Dr. Strangelove Travels

July 15, 2005 4:17 PM

San-Diego-business-trip-filter Guten Tag, the good Dr. Strangelove will in San Diego half-day August 6th, all day on the 7th, business on the 8th... What to do with the free time?

Strangelove can see the zoo (prison), go to Mexico (don't take the rental car!!!!) or...?
Any suggestions?
The Doctor is 24 and looking for something cool to waste time with, it is not only possible, it is essential!
The ocean is an idea, but the Doctor would have just returned from Mexico, Atlantic side, a couple of days before SD, so he may be ocean-out. Would not mind a nice restaurant by the beach to drink cheaply though…(is it safe to drink on the beach with a book?)
As well, what should be expected of SD and Mexico near SD?
Vielen dank!
Merkwurdichliebe

posted by strangelove to travel & transportation (8 comments total)

Here's some good advice that I got from AskMe when I asked about San Diego last summer.
posted by .kobayashi. at 5:25 PM on July 15, 2005

Augh, should have checked the archives, thanks for the link. How did you like SD? Did you head out to Mexico, the beach?
posted by strangelove at 5:32 PM on July 15, 2005

Dr., San Diego can cater to many tastes and interests. For a start, Balboa Park is beautiful. Great people-watching there and very scenic, great for taking photos.

There are so many things to do and see in that amount of time, it would be helpful to know if you have any specific interests. Having just come from Mexico, Tijuana would be a bore. Drinking on the beach is not legal in some places, but ok, if responsible, ie, no glass containers and preferably if it's not obviously an alcohol container. I would recomend the beach at Coronado. Beautiful place, a bit touristy, but an excuse to ride across the Coronado Bridge.

By the way, there are MANY great places to read and drink that are absolutely beautiful.
posted by snsranch at 5:35 PM on July 15, 2005

I just stopped in to advise you against going to Tijuana, no matter how cool somebody tells you it is, don't go. There is plenty of cool stuff to do in San Diego. Second the Coronado advice, it's a beautiful place, fun to walk around the Del Coronado.

The Gas Lamp distirct in downtown is trendy, but lively, and there are some good Italian places to eat. Pacific Beach is another hang out, very post college (which it sounds like applies to you), lots of bars, babes and beers.
posted by jonah at 8:05 PM on July 15, 2005

a) Third the recommendation to stay away from Tijuana. I went down there once as an adult with the idea to look for some fun, but I couldn't see any fun. All I could see was evidence of crippling, unimaginable poverty and corruption everywhere I looked and it made me sad as well as mildly fearful.

b) The Zoo is arguably the world's finest - you'd have to list it in the top 5 zoos of the world - but it is indeed a prison. If you would like to see something fantastically amazing and less prison-like, drive instead to the zoo-affiliated Wild Animal Park and take the splendid monorail to view native flora and fauna from all over the world, in habitat as painstakingly recreated as technology allows. If you do this at dusk it's even better; the monorail has amber lights that most of the animals can't see, and you get to see the nocturnal beasts on the prowl.

c) I love San Diego's Sea World. It's much nicer than other marine parks I've been to. The fact that it's set on a very nice little peninsula doesn't hurt; the ocean breeze blows through, the whole thing is beautifully landscaped, and it always fills me with joy just to be there walking around, never mind all the interesting exhibits to see. There are also trained-cetacean shows if that sort of thing amuses you.

d) If you head up to Del Mar, about 30 mi north of SD proper, get off at Del Mar Heights, head oceanward, turn right on El Camino Real, and then turn left on 15th Ave., you can find Jake's restaurant for a beer and burger on the beautiful Windansea beach; next door is the Poseidon, which is more martini and lobster/steak-ish. Or if you stay up on 15th ave, there are a couple seafood houses in that little patio - Epazote and Pacifica Del Mar, they were named last time I was there - where you can sit with a view of the ocean. There's also a little enoteca there that has a patio with roses in planters, but they keep changing the name.
posted by ikkyu2 at 11:27 AM on July 16, 2005

As one living in San Diego, I would recommend putting at the top of your list, if it's a clear day and you have a car, a short ride to Cabrillo National Monument, at the south end of the Point Loma peninsula. Bring your Golden Age or Golden Eagle pass, if you have either, for free entry -- otherwise, it's $5 to enter and park a car (with all occupants included). Harbor Drive goes west along the south edge of the airport (also east to downtown), and you take that west to Rosecrans which is Route 209 that goes all the way to the monument. Left (south) on Rosecrans/209 to Cannon St, right on Cannon to Catalina Blvd, left on Catalina all the way to the monument. (These turns are well-marked with pointers to the monument.) The views of San Diego harbor and the city, extending all the way to Tijuana, MX, are superb. There are great walks, an historic lighthouse, museums, historical movies, and other major attractions at the monument, which lies just south of an enormous US Navy cemetery.
posted by ozziemaland at 11:45 AM on July 16, 2005

All good suggestions, and I'd say that you should listen to ozziemaland: Cabrillo National Monument, on a clear day, is not to be missed.
posted by .kobayashi. at 12:39 PM on July 16, 2005

d) If you head up to Del Mar, about 30 mi north of SD proper, get off at Del Mar Heights, head oceanward, turn right on El Camino Real, and then turn left on 15th Ave., you can find Jake's restaurant for a beer and burger on the beautiful Windansea beach;

ikkyu2 means well, but these locations and directions are all messed up. First, El Camino Real lies about a mile east of Interstate 5, so you won't be able to reach it by going oceanward, and I assume Old Highway 101 should be substituted here. Second, Windansea is just south of La Jolla, which is actually about halfway between downtown SD and Del Mar. La Jolla is actually a pretty decent destination in itself--there's a large underwater aquatic park for snorkeling or scuba, and the beaches are quite scenic.
posted by LionIndex at 3:27 PM on July 17, 2005