Sightseeing in San Diego

San Diego

September 25, 2021 – September 28, 2021

Written February 26, 2024

Part of a longer trip that ended in Phoenix, AZ

Traveling during the second year of the pandemic had some challenges, for instance many restaurants and public indoor places were permanently closed or had limited hours. Often the closures or revised hours were not posted online. Still, some persevered and created outdoor spaces for patrons to continue to visit.

The Start

The planning for this trip, was a little more extensive yet less scripted than average. It took more time to locate acceptable dates and flights. Surprisingly the biggest challenge was to reserve a rental car in San Diego. There just didn’t seem to be enough cars available.  Additionally, we didn’t know what situations may lay ahead of us when staying at the hotel or visiting the area. So, we kept it simple and slowed down the pace, a Padres game and visiting the San Diego Zoo.

Thanks to a relative driving us, we arrived at JFK airport in plenty of time to board the 8:30AM flight to San Diego. We opted for JetBlue for this trip. Upon arrival in San Diego, we found the airport clean and easy to locate baggage claim and rental cars.  The rental cars in San Diego are offsite from the airport. To pick up your car you need to board an airport bus that drops passengers to each car rental property. We experienced a 90-minute wait from arrival on the line to boarding. I’d like to think this was because of staffing issues and not a normal experience. The delays continued after checking in, cars weren’t ready and there were a lot of people waiting outside to be assisted. After another 30 minutes, I was adjusting mirrors, testing lights and wipers, and we were on our way.

Photo 1: bus stop for car rentals - outside San Diego airport

Photo 2: view of the bridge that crosses over to Petco Park and Gaslamp Quarter

Photo 3: pier behind Hilton San Diego Hotel

We've arrived!

First stop, food! We went for hamburgers and fries at Hodad’s Downtown San Diego, a local chain with three locations around San Diego, one of them inside Petco Park. Hodad’s has a nice beachy feel, with lots of music memorabilia on the walls, like ticket stubs and album covers. The windows and doors are propped open so sitting inside was very airy. Hamburgers were served wrapped in paper and placed in a plastic basket. The portions were huge, I didn’t leave hungry!

Next stop, Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel which is where we will be spending the next three nights. The Bayfront Hotel was a great location for what we wanted to do. The hotel is approximately one block southeast from the San Diego convention center (where they hold the big annual Comicon). A skywalk over the road and train tracks from the hotel parking garage can get you to Petco Park with a 15–20-minute walk. About three blocks southeast from Petco Park is the historic Gaslamp Quarter with eateries and other hotels. Alternatively, you could walk to the front of the convention center and cross the street directly to the Gaslamp Quarter. Depending on how quickly you walk, it might be a little more than 20 minutes.

At check-in we were notified that the hotel restaurant would not be open during our stay. Although we don’t generally eat in the hotel, it was disappointing not to have that as a meal option. Our room had a nice view of the Coronado Bridge, and below was the Dole shipping yard (as in Dole pineapple). We relaxed and regrouped in the room a little bit, then walked around the hotel and outside towards the bay. Since it was approaching 6:00PM and we didn’t know what type of hours the restaurants might have, we headed over to the Gaslamp Quarter to grab dinner. We had drinks and a few appetizers outside at Union Kitchen and Tap. It was a nice night but mysteriously quiet for a Saturday night. Maybe it’s because we were still on NY time and headed back to the hotel at 8PM.

Photo 1: The entrance door to Hodad's Downtown

Photo 2: Hotel room inside Hilton San Diego Bayfront

Photo 3: Entrance sign to Gaslamp Quarter district

No car needed

We started our morning with a walk back to Gaslamp Quarter for breakfast. We ate outside at MaryJane’s Diner. MaryJane’s is in front of the Hard Rock Hotel San Diego. Later in the day we’d be at the Padre’s game so ate small to keep our appetite to eat at the stadium. After breakfast we walked around the historic district for about an hour and took a couple of photos. It looked like a lot of places were permanently closed.  A sign of the times, I suspect. While we were out walking, we were also trying to find current information about trolley tour tickets. As you may know from some of my other blog posts, I put the trolley tours high on my list of things to do. The Hop On Hop Off is what I usually look for first. This way I can get an overview of the area in a short amount of time. It was getting close to game time, so we gave up our search and opted to buy trolley tickets online for the next day.

The Padre’s game started around 1:00PM and although we rooted loudly for the home team, they lost to the Atlanta Braves, 4 – 3. We walked back to the hotel after the game and planned what we really wanted to see the next day because it was our last full day in San Diego.

Expanding our travels

Our first adventure of the day was taking the San Diego Old Town Trolley. The trolley tour is approximately 2 hours, and there are 11 stops. It’s a hop on and off through the day type of tour. Although all the sights were great, I was most excited about seeing Coronado Island. It was one of our first stops from our hotel, so we hopped off for breakfast and ate at Clayton’s Coffee Shop. The coffee shop has 1940’s décor and a horseshoe dining counter. Aside from the atmosphere, which was right up my alley, I was lucky enough to chat with the woman next to me.

She told me about all her travels, she’d been too lots of different countries throughout her life and she seemed like she had no plans of slowing down. She told me that Tijuana, Mexico was only like 40 minutes from where we were. Now, I should have known this, but I was flabbergasted. I mean, I really hadn’t thought about it, but once she put it into perspective, I had a pang of wishing that I’d created a different type of trip. Meeting her really was the highlight of my trip to San Diego, I don’t know much about her life, but I found myself envious, nonetheless.

After breakfast, we hopped back on the tour bus and finished the rest of the tour. Quite a few places I would have liked to explore, like the harbor, Old Town, Hotel de Coronado. But each one of those might have been a few hours each. Always leave something to come back for, right? Next on our list of things to do… the zoo! San Diego Zoo has a lot of buzz, it would be a shame not to go there. Plus, souvenirs!

We had a little difficulty finding the entrance to the zoo. I think we were thrown off by the lack of traffic. Maybe that was because it was a Monday in late September, or because it was 2:00PM or because of the pandemic. In any case, no crowds! The plants and flowers throughout the park were just as noteworthy to look at as the animals. In retrospect, I think a full day dedicated to the zoo could have been worthwhile. Three hours only gave a brief overview, and I didn’t get to see all the zoo exhibits, but we did make time to pick up souvenirs. I caught the last tram to the entrance at a little before 5:00PM and my partner caught the same one a few stops later.

Photo 1: inside Clayton's Coffee Shop

Photo 2: koala at the San Diego Zoo

Photo 3: greenery at the San Diego Zoo

On our bucket list to try while in San Diego was “Cardiff Crack” nachos. They are really called, “tri-tip nachos” and they are supposed to be fabulous! There are two locations to try these, one, the Seaside Market vendor at Petco Park. The other, Seaside Market in Cardiff, CA which is approximately 30 minutes from San Diego. Now, strategically it would have made sense for us to have these at Petco Park when we were at the baseball game or maybe even take them back to the hotel with us at the end of the game. But sometimes things just don’t align that way. So off we went to Cardiff for our dinner adventure!

We arrived at the Seaside Market after 8:00PM. It was a nice market, and had seating outside, but it was very quiet. Too quiet. No one around, only the workers inside and there were very few of them too. It was not what I expected. Additionally, I didn’t see the nacho’s listed at the deli counter and saw nowhere else to order food. I was sad and cranky. My partner did grab something at the deli counter, and we sat outside for a little bit. On our way back to San Diego we stopped at a Del Taco (a treat if you aren’t from the west coast!) and we took that back to the hotel room. In a few hours we’ll be saying goodbye to San Diego as we start our drive to Phoenix (will add the link once the story is written and posted).

Things I learned from planning this trip: traveling during the pandemic remains a challenge. Two days in San Diego isn’t enough.

Things I keep in mind when organizing a trip for myself: always leave something to go back for, for this trip it’s visiting Old Town, taking a tour of Hotel de Coronado, trip-tip nachos!maybe driving to Tijuana?

Some information, such as baseball game information and directions were sought by using ChatGPT.

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