I have just spent a week in San Diego and here’s some of the best things I did in and around San Diego.
On my first day, we got up and went to the beach at La Jolla near the Scripps Institute.
We then ate breakfast at Caroline’s, which is on the north end of the beach.
Later that day, we went to Barrio Logan to check out some authentic Mexican food. They’re only open 6am-3pm, and apparently there’s always a line. We got there around 2:15 on a Thursday, so there wasn’t much of a line. The only reason there aren’t any people in the picture is because I took it as they were closing.
We tried pretty much everything on the menu. I think the best things were the tamales and the rice and beans (plain or the one that’s chorizo y huevos – we tried both). The corn tortillas they give you are also really fresh!
We then headed to Balboa Park. We got there as golden hour was setting in so everything was extra beautiful!
The architecture is amazing and really makes you feel like you’re in Spain. There were people playing various instruments – classical guitar, steel drums, etc., which was really nice.
We also went to the Spanish art village, which is definitely worth checking out!
Unfortunately, we got there as everything was closing up.
We then went to the rose and cactus garden. The cacti and succulents were amazing!
This was definitely one of my favorite parts of the park.
On Saturday, we rented a car and we did some errands. We went to 99 Market, which is a HUGE Asian supermarket. We found lots of exciting things and I got some steamed BBQ pork buns (almost) like the ones I got in Guangzhou.
In the evening, we went to Sunset Cliffs to watch the sunset.
For dinner, we went to the nearby center of Ocean Beach to Hodad’s, which is a vaguely surfer-themed burger joint. Their burgers were really good! I tried the malted chocolate shake as well, which was good! I think the best part was the onion rings, though!
The next morning we headed on a little road trip. Before we set out properly, we took a detour to North Park to check out Holy Matcha. I was intrigued because of the interior aesthetic. When we got there we realized they did matcha lemonade, which sounded divine. It was.
We then headed to the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, which is just over an hour and a half away from San Diego.
We headed for the visitors center and got some amazing views along the way.
At the visitors center, we got to see some amazing flora.
We then headed to the nearby town of Julian, which is famous for its apples and apple-related products.
Then we went to taste Julian’s hard cider. We saw they did flights, which was perfect because I had to drive back to San Diego. I really liked their original cider – it’s very dry, which is how I like cider. I also LOVED their apple pie flavored one. It tasted like nutmeg – I’m not entirely sure how they did that, but it’s amazing.
We drove back to San Diego and got amazing views of the mountains at sunset. It was so beautiful, but very hard to see because we were driving West into the sun.
When we got into San Diego, we headed straight to Chula Vista to get tacos at a place called Tacos El Gordo.
These were undoubtedly the best tacos I’ve ever had. I don’t have anything else to add.
The next morning, we were thinking of going to Blacks Beach, but we didn’t go in the end. We decided to go back to to Balboa Park to the Spanish art village. When we were there before, the artists had just closed up for the day. This time we got there around 11, which is when they open. It was so nice seeing everything. I really liked looking at the illustrations and jewelry. I was kind of looking for an opal ring, but I didn’t find anything.
We then went to lunch at In-n-out! I got protein style. I also tried the animal style fries, which I liked, but are way too much.
Later that day, we went to a talk at the university.
On Tuesday, my last day, we went to see the Fallen Star, which is an art installation on top of the engineering building. It’s a house that’s attached kind of crooked on the roof. It’s pretty cool – definitely worth checking out. Unfortunately, we got stuck behind a school group, so we had to wait a long time to go in. Only 6 people can be inside at a time.
For lunch, I got a sushi burrito on campus, because there were a bunch of food trucks around.
That evening, we went to La Jolla to see the seals and walk around.
There wasn’t much of a sunset, but it was nice walking along the beach.
After the sun set, we walked to Isola, which is in the center of La Jolla. James had been before and I was excited to get some pizza. We also decided to get the giant appetizer plate with focaccia, prosciutto, fresh cheese, olives, and peppers. It was so, so good. We each got a pizza as well. We managed to eat everything except a tiny sliver of the pizza, but then as soon as we got home, we both crashed even though it was like 9pm. I think we had too many carbs.
And that was my trip to San Diego! I really liked it and I’m excited to go back in December.
