San Diego Nesties
njrunr3
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
*Terra*
Since you travel so much, maybe you can give us some ideas of places to go from SD. Before we moved, we would go to Europe frequently, since that's where I'm from and that's where my family is. Europe is a much longer flight now, so we want to explore other places. We want a fairly short flight (under 4 hours if possible) and are up for pretty much anything. I know you're planning a trip to Santiago, which sounds so awesome! Any recs for places in Mexico? And what do you think of San Fran/Seattle? Thanks for any tips!!
PS. Let's see how many views this post gets! Lots of nosy people out there it seems.
Re: *Terra*
I'm nosy, too! Where are you from in Europe? Both Dh and lived in Germany, and every once and while dream about moving there temporarily.
Also, I'm from the San Francisco area, so let me know if you want some recs depending on what you need!
Learning to start all over again... Blog
I havent been to Seattle yet! One of these days I will get up there...considering that DHs airline flies there and we can pop up there for free...I really need to get off my butt and go!
I like San Francisco but I have to do it in small doses. Driving in the city is a pain and parking is really expensive (most hotels are $35-$50 a day for self park and valet). I love Chinatown in San Francisco...I try to spend all my time there. Its just got its own energy and it doesnt feel like you are in California. We usually spend 1-2 hours hanging out at Vital Tea Leaf (the one closer to North Beach) drinking tea samples and chatting with John (funny, obnoxious filipino who workers there..he is a riot!) We do the touristy stuff as well. Our last trip, we spent most of the day walking all over town and ended up eating dinner at a little Italian place called Firenze by NIght. Their Gnocchi was to die for!
As for other things to see- of course there are the cable cars, the cable car museum, Alcatrz (a must see!), Lombard St, the Sea lions at Pier 39 (total tourist haven but the sea lions are soooo cute).
South of San Fran, down in San Jose is the Winchester Mystery House. They have guided tours and they do flashlight tours on Friday the 13th and Halloween.
Ahhh...Mexico
Ive been to Mexico City, Teotihuacan, Villahermosa, Palenque, Acapulco, Puebla and Rosarita Beach. Tijuana doesnt count because you dont vacation there!
Mexico City is one of my favorite cities in the world. INAH (the national musuem of archaeology and history) is massive. You can spend days just trying to see all the exhibits. Teotihuacan is just north of Mexico City and there is a Club Med Archaeological Villa next to the ruins. The ruins are at least a 2 day trip.
Villahermosa is in the state of Tabasco. Its just a typical mexican city but its the closest major city to get to the town of Palenque. We were there right before christmas so they had a christmas market downtown. There is also the Museo Parque La Venta which has the huge Olmec heads. In the state of Chiapas is the town and mayan ruins of Palenque . Its still being excavated and sites at the top of a hill surrounded by jungle. It is amazing beautiful. Near Palenque are the little parks of Misol-Ha (waterfall where part of Predator was filmed), Agua Clara (just a big turqouise blue river) and Las Cascadas del Agua Azul (the turqoise blue waterfalls).
Acapulco is a resort town. I love it but its gets a bad rap on the travel board.
Puebla is south of Mexico CIty (on the opposite side of the volcano). It is a charming little town that has a wonderful town square and churches all over the place. It is also where the famous battle of Cinco de Mayo took place. I was visiting friends down there so I didnt do much tourist stuff but we did pop over to Cholula for an afternoon. Cholula has the famous church built on top of a pyramid. Typical mexican town- town square with little cafes.
Rosarito Beach....BLECH! Went down there for a wedding and I think that Tijuana is cleaner than Rosarito. Full of drunk american college age kids.
Other places that can be reached via plane in a few hours or less- Phoenix, Denver (tons of stuff to do in colorado), Austin, Kansas City, various parts of Western Canada, pacific coast of Mexico.
That should be enough to start!
Thanks for all the tips! That should keep us busy for a while!
We've been to Austin (and pretty much everywhere else in TX), Kansas City and Phoenix. We both hated Phoenix and would never go back. Austin was tons of fun. We are planning on going to Santa Fe and driving to Denver and flying home from Denver. So if you have any tips for Denver, I'd love to hear them!
When are you guys planning on going to Seattle?
I'm from Poland, very close to Berlin. Where in Germany did you live? Did you get to travel all over Europe when you lived there? I used to go to Germany all the time as a kid, since it was so close and we have family there. Most of my family still lives in Europe (all over, not just Poland) so I tend to go back frequently.
If you have anything to add to SF, I'd love to hear it! We're not into the touristy things, so it would be nice to get a local's perspective!
We will probably do Seattle towards the end of the year if we dont go to Boston or London. DH and I really want to go back to London and since the GBP has tanked its a good time to go
As for Phoenix...its kinda boring BUT i spent most of my time in the pool at the resorts! The in-laws live about an hour outside of Phoenix so I will probably never escape having to go there.
Denver is lots of fun and there is a ton of stuff to do in other parts of the state. Down by Colorado Springs there is Pikes Peak, Garden of the Gods, and a few other things I cant recall. North of Denver there is Rocky Mountain National Park- it is beautiful. And there are all the ski resorts if you like to ski, hike, or bike. Some of the resorts are open in the summer for mountain biking. I lived in Denver for a few years and i spent most of that time hanging out in downtown and capital hill. Lots of parks, bike trails, and tons of restaurants. They also have the most wonderful bookstore called the Tattered Cover. It is better than some libraries. You can also hop on the Winter Park Ski Train and take the train up into the mountains--way better than sitting in traffic on I-70. If you like beer, there is always the Coors brewery in Golden. DH has never been to Colorado and I am dying to take him there so I can play tourist! I keep telling him that we have to go stay at the Stanley Hotel, do Rocky Mountain National Park and drive on Trail Ridge Rd, and trek up to Northwestern Colorado to go to Dinosaur National Monument.
If you like outdoorsy stuff, you might like visiting Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon in Utah. Yellowstone is also within the 4 hr plane ride time frame and its on my list of places that i want to see before I die.
I'm down for that! We're planning on doing Portland when we go to Seattle as well. And Vancouver sometime in the near future. We've been to the Eastern part of Canada, since it was near us before we moved, but we're ready to explore the Western part. Let me know when you're planning on going to Seattle! We were thinking May or after, so it's at least somewhat warmer!
We could do a Nestie girls only weekend up there. DHs airline has cheap airfare and depending on where the crew hotel is...possibly some nice, cheap place to crash!
I'm so looking forward to Denver! Not sure if you've been to Boston before, but you will love it. I spent a lot of time there since my friend lived there and we would drive up every couple of weeks to visit.
Well depending on how much money DH lets me spend....I will tentatively be in Seattle for 2 days in August. Looking at flying up either sun aug 9th or the morning of aug 10th and flying back on tues aug 11th. There is a concert I want to go to on the 10th
Wow-how awesome! I LOVED visiting Poland! We only went there for a few days on a side trip from Berlin. We stayed in Krakow in the dead of winter (early Feb.) and actually had a blast. The people were so nice, the city and history were amazing, and overall-it was totally a great memory! I think it was one of my favorite side trips when I lived in Europe.
I lived in Tuebingen, about 1 hr. south of Stuttgart. DH lived outside of Bitburg when he was in the Air Force. I traveled all around Germany, but didn't travel to as many places as I would have liked (due to school schedule and $$!)
Sounds like Terra gave you some great suggestions. My favorite neighborhood is North Beach, but also because my girlfriends and I went there often. Crepes on Cole is my favorite breakfast place, in a neat neighborhood (cole Valley).There are some neat bars/ restaurants near the Ferry Building by the Financial district. I love love love Golden Gate Park, as there are so many niches, and I love Ocean beach and the coast. It's a cold beach, though-very different than San Diego. There are some great day trips from SF-like the Napa/Sonoma Valley, Sausalito, Half Moon Bay, Bodega Bay, Mendocino County coast, etc.
Learning to start all over again... Blog