San Diego/South Carlsbad State Beach CA

[Tom&Shelly]

We spent three nights at South Carlsbad State Beach just North of Sand Diego California. High rent district! $50/night for a non-electric site, $70/night for an electric site on the ocean.




It was cool for San Diego, but warm enough for us that we chose the non-electric site. Those are private homes in the background, and there was traffic noise all night. Not really a great place to camp, but a good base for exploring San Diego. If you can't afford $50/night, you probably shouldn't be exploring San Diego. Just a fair warning!

The camp does have showers, that take tokens--$0.50 each, for 2 minutes of water, when the machine doesn't jam. Also if no one has used the shower recently, it takes half a token to warm up. Take a few extra along and feed them one at a time. It would be a disaster to run out, or have one jam when it comes time to rinse. It is a public beach, and there was a homeless looking person hanging out one day, but he didn't use the showers or bathrooms and they are only for campers. If the homeless aren't doing anything illegal, the police won't harass them. Guess maybe that's why the showers require payment. Heaven forbid that the homeless get a free shower at California's expense! (Actually, given what else they might do in there, I sort of see the point.)

The camp store was open until 7:30 pm and sold pizza. They also had live entertainment at their outdoor venue, so we ate dinner there and hung out in our winter coats enjoying the music.

Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

Our first full day in San Diego we went to the zoo. It's one of maybe the three best in the country (others are Bronx and St Louis, IMHO). In Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, the guy who did all the hard work came from the San Diego zoo while the guy who stayed in camp and mixed margaritas was from the St. Louis zoo. The last time I was at the San Diego zoo, I was with good friends taking their 3 year old. She's now in her 30's. This poster was around, but it was titled "11,970 years ago".



I can't resist cute and dangerous looking animals and took several hundred pictures. Here are a few of them





It costs to get into the zoo, but once there, there is a free narrated tour bus, free skytram from one end of the park to the other, and a free commuter bus. On the other hand, a pair of hot dogs will set you back the price of a steak dinner back when I was dating. (I never buy Shelly steak anymore!) there are, of course, all sorts of free programs at various parts of the park throughout the day. We got to the park as they were opening at 10, and left about when they closed at 5.

Probably best to find someone's child(ern) to take to the zoo, but two adults can have fun there as well. (Shelly says "we did!")

Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

Our second day in San Diego we went to the Southern end of Balboa Park. (The northern part is actually where the zoo is.) Lot's to do in Balboa Park, and we have a long list of things we haven't see yet. We did go the San Diego Air and Space Museum




That's a replica of the Mercury capsule (only one I've seen in a museum with the escape rocket--very nice!), and a replica of the Spirit of Saint Louis, built by Ryan Aircraft in San Diego. One thing about the museum is they seem to display a lot of the "near-miss" space programs from the Southern California vendors. Projects that weren't funded to completion. As an industry insider, I'll tell you that's most of them, and many of us spent a lot of our careers working on interesting programs that generated data, but never made it to space. These programs had engineering models, displays for conferences and the like, and evidently a lot were donated to the San Diego museum and are on display.

From there we took the free shuttle to the north end of the park (just south of the zoo) and tried to find a reasonably priced place to eat. Didn't necessarily succeed in that, but we got ourselves fed and did get to see some folks conducting their "flavor of the week" protests. After lunch we toured the Timken Art Museum (free). From there, we spent the rest of the afternoon touring the Hall of Nations International Houses. (Also free.)

There is a lot at Balboa Park we didn't see, and a few days spent there would be worth it. Next time, to cut expenses, we may bring our lunches. On our list for next time: The Automotive Museum, The San Diego Art Museum, The Mingel International Museum, The Botanical Building, The San Diego Natural History Museum, The Spanish Village Art Center, The Fleet Science Center, The San Diego History Center, The San Diego Model Railroad Museum, and The Veteran's Museum and Memorial Center. Those are primarily indoors and suitable if the weather is too cool to be outdoors for long. Plenty more to do at the park, so you'll have your own preferences.

We also hear there is a lot to do on Coronodo Island.

Expenses in Southern California, particularly dining and camping, were high. The 46 gallon tank in our truck helped. We could have made it back to Arizona on one tank, but the thought of leaving the desert on I-10 with only a few gallons was too stressful and I put some in on the way out. Gas is a over a dollar a gallon more in California than in Arizona, so come prepared.

Tom

[halfdome, Danny]

I'm a San Diego native born in Balboa Park ( not the zoo) in the old navy hospital.
Lived there for 40 years.
A better campground is in Vista called Guajome County Park.
That's where we stay when visiting San Diego.
My 2 favorite restaurants are Filippis Pizza Grotto in Little Italy and El Indio Mexican Restaurant 3695 India St San Diego.
Danny

[Tom&Shelly]

I'm a San Diego native born in Balboa Park ( not the zoo) in the old navy hospital.
Lived there for 40 years.
A better campground is in Vista called Guajome County Park.
That's where we stay when visiting San Diego.
My 2 favorite restaurants are Filippis Pizza Grotto in Little Italy and El Indio Mexican Restaurant 3695 India St San Diego.
Danny

Thanks for the tips Danny! Especially the camp site. We will keep it in mind for the next time.

Tom