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Earls_Bride
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San Diego here we come!
in Travel
Well next Thursday that is...so we'll be there from the 23rd to the 27th, staying at the Paradise Point Resort on Mission Bay.
I've never been so tell me everything - where to go, eat, shop, sightsee, whatever...give me all your recs and any tips!
Oh, and it's going to be warm and sunny right??? 
Just celebrated 6 blessed wedded years! 9.24.06
Re: San Diego here we come!
You lucky girl!! I love it there!!
Well, we love to go over to Coronado, go to the Del Coronado Hotel (beautiful and historic) and have lunch in the bar (we are usually in swimsuits and coverups, super casual). The beach on Coronado is really nice too. There is a dog beach if you like swimming, wet, cute dogs...I think it's the north end of the beach near the Naval Station. If you get a chance, eat breakfast at Cafe 222, they're famous for their peanutbutter banana stuffed french toast.
you *must* eat at SearSucker - it's amazing! (in the gaslamp)
http://www.searsucker.com/
they have infused vodka at the bar that is great. I had the duck 3 ways and fried brussel sprouts, friend had the scallops and deconstructed caprese salad - all were amazing. the cheddar puffers are raved about but just okay IMO.
Thanks ladies, keep 'em coming!
So is it relatively easy to find our way around by car from Mission Bay? Should we get a GPS?
Also, any good seafood restaurants, or somewhere for Sunday brunch?
The weather can be all over the place so come prepared for anything. It has been cold and rainy the past few days; its even snowing just up the road from my part of the county. Its been gray and in the 60s on the coast.
If you like beer and upscale bar food you should definitely head up to my part of town (Escondido) and eat at Stone Brewery. They have a beautiful garden, amazing beer list and the food is pretty darn good.
There is a little wine bar at the Hotel Del Coronado. They do a sparkling wine and chocolate pairing that is yummy...I love the sparkling sake and the green apple truffle (selections do change based on what is available).
If you want basic, no frills, real mexican you MUST eat at Las Cuatro Milpas in Barrio Logan. Take the I-5 South to the Cesar Chavez exit. Turn left when you get off the freeway, the restaurant is on the right hand side of the road....just look for the line of people that snakes down the block. Its cash only and you will probably have to share you table with strangers. They are only open until 2pm Mon-Sat.
What types of things are you interested in? Balboa park is where most of the museums are located and it is also where the SD Zoo is. Bring comfy shoes if you decide to check out the zoo; its built into a canyon and there are some steep hills, There is the Wild Animal Park (i refuse to call it the Safari park) up in Escondido. Its okay; its more expensive than the zoo but there are some nice trails that you can spend a few hours checking out.
Some of the strawberry fields are already open for the season. I'm not sure if the flower fields will start blooming by then; I work right next to them and everything is planted and green but no flowers yet.
Shopping- Fashion Valley will have all the regular upscale stores (Bloomies, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Hermes, etc) There is an outlet mall up in Carlsbad that has a Barneys outlet, Ralph Lauren, Ferragamo and a few other retailers.
Do you have an iphone that you will be using? Or any other type of smart phone? www.sigalert.com is your friend....its our traffic website that tells you the current road conditions (accidents, closures, etc)
If the weather is nice, get breakfast at Kono's in Pacific Beach and eat it on the beach/watching the waves:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/konos-cafe-san-diego
The Broken Yolk is also a fun place to do brunch--if the weather is nice, sit on the roof. However, the lines can get long and parking in PB can be a pain in the butt
http://thebrokenyolkcafe.com/
Yay! I hope you like my city as much as I like yours! I also hopes it warms up a bit for you since it's been really cold and rainy this week.
It's really easy to get around from Mission Bay, you're right off the 5 and that's primarily going to take you everywhere you want to go. I'm assuming you'll be pretty coastal, so if you get lost, just know that the ocean = "west."
I do think you'll really like Coronado. The "main street" (Orange Avenue) has that typical beach town vibe to it which I know you were looking for and the beach is my favorite in the county. It's exactly what you'd expect from a Southern California beach- long golden sand that's easily accessible. There's also a marina area to check out with kitchsy shops. And you could take the ferry to/from downtown. 1500 Ocean at the Hotel Del and The Boathouse across the street are fantastic restaurants.
The Gaslamp is filled with stores/hotels/clubs/restaurants. I'm not a huge seafood fan, but I've heard good things about Anthony's Fish Grotto. We have local mussels here from the Carlsbad Aqua Farm, so keep an eye out for those on the menu. Dobson's has an incredible mussel bisque (according to DH since I'm allergic). Oceannaire has a great oyster happy hour. As Ondrea said, Seersucker is great, my personal downtown favorite is Neighborhood (with the secret speakeasy), but I'm also a big fan of Currant.
You could also hit up the Little Italy Farmer's Market on Saturdays to sample some fresh uni.
Balboa Park is one of my favorite places in San Diego. It's loaded with trails, gardens, museums, and of course, the zoo. If you're in the area, I recommend grabbing a coffee and pastry at Extraordinary Desserts or a meal at either Cucina Urbana or Barrio Star.
If the weather's nice, you could head up to Cabrillo National Monument which has the best views of the city and given the time of year, a great place for whale watching. Stop off on the way over or back at Liberty Station for lunch at Tender Greens or Con Pane.
La Jolla is a more upscale beach community, filled with galleries and boutiques. It's also a great place to go kayaking through the seacaves.
For brunch, my favorite place is Urban Solace, which is one of my favorite restaurants. The Mission is also really popular for brunch and where we tend to go when my friends are in town. And that'll be just down the road from you on Mission Blvd.
North County is full of really cute beach communities, but I don't know if you're planning on heading up that direction. If you are, let me know because I have more recs for brunch/restaurants/things to do up that direction.
Thanks blu-eyed, I was hoping you'd chime in!! All great info and yes, Coronado does sound like it's right up my alley of beachy towns, you remembered...
I'm in the process of making an itinerary so if you think I'd like North County, sure I'll take your recs! We have almost 5 days so the more great stuff to do, see, and eat, the better
BTW, what do you think of Paradise Point? Seems to get good reviews...
I know people love it, but I'm personally not a huge fan of that whole area. The resort is nice, but I really dislike Mission Beach/Pacific Beach which is right where Mission Bay is. There's a large homeless population and DH does a lot of prosecution of them for sex offenses. And it's also where the college kids live because they aren't big on id-ing at the clubs there, so there's a lot of underage drinking. One of my classmates was killed by an 18 year old drunk driver while he was walking home from the supermarket.
I think you'd probably like spending time in Encinitas if you have any free time. It's a really great beach community - it runs into Solana Beach and you can hit up both areas. Solana has Cedros Avenue which is full of fun little stores. Encinitas is also great for walking around - and both have very nice beaches. Smack between the two is Cardiff/the San Elijo Campgrounds/Swamis where you can grab tacos from Bull Taco and enjoy watching the surfers. Encinitas has some great brunch/breakfast places like Union, St. Germain, and Honey's. And our favorite pizza place is Blue Ribbon - we're there every week.
You may also want to think about heading to Temecula for a day while you're out here if you want to go wine tasting. It's about an hour from San Diego - it's not Napa, but some of the smaller wineries have some really good wines.
And like Gahan mentioned - we have over 30 breweries here, so if you want to go beer tasting or like beer, you're in the right place! In fact, as I think about it, there's also a brewpub on Orange Avenue in Coronado, so you can hit that up while you're there.