Summer Vacation in San Diego
Clearly, at some point you were aware that the weather had gotten warmer, you didn’t have to turn your headlights on during your drive home and the kids were talking about day camp trips to the beach instead of math lessons. Now that you stop to think about it though, you can’t think of one summer activity the whole family enjoyed together. Unless, of course, you count the 4th of July barbecue at your co-worker John’s, where you spent the entire afternoon talking to your boss…
Before you get yourself all worked up about life passing you by, or write the missed season off as another casualty in your ongoing battle to keep your job and your children, consider this: the tourist season is over, but the summer never ends in San Diego.
It’s not too late to make your missed summer look like a strategic plan to take a family trip you can actually enjoy. Free from hordes of other tourists and beach-living college kids on summer break. So, check your kids’ school calendars for an upcoming three-day weekend and start planning your belated summer vacation.
Not sure if you know what to do with three days without work, the kids’ weekend sports teams or access to the piles of clothes next to the laundry machine? Here are some suggestions to get you started.
Balboa Park
Home to the world famous San Diego Zoo, the rest of Balboa Park is often overshadowed by this prominent resident. While the Zoo is a must see, don’t waste the free parking by leaving as soon as you tire of watching the Pandas eat their bamboo. Also found in Balboa Park are the San Diego Museum of Art, the Museum of Photographic Arts, the Museum of Man and the Natural History Museum and the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center to name a few. The museums are small enough that spending an hour in any of them gives you a chance to see the best exhibits, which means that you have time to actually enjoy yourself before the kids get bored.
Luckily, just on the other side of the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center there is a large playground where you can let the kids release that extra energy. If, after all that running, jumping and climbing, the kids still have any energy left take them down to the World Beat Center, located just a few hundred yards from the playground. On Sunday afternoons they host a drum circle for children and guests are welcome to check out the exhibits in their building any day of the week, free of charge.
Day at the Beach
No summer vacation is complete without a day at the beach. The beaches in San Diego proper are Ocean Beach, Mission Beach and Pacific Beach. Each beach is surrounded by its own unique neighborhood with the same name. Ocean Beach is where the laid-back, Southern California beach culture manages to exist in its purest form, despite the increasingly cosmopolitan feel San Diego is developing.
The main drag in Ocean Beach is Newport Street where you can find several taquerias, more breakfast joints than any neighborhood full of 9-5 job working residents could even support, and the occasional ice cream shop. The further you stroll away from the beach the more antique stores pop up on this thoroughfare.
Before you get to the antique stores you’ll see Ocean Beach Surf Shop. Depending on how late in the fall you visit, the water may be a bit too chilly for just swimming. But, it’s never too cold to go in with a wetsuit, which is exactly what you do when you take a lesson from Ocean Beach Surf Shop. The cost of a lesson includes wetsuit and board rental, a full day lesson and half off your rentals the following day. If the surf lesson doesn’t appeal, let the kids go and then sneak off to peek into those antique shops on your own.
Downtown San Diego
Over the past ten years the city has put a lot of money into redeveloping the Gaslamp District, home to the city’s best restaurants and shops. Bike Rentals San Diego is located in the heart of the Gaslamp on Fifth Avenue. Along with your rentals they’ll give you a map of the city and several suggested routes. One of the best things to do is ride your rented bikes to the harbor at Broadway at take the ferry to Coronado Island. The ferry ride itself affords great views of Downtown and once you get to the Island the picturesque neighborhoods that stretch along the main street of the Island, Orange Avenue offer beautiful (and flat!) routes for riding your bikes.
Petco Park, home to the San Diego Padres, opened in what was once an industrial lot near the increasingly popular Gaslamp. If you make it to San Diego early in the fall you can catch a game at the park and have lunch or dinner in one of the nearby restaurants before the game. If you’re wondering what was in the Gaslamp District before its recent redevelopment, stop by the small San Diego Chinese History Museum on Third Avenue to find out about San Diego’s old Chinatown and some of the city’s earlier residents.
After a long weekend in what San Diego residents refer to as “America’s Finest City” you’ll have slowed down and soaked up enough sun to feel like you didn’t miss out on summer after all. If in a few months you need to revisit that carefree feeling that seems only to come with a sunny, summer afternoon, San Diego will still be here.
