Seaweed under docks, San Diego, California

Where to Go: Scripps Park, La Jolla (San Diego), California

If you ever find yourself visiting San Diego on a budget (or even if you’re not on a budget), be sure to take a few hours to visit Scripps Park. Located in La Jolla (northwestern San Diego), this seaside park is a great place to spread out a picnic, gaze out at the ocean, explore tide pools… and look at amazingly adorable seals!

The harbor seals are the stars of this park, and you can see them everywhere along the shore, looking like oddly adorable slugs with dog faces. If you come at the right time of year you can even see seal pups wiggling around on the beach. (I’ve posted a blog and a video about this before.)

If you’re taking public transit, bus line 30 will take you there from most places in the city. Otherwise, here are driving directions. 

This park is a sample of what makes San Diego great: palm trees, ocean, tide pools, and cute animals. Be sure to work it into your schedule!

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Tide Pools, San Diego, California

12 Amazing Cities I've Visited, Part One

“All cities are alike.” I have heard this from countless nomads and frequent travelers, people who spend months on the road or city-hop every other day. After a while, they say, all the cities start to blur together. 

Since I haven’t traveled as much as some people I know, I’ve been spared that jadedness. While many cities (and practically all suburbs) are generic, several of them still stand out in my mind as amazing, and unique, places. Hence, I’m creating this list.

Although I’ve often been referred to as “the world traveler” among my acquaintances, my travels have not been that extensive. While I have spent considerable time on the road the past three years, I keep on returning to the same places— namely the west coast. Bear that in mind as you read my list of 12 of my favorite cities. For instance, I’ve never been to any of the New England cities, and I haven’t visited Chicago or Atlanta for long enough to pass judgement. To avoid driving myself crazy with the order, I’m arranging them by date I visited them as a traveler, from oldest to most recent. Here goes.

12. St. Louis, Missouri. No, this isn’t cheating! Although I tell outsiders that I’m “from St. Louis,” I actually live in a separate county, so it still counts as “visiting.” It really is an amazing town. I love it for the turn-of-the-century architecture, City Museum, Forest Park, and the ridiculous amounts of free stuff (I’ve blogged about the Zoo, but the Art Museum is fantastic, too). 

11. Seattle, Washington. I fell in love with this sound-side city the moment I stepped off the plane. Breezy and glassy, it’s one of my favorite places on earth. The Pike Place Market, Space Needle, and ferry system are all worth checking out, but my favorite thing to do is just walk around the city, gawk at the architecture, chill in the library, or take a hike down the waterfront. (Hostel recommendation: The Green Tortoise is great.)

10. San Francisco, California. For all my fangirl-love of Seattle, cities really don’t get much better than San Fran. With pristine buildings, a ridiculously scenic coastline, dozens of fascinating sights around the city, and, of course, the Golden Gate Bridge, it’s a place you could stay for a week and never think of getting bored. (Hostel recommendation: Fisherman’s Wharf HI Hostel has a great location for a reasonable price.)

9. San Diego, California. Imagine a small laid-back beach town full of surfers, fishermen, and wealthy people with oceanfront homes. Turn it into a city, and that’s San Diego. This town boasts great weather and beautiful flowers all years long. Different parts of the area have different feels, from the surfer-hipster district of Ocean Beach to the wealthy golden-sand tourist trap of Coronado Island. With tidepools, great restaurants, Balboa Park, and a swingin’ downtown, this city is a place that my sister is happy to call home. (Hostel recommendation: Point Loma HI Hostel doesn’t have the best location, but it’s one of the nicest and friendliest hostels I’ve ever visited.)

Part Two of Three is coming tomorrow!

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Travel Stories: A Barber Shop Far, Far Away

When Mary and I first visited San Diego, back in March 2010, we decided that we were going to visit Balboa Park. Neither of us was feeling good that day and we were spatting a bit, but we went anyway. We hopped a bus from the Point Loma Hostel to downtown, but, being too lazy to figure out which bus to use next, decided to hoof it to Balboa Park. We asked someone for directions. He explained that our desired road, Park Avenue, lay past the numbered streets. Off we walked, passing 2nd Street, 3rd, 4th, and so on.

Half an hour later, around 28th Street, we began to wonder where the heck we were, and why we had not yet run into Park Avenue. Sweaty and frustrated, we searched the empty residential sidewalks for someone to ask for directions.

At the corner of 30th Street, we finally found someone who stared at us, pointed at the direction from which we’d come, and said, “Park Avenue is about a mile back that way.”

Grumbling at no one in particular, we turned around, and then we saw it:

For the non-Star-Wars-geeks in the room, here is what we imagined:

We both burst out laughing. The air cleared a bit. We ended up being lost for another hour as we tried to find the park, but it didn’t matter. “After all,” I told Mary, “the detour was worth it just to see that sign!”

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Cute Baby Seals!

I was finally able to upload one of the videos I took in San Diego. Baby animals are cute to begin with, but watching these blubbery sea mammals trying to wriggle about on land has to take the cake (or at least a considerable slice of the cake). Enjoy!

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Where Should I Go? (SeaWorld San Diego)

Some people avoid famous places in a city because they’re overrun with tourists, they’re overrated, or “everybody else does it.” SeaWorld San Diego was previously such a place in my mind, especially after I was disappointed by the San Diego Zoo. (Actually, the zoo is awesome, but if you live in St. Louis with access to a free zoo that’s almost as good, it’s a huge let-down.) However, I’ve now had the opportunity to visit SeaWorld twice, and I can tell you, it’s totally worth it.

Why you should go: This place is a zoo, an aquarium, a circus and a theme park all rolled into one. Not only do they provide entertainment for the tourists, but they also do a huge part for the world of conservation, such as rescuing and rehabbing animals. Plus, the park features cute animals. Lots and lots of them.

What to bring: A poncho! Most everything in the park is designed to soak you to the bone, so wear clothes that you don’t mind getting wet, and keep your camera in a ziplock. Also brings snacks to keep your tummy from grumbling in between churros. 

What to do: I suppose saying “everything” is cheating, so here are some highlights.

Rides: Journey to Atlantis is a combination boat/elevator/rollercoaster that gets you soaked, and is worth riding more than once. The new Manta rollercoaster features a takeoff so fast that it made my stomach churn, followed by a gut-wrenching ride that is simply fantastic.

Exhibits: I love the Wild Arctic area, which features polar bears, beluga whales and walruses, among others. Dolphin Point is a pool where these graceful mammals swim so close to the edge you can reach out and touch them— if they don’t flip around and splash you first. Also, I really enjoyed petting the three-foot-wide rays at the Bat Ray Feeding Area.

Shows: Cirque de la Mer features the most fantastic acrobats I’ve ever seen in real life. All I can say is some of the performers must be Spider-man clones, and one of the acrobatic duos violated the laws of physics before my very eyes. Blue Horizons tells the story of a girl who followed her heart— which apparently means that you get to spend an evening with the god of the sea and ride on the backs of dolphins (why the heck doesn’t that happen to me when I follow my heart?). It also features the only performing short-finned pilot whales in the world, and when you see a sixteen-foot creature from three feet away jumping into the air, it’s hard to keep from tearing up. Finally, Sea Lions Tonight spoofs all the different SeaWorld shows, using lovable pinnipeds as the stars. I laughed so hard I was nearly crying, and the sea lions are unbearably cute.

One way or the other, there's something for everyone here. It's not cheap to get in, but if you can afford it, don't miss the opportunity to see some amazing animals you can't find anywhere else.

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Ramblin' Road Trip, Day Ten: Some Humdrum Facts About What I Have Been Doing in San Diego

Keeping a blog on the road is one of my biggest challenges. I used to have the same problem with my diary: when a particularly boring part of my life trickled by, I journalled for an hour or more every day, recording my thoughts on dinner and essay writing and the Crocodile Hunter. But when something exciting happened, when a bunch of friends came to visit from out of town, or when we went on vacation, I couldn’t keep up. It’s the same now, and will always be the same. Thoreau observed, “It is shameful for a man to sit down to write if he has not first stood up to live.” The problem is, when a man is busy living, he doesn’t have time to write!

Right now, Zach and I are in San Diego, crashing at my sister’s new place. There are few things more disorienting that visiting your baby sister in her house (well, techically just a bedroom/bathroom in a house, but still). Thus far, I’ve focused on spending time with her and getting work done— neither very newsworthy. Today I edited a boatload of papers, stress-ate half a Little Caesar’s pizza, edited another gaggle of stories, then went grocery shopping with Zach and met Mary at the bus stop on her way back from work. Zach cooked us a delicious Mexican meal. We had strawberries and shortcake for dessert. We all cleaned up the dishes. I feel like I’m going to explode with food.

Another day, another night feeling ready to crash into deep sleep. I consider this day seized.

Fajitas have varying effects on those who consume them.

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