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Category Archives: Tours & Sightseeing
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After watching the Oscar awards last night, it got me thinking…what Oscar nominated films were shot in San Diego? Here are 5-to-Try films shot in San Diego. Do you know what part of town they were filmed in?
1. Babel (2006) Starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett and nominated for seven Academy Awards, Babel tells the story involving four different families after tragedy strikes a married couple on vacation in the Moroccan desert. Scenes were shot in both San Diego and neighboring Mexico.
2. Almost Famous (2000) A high-school boy is given the chance to write a story for Rolling …
From quaint and quirky to weird and wonderful, San Diego has numerous backcountry marvels that dot the expansive East County region. Roadside attractions have always fascinated me because they meld America’s love affair with the road with a creative entrepreneurial spirit that makes drivers do a double take.
Following are five fun ones to try. Get your motor running!
- The “World’s Largest Lemon” in Lemon Grove (located off Historic Highway 94, alongside the San Diego Trolley tracks at Broadway & Main Street). This gigantic fiberglass lemon is a nod to the area’s citrus boom of the early 1900s and commemorates
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History that literally flies off the pages is my kind of history! The spectacular Centennial of Naval Aviation (CONA) is coming to Coronado this Saturday. The ‘Crown City” is gearing up for thousands of expected spectators to view an historic “Parade of Flight,” featuring over 200 aircraft – from vintage planes to the famous Blue Angels. It’ll be the largest naval aircraft flyover since WWII… yep, you’ll be telling your grandkids about this one!
Coronado is where naval aviation began, in 1911, when aviator/inventor Glenn Curtiss trained a Navy officer to fly a seaplane from the sandy, formerly scrub-covered isle.
Following …
The Big Apple recently took a bite out of San Diego’s East County in an in-depth New York Post travel article, “Good times in San Diego.” Though they didn’t get to sample Julian’s famous apple pies (Big Apple & apple pies – how almost apropos), the travel editor DID get a taste of some lesser-known, but unequivocally cool finds along Historic Highway 94. In his own words, “EAST IS IT” – and I couldn’t agree more!
Following are “5 to Try” along Historic Highway 94 – New York-certified and sure to put visitors in a Mountain Empire state-of-mind:
Every year from December through March, visitors to San Diego have an opportunity to watch the gray whales migrate from Alaska to Baja. One of the most unique ways to see these magnificent creatures is by kayak. Kayak you ask? Yes! OEX Dive & Kayak in La Jolla offers whale watching kayak tours from La Jolla’s Ecological Preserve, a marine sanctuary and home to the seven seas caves, Leopard Shark City and the La Jolla Sea Lion and Harbor Seal colonies. Whale watching from a kayak allows participants the opportunity to be one with the ocean and enjoy an incredible …
I thought I knew the “Crown City” of Coronado. I pretty much do – its postcard-perfect beach, charming main street, The Del and iconic bridge. But during a walkabout with Coronado Touring I found a few historic jewels in the island crown that I had never heard of before. Only two of these I haven’t seen (yet). But if you’re lucky, you just might find them all!
- Tubular… The stately Glorietta Bay Inn - former mansion home of sugar baron John D. Spreckels located across the street from the Hotel del Coronado - has a few cool secrets up its historic sleeve. One is
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‘Tis the season to trim the tree, deck the halls and decorate the house in holiday lights… The Griswolds (National Lampoon’s “Christmas Vacation”) would have had an interesting time, though, trying to sparkle up these top five curious and remarkable San Diego abodes in strands of lights.
Coincidentally, three of these made Rand McNally’s “Top 10 Quirky & Offbeat Houses” in the U.S. – two of which are located in San Diego’s scenic, and eclectic, East County. No (gingerbread) cookie cutter houses here:
- Wonderland… The Hubbell House and Studios, also known as Ilan-Lael (“The Place”), near Julian, celebrates the
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Just a bridge away, Coronado is full of sparkling surprises to put visitors in the holiday spirit and bring some smiles amidst the hustle and bustle of the season. Following are my five fav fun and festive finds from this fantasy island (say that five times fast!):
1. That’s amore! I love the Gondola Company at Loews Coronado Bay Resort, with their blissfully relaxing Venetian gondola rides through the Coronado Cays to view homes and boats festooned with holiday lights. It was pure magic as we glided over the calm bay waters, sipped cocktails and listened to the gondolier singing Christmas …
The San Diego coastline is dotted with incredible tide pools from Point Loma to Ocean Beach, La Jolla and beyond.
And, according to the scientists at the Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, fall and winter are great times for checking out area tide pools because lower tides expose wider sections of the beach and the “pools are teeming with native marine life, like hermit crabs, sea hares and sea anemones.”
Sea hares? Oh, yeah, of course. Sea hares. (Yikes!)
Luckily for you and me, we don’t have to know what sea hares are in order to …
Last week, I had the time of my life on a San Diego Speedboat Adventures harbor tour. The new, two-hour tour allows YOU to jump in the Captain’s seat and drive a mini speedboat around San Diego Bay for a 13-mile guided tour.
My friend and I decided to share driving duties, so we each had the opportunity to put the pedal to the metal and sit back and take in the sights. Following our tour guide’s lead boat, we zigged and zagged and bounced over waves, we sped past sailboats and harbor cruises and screamed and laughed the entire …