Happy Tuesday Everyone! I know (most of us) are at home and not traveling, but now is still a great time to start planning and dreaming of your next trip. In today's post, I am sharing our favorites from our trip to San Diego last fall. My husband & I are BIG fans of a 3 day weekend. It is just the right amount of time to feel like you get a break from work without using up all of your precious PTO.
We traveled to San Diego last September (about mid month). The weather was GLORIOUS. It was a great escape from the Texas heat. We picked San Diego because neither of us had ever been, it was an easy direct flight from Dallas, and we knew there was tons to do.
We took a 6am flight (we love an early flight - gets you more bang for your time!) and landed in SD around 9am local time. We snagged our rental car (Costco Travel has the best prices on rentals if you haven't used them & are a member).
From their we headed out for a run at a local lake (we were training for a 10k at the time). We chose
Miramar Reservoir because it was a 5 mile loop. This was a BEAUTIFUL run and a great trail to go walk as well if you are looking to get a little active on your trip. We followed up our run with brunch at
The Cottage La Jolla and coffee at
Better Buzz (which was adorable and totally instagram worthy inside).
We couldn't check into our AirBNB until 3pm, so we figured we should just keep rolling with the outdoor activities. After coffee, we cruised over to
Torrey Pines State Preserve. We paid the entrance fee - honestly can't remember how much it was, but it wasn't too bad - and parked. From there we hiked up to the peak and ventured around. The views were pretty stunning from the top. After we hiked back down, we changed into our swimsuits and hit the public beach there until we could head to our place.
Our AirBnb was in La Jolla and was great. I've linked it
here. It was a guest house with a full kitchen and great views. I would highly recommend it if you are looking to stay outside of downtown like we were. The picture above was the view from our private patio.
That night we continued our very outdoorsy day with a kayak tour through the caves in La Jolla. We booked our tour with
Everyday California, but there are quite a few companies that do these tours. Our guides were great, though, so I highly recommend them! You got to get up close and personal with some of the seals as well as go into one of the caves lining the coast of La Jolla. The tour was super educational and our guides had great feedback on places to eat and things to do as well.
For dinner, at the recommendation of our tour guide, we hit up
Don Carlos Taco Shop and it did not disappoint. It was down the street from a more trendy/popular taco spot, but it was SO GOOD. We highly enjoyed the more hole-in-the-wall experience here. Would go back to San Diego just for these tacos and burritos honestly.
The next morning, we got back outside and onto Mission Beach for some surfing. I took a lesson (first timer) while Alex just rented a board. We used
Pacific Surf School for my lesson & Alex's rental. The instructors were great and I even got up! We had a blast and the waves were honestly perfect at Mission Beach.
After surfing, we went back to the AirBNB to clean up a bit then headed north to Encinitas for lunch. This was a cool surf town our instructor told us about. After lunch at
Encinitas Fish Shop, we got brave and rented a board and hit the beach. The waves were not as forgiving here, and we took a beating. At least the views were nice - lol. After attempting to surf for a bit, we wandered the streets, grabbed a few beers, and hung out in town.
After our Encinitas adventures, we went back and got ready and hung out for a bit. We then ate at
Karl Strauss. The food (some of which is pictured above) was amazing. We were obsesses with the duck fat pretzel bites in particular. It was a lovely dinner with great brews on tap.
After dinner on our last night, we ventured for a sunset walk then hit up
Salt & Straw (the best ice cream ever - only on the west coast as of now, but coming to Miami this summer!!!)
The next day, we loaded up our rental car and headed out to brunch. We went to
Fig Tree Cafe and enjoyed a really delicious meal. From there we headed out to the famous
San Diego Zoo. We had a great time seeing all of the animals - the place is HUGE.
We ended the trip by grabbing lunch at
Hodad's (it was featured on Diners, Dive Ins, and Dives!) and some coffee at
Jame's Coffee Co. in Little Italy. We wandered Little Italy for a while - it was a super cute neighborhood with great murals like the one above. From there, we gassed up the car and headed to the airport.
We really had a packed schedule, but we felt like we got to see and experience so much. We loved all the places we ate and really enjoyed all the tours/activities we did. I hope this inspires you to make San Diego one of your next destinations (once this crazy situation clears up). If you have any questions, leave them in the comments below.
-Madi-
