Forty Degree Waters
Carlos Lopez
Day Trip: San Diego
If you haven’t visited “America's Finest City”, you should set some time aside for its nice weather and welcoming vibes.
The second largest city in California, San Diego is iconic to the United States for its mild weather, beautiful beaches, lovely harbors, and its adjacency to the Mexico–American border.
San Diego is one of those places where you need more than a day to take everything in. However, suppose you only have one day to view as much as possible in San Diego.
Let's say this misfortune has been cast upon you because of a business trip or your vacation doesn’t allow you to stay overnight. What would you do?
This happened to me when I took my first trip to California for about a week.
Why did I only have a day in San Diego you ask? It’s because I was doing a road trip from San Francisco to San Diego. I went from San Francisco, down the central valley, east towards the desert, then west to take highway one back north to Francisco.
Thus, San Diego had the limelight for a day during that trip. Regardless, while there I enjoyed it to the fullest and I am itching to go back.
My day trip lasted from 10 am to 7 pm. During my visit, I had access to a car, which allowed me to commute between locations a lot easier. Of course, if you rely solely on public transportation it will take longer.
The places I visited are
La Jolla
La Jolla by the Sea is a hilly, seaside neighborhood that is surrounded by ocean bluffs and beaches.
The Kumeyaay Native Americans Tribe lived on the land first. They called it Kulaaxuuy, which roughly translates to, “land of holes”. Later, when the Spanish annexed Kulaaxuuy, it became known and stayed named La Jolla.
I navigated to Sunny Jim's Sea Cave and then found street parking a couple of blocks from that location. I don’t recommend going to La Jolla by car since the parking situation is not too good, but the neighborhood itself does offer paid parking if you can find it.
From there, check the area out. Walk along the beach, take in the coastal views, or explore the shops and restaurants around the neighborhood.
A pretty cool spot to check out in La Jolla is Children's Pool La Jolla.
It is open to the public for most of the year, however, from December 15 through May 15 it is closed to the public because of harbor seal pupping season!
I was lucky to go during the last week of February where I got to see the mama harbor seal cuddling with their cubs. Check it on this post here: Forty Degree Waters Instagram Post
If you are hungry after all the sightseeing I have two options for food below.
Balboa Park
Coming from New York City, one of our famous parks is Central Park. The same applies to San Diego with Balboa Park.
Located in the middle of the city, Balboa Park offers tons of outdoor and indoor attractions like museums, theaters, and the San Diego Zoo. Check out the map here: Park Map & Directions - Balboa Park.
I recommend walking around Plaza de Panama. The architectural design of the buildings that surround this area is beautiful. The color palette of the walls, roof, and street match very well.
You can find many people walking around taking pictures, especially during sunset. This is true for the random family I ran into when they were looking for last-minute photography and ran into me.
Tacos El Gordo
The last thing to do on the list when you're in San Diego is going to Tacos El Gordo. This is a must. It’s like going to New York City and not trying a hot dog.
The reason Tacos El Gordo is the spot is that it has the best tacos you will ever have.
Their restaurant is designed cafeteria style, meaning that you get the items you want from different stands, then you pay for all of your items at the end.
Each stand corresponds to a specific item or type of cooking For example they have a stand for drinks, a stand for roasted cooking, and a stand for grilled cooking. The carne asada stand is different from the al pastor stand and so on.
Once they don't feel intimidated if you don't speak Spanish the workers speak English. Just be friendly and ask questions if needed, they’ll be happy to help.
There were multiple locations, I went to the one found at 556 Broadway, Chula Vista. That specific location has parking too!
Anyways that's it for me make sure to click on my bio contact me over social media or any other Outlet and follow Forty Degree Waters for more tips and travel tricks.
As we say in my mother country: Salululu!