mistake paid off though because we were able to capture some nice sunset photos from a place above the pier. When you pull in the parking lot it looks like it is only for school use, but if you turn left and drive down the hill you will find a parking lot. There are several nice places to walk into and capture some nice photos.
Food – only what you bring
Photos – nice flowers and plant life, ocean views, palm trees
Day 3 – Tuesday
USS Midway Museum
This museum is filled with planes and military artifacts displayed in very realistic conditions. It’s also extremely interesting. The lighting is low unless you are up on the flight deck. It was definitely worth the money. ($18)
Food – there is a café on board
Photos – planes, military items, water views, city views, people
Whale Watching Tour – tours leave from the dock beside the Midway Museum. You can park in the parking lot that at the museum and leave your car for 12 hours. It’s a pretty reasonable charge.
We chose to go on the Adventure Hornblower tour. I was able to get a 2 for 1 price groupon. I appreciated the larger boat because I tend to get seasick. I was surprised at how far down the coastline the boat traveled. We did see whales, but they were pretty far away. We did get a nice tail shot though. I will add that if you get seasick, be prepared. When the spot a while, they gun the engine and turn the boat.
There were other whale watching boats that were able to get closer to the whales because they were smaller. The ones I remember were catamarans. I think I would go out of one of those if I were to go again.
Food – there was a snack bar on the boat
Photos – Well, pretty well everywhere you looked was something pretty to photograph. There were some amazing views of the city scape from out in the boat.
Bob Hope Memorial Park
This park is located beside the Midway Museum. There is a giant statue of a sailor kissing a nurse. There is also a very moving tribute to Bob Hope and the military. By default, we stayed for the sunset. It was a decent place for sunset photos.
Food – There is a nice restaurant in the parking lot.
Photos – Midway, Memorial, water, boats, people, sunset.
South of the airport off of Harbor Drive there is a parking lot that follows the water. We parked in this lot and found a small dock to walk out on so we could take some night time photos.
Day 4 – Wednesday
Cesar Chavez Park – This park is at the base of the Coronado Bridge on the San Diego side. There is a long pier that goes way out into the water allowing some nice shots of whatever ships are docked nearby and of the bridge. The park itself has a playground for any kiddos that might be traveling with you. Other than this, there isn’t much around the park.
Coronado Island – We drove to the island the first time we visited it. We stopped at a park right after we crossed the bridge. It was a nice place to take some interesting shots of the architecture of the bridge as well as some boat shots by the water.
I talked to a local about a good place to get coffee and lunch. He recommended a coffee shop in town. It was a winner. The town is really nice and filled with interesting shops and eateries.
Of course, no visit is complete without a walk around the iconic Coronado Hotel. It looks like it was fit into Hawaii quite easily. I loved all the palm trees and the beautiful blue water surrounding the grounds. We mistakenly skipped going to the beach while there. I would definitely do that if I had a do over. There are plenty of great shops and cafes on the hotel grounds.
Point Loma – There is a park that is on a high point allowing nice views of the channel, ocean, naval base, and the city. The park itself is full of history of the area. There is a lighthouse open for self-guided tours. There is a day use fee, but it’s not too much.
Food – only what you bring
Photos – great shots from up high, lighthouse, plant life, water and ocean, city, naval base
Ocean Beach Farmers Market – A great place for good food and people/dog photos. We loved walking out on the pier. Also, the sunset was fabulous setting under the pier. We highly recommend the BBQ brisket parfaits. It’s a bit of a party atmosphere, complete with band.
Food – plenty to choose from
Photos – beach, pier, ocean, people, dogs
Sunset Cliffs – If you plan on going to sunset cliffs, be sure to go there in the late afternoon because that’s when the sun hits the cliffs and gives some nice colors. These were kind of a letdown for us because in Oregon we have so many nice cliffs. I think we’d skip this place if we had a do over. The cliffs are pretty enough in the right light, but the sunset opportunities are kind of boring. There’s not much in the foreground to make a photo interesting.
Food – there is a town nearby with plenty of places to eat
Photos – beach, cliffs, people
Day 5 – Thursday
Maritime Museum – We didn’t pay the money to tour the boats, be we got some nice shots from the waterfront. Next time, we will pay to tour the boats and pay the extra for a harbor tour.
Food – plenty of places along the waterfront, but we chose Anthony’s
Photos – water, boats, people
Anthony’s for lunch – it’s on the waterfront near the Maritime museum. There are great seats outside and you get a nice view of the boats that are part of the Maritime museum.
Food – great seafood of course
Photos – the seagulls will pose quite nicely for you, boats from the Maritime museum, water
Ferry to Coronado- a very inexpensive way to enjoy being on the water. There are two ferries that go to Coronado. You can leave on one and come back on the other. The price is the same and the tickets are good for either landing. We took the one from the southern landing, near the conference center. The other ferry landing is north of Anthony’s restaurant. The ferry’s run on a very regular schedule. You never have to wait very long- unless you miss the last one for the night.
Food – only what you bring
Photos – a cheap way to get shots from the water
Coronado – There is so much to do on Coronado Island. At the ferry landing, there are many little tourist shops and eateries. There are beaches with great views. We didn’t play in the water, but I suppose you could if you wanted to do so. At the base of the bridge is a great park that offers some interesting photo opportunities. If you have a car, you can drive into the town and enjoy a vast number of nice shops and eateries. We talked to a local and found a great breakfast/lunch place.
Food – plenty of places to choose from
Photos – water, city scape, boats, bridge, people, beautiful buildings and landscapes
San Diego city scape from Coronado – We took the ferry over for our daytime shots. When you get off the ferry walk northwesterly (away from the bridge). On the beach in front of some apartments/condos is a great beach that you can get the iconic photos of the San Diego skyline.
Seaport Village – bike taxi. We enjoyed a short bike ride from Anthony’s restaurant to the south ferry landing. Prices for the bike taxis are negotiable.
Ocean Beach sunset – Gorgeous! We went to the farmer’s market the night before, after being disappointed at Sunset Cliffs, and got there just in time to see what we missed. It was definitely worth the repeat visit to capture the sunset. Be sure to leave plenty of time to find a parking spot. Traffic gets pretty intense. There is a free lot right at the base of the bridge. If you get there early enough, you might get lucky enough to find a spot. The town itself is a bit on the dirty/party side. If you are into the bar scene, you will probably love it. After walking past a restaurant window that looked into the kitchen where I saw a worker eating off a plate that was getting ready to make its way to the diner, I chose to find another town to eat in.
Food – plenty of places, but not my cup of tea
Photos – tons! Pier, ocean, interesting people
Gaslamp Quarter– oh my word. I don’t know how long we drove around trying to find the iconic sign, but it was a long time. Of course it didn’t help that the town’s Marti Gras celebration was taking place the next day. We finally found the sign. BTW it’s on the corner of 5th and L Street, very close to Hard Rock Hotel. There is a triangle area in the road that makes a nice spot to take your photos. We went at night to try to get some long exposure shots. I still need practice at those. There is a Ghirardelli Chocolate shop that stays open late at night. We shared a sundae at 11 pm.
Food – loads and loads of places – most for over 21 only though
Photos – great place for slow shutter speed shots, nice buildings and architecture, people for sure
Day 6 – Friday
Del Mar – train photos
At this beach there is a train track that runs on a cliff beside the beach. We parked along 15th street and walked toward the beach. At this point you are on the cliff above the cliff that the train runs along. It’s a great point to get a shot of a train with the ocean in the background. We didn’t have our cameras ready when a train went past. We saw two more trains while we were there. I’d guess they run about every 20 or 30 minutes. We walked down to the cliffs where the train tracks were running, but stayed very clear of the tracks. I got the closest to a moving train as I care to be.
Scripps Pier – reflection photos
I had done my research and knew when low tide was happening. I planned to go here during the lowest tide of our trip. It sure paid off. The reflections were beautiful. Dave really enjoyed taking photos of the surfers as well. California was having record waves this year and the surfers were out in force. Lucky us.
Windansea – sunset
We ended our day at Windansea Beach for sunset photos. I’d read how to take a great portrait and couldn’t wait to try it on Dave and I. You put your subject (in our case Dave and I) between the camera and the sun. Set your shutter speed for the sunset colors and set your camera to force the flash. Obviously I was using a tri-pod and a timer as well. After a few tries, I got a photo I was satisfied with and I released Dave from my photoshoot.
This beach was fabulous. There was so much to photograph while waiting for the sun to set. The colors were incredible. It’s up on a cliff, but the rocks go out quite a way so you can look back to get the great golden light on them. There is a lot of green that just glows. Oh, so much to photograph. This was way up there for sunset shots.
Day 7 – Saturday
Our flight didn’t leave until the afternoon and so we had some time after we checked out of our hotel so we went back to Little Italy. We were very happy to find out that Saturday market was there. There were blocks and blocks of such interesting things to sample and see. I wanted to be sure to eat some gelato while there. What a disappointment that was. We have better gelato in Portland. I’ll for sure skip that next time. I also wanted to get some pizza, but we were too full after eating our favorite BBQ parfait from the Saturday market. That really is good. It was by far our favorite food in San Diego. Who knew.