For a nice, relaxing, and relatively inexpensive trip during the Christmas holidays, we decided to revisit the city of San Diego. We last visited San Diego in June 2008, so we were eager to review our main attractions. Inna found inexpensive, direct flights on Southwest Airlines from San Jose to San Diego, so we booked the trip.
Our initial plan was to fly out on Thursday, December 21, at 8:15 a.m. on Southwest Flight #6225 and return to San Jose on Thursday, December 28, on Southwest Flight #5085. We planned to visit Seaworld, San Diego Zoo, the USS Midway Museum, the Air & Space Museum, and the Maritime Museum.
I initially booked a rental car with Budget Car Rental using Costco.com, but the price was too high for the week of Christmas - almost $500 - so my wife suggested we try Turo instead. Turo is like Airbnb for cars; individual owners rent out their private vehicles. I selected a 2010 Audi A5 from Elijah, and it cost me less than half of the Budget (with a much easier pick-up/drop-off at the airport) and at half the price! The car was clean and well-maintained and fun to drive, too!
After getting up early on Thursday morning, we used Uber to drop us off at the San Jose airport. Our Southwest flight was on time, and we landed in San Diego around 9:35 a.m. We quickly picked up our Turo Audi A5 and drove to downtown San Diego to explore the downtown. It was pretty empty, but we were hungry, so we decided to stop by for breakfast/brunch at the Werewolf restaurant and pub.
The menu was interesting, with some Mexican dishes I did not immediately recognize. I selected the "Chilaquiles Roja" - a spic Mexican dish with eggs and avocado. It was delicious but very spicy!
Inna chose the "Pork Belly Benedict," which she greatly liked.
After breakfast, we briefly explored the downtown Gaslight district, home to hundreds of restaurants. Surprisingly, the downtown was mostly empty.
Everything was festively decorated for the holidays with a hint of Christmas in a sunny, snow-free place.
We enjoyed strolling downtown but decided to head to another section after a while - as parking was costly!
We returned to our car and drove to the nearby Seaport Village, where we looked at some cute shops before heading to the USS Midway Museum. Alex and I were interested in the giant aircraft carrier full of military aircraft, while Inna wanted to explore the cutesy Seaport Village shops.
Alex and I spent a few hours on the USS Midway, looking at both the World War 2 era, the Vietnam era, and more modern military aircraft. Alex also got to try flying in a real aircraft simulator (which simulates all aspects of flight, including full rotation). He really enjoyed the experience.
In addition to sitting in many aircraft, Alex and I listened to the launching explanation on the desk, where a former officer explained all the intricacies of launching from an aircraft carrier using a steam-powered catapult. A lot of coordination was involved to allow one aircraft to launch every 45 seconds!
Alex liked the cockpits of some of the aircraft with hundreds of gauges and buttons.
Many impressive, last-generation jet fighters were on the flight deck, like the F/A-14 Tomcat. I would have liked to have flown this one!
After our visit, we met up with Inna and decided to grab a bite to eat at the well-rated Extraordinary Desserts nearby. So many delicious cakes and pastries were on display that we were lost in indecision - which one to try?
I selected the "Apple Crostata" - apple strudel, pictured below. It was delicious!
Inna selected the "Dolce Leche" cake. It was vibrant and decadent.
Alex tried the "Cocoa Coupe" - a delicious chocolate concoction. He really liked it!
We really enjoyed our desserts here and vowed to come back again! Extraordinary Desserts was the first U.S. bakery that compared favorably to my favorite, Cafe Demel, in Vienna, Austria. I hope to come back here many more times!
On the way back to our car, we stopped by the shore.
It was starting to get chilly on our walk back, but there were many beautiful buildings to enjoy.
The walk back was filled with stops at some cutesy shops to look at the touristy merchandise like kites and t-shirts.
We drove to our hotel - Inn by the Sea at La Jolla. Inna secured a very advantageous price for our trip to San Diego, but I did not like our room there. It was always too cold/drafty or too hot.
As Alex was not hungry, we decided to go out to dinner, but the two of us. We selected Puesta Mexican Artist Kitchen in downtown La Jolla based on Yelp reviews.
I ordered a margarita - but it was too spicy for me! I prefer a little less Jalapeno in my Margaritas!
The chips were fresh, and the salsa was hot! Come to think of it, many of the traditional Mexican dishes were much spicier in San Diego than in the San Francisco Bay area.
We shared a couple of spicy taco dishes, which were well prepared.
The guacamole was really delicious, too!
Although we had a fantastic first day, we were exhausted. We returned back to our Inn by the Sea for some needed rest.
Our initial plan was to fly out on Thursday, December 21, at 8:15 a.m. on Southwest Flight #6225 and return to San Jose on Thursday, December 28, on Southwest Flight #5085. We planned to visit Seaworld, San Diego Zoo, the USS Midway Museum, the Air & Space Museum, and the Maritime Museum.
I initially booked a rental car with Budget Car Rental using Costco.com, but the price was too high for the week of Christmas - almost $500 - so my wife suggested we try Turo instead. Turo is like Airbnb for cars; individual owners rent out their private vehicles. I selected a 2010 Audi A5 from Elijah, and it cost me less than half of the Budget (with a much easier pick-up/drop-off at the airport) and at half the price! The car was clean and well-maintained and fun to drive, too!
After getting up early on Thursday morning, we used Uber to drop us off at the San Jose airport. Our Southwest flight was on time, and we landed in San Diego around 9:35 a.m. We quickly picked up our Turo Audi A5 and drove to downtown San Diego to explore the downtown. It was pretty empty, but we were hungry, so we decided to stop by for breakfast/brunch at the Werewolf restaurant and pub.
The menu was interesting, with some Mexican dishes I did not immediately recognize. I selected the "Chilaquiles Roja" - a spic Mexican dish with eggs and avocado. It was delicious but very spicy!
Inna chose the "Pork Belly Benedict," which she greatly liked.
After breakfast, we briefly explored the downtown Gaslight district, home to hundreds of restaurants. Surprisingly, the downtown was mostly empty.
Everything was festively decorated for the holidays with a hint of Christmas in a sunny, snow-free place.
We enjoyed strolling downtown but decided to head to another section after a while - as parking was costly!
We returned to our car and drove to the nearby Seaport Village, where we looked at some cute shops before heading to the USS Midway Museum. Alex and I were interested in the giant aircraft carrier full of military aircraft, while Inna wanted to explore the cutesy Seaport Village shops.
Alex and I spent a few hours on the USS Midway, looking at both the World War 2 era, the Vietnam era, and more modern military aircraft. Alex also got to try flying in a real aircraft simulator (which simulates all aspects of flight, including full rotation). He really enjoyed the experience.
In addition to sitting in many aircraft, Alex and I listened to the launching explanation on the desk, where a former officer explained all the intricacies of launching from an aircraft carrier using a steam-powered catapult. A lot of coordination was involved to allow one aircraft to launch every 45 seconds!
Alex liked the cockpits of some of the aircraft with hundreds of gauges and buttons.
Many impressive, last-generation jet fighters were on the flight deck, like the F/A-14 Tomcat. I would have liked to have flown this one!
After our visit, we met up with Inna and decided to grab a bite to eat at the well-rated Extraordinary Desserts nearby. So many delicious cakes and pastries were on display that we were lost in indecision - which one to try?
I selected the "Apple Crostata" - apple strudel, pictured below. It was delicious!
Inna selected the "Dolce Leche" cake. It was vibrant and decadent.
Alex tried the "Cocoa Coupe" - a delicious chocolate concoction. He really liked it!
We really enjoyed our desserts here and vowed to come back again! Extraordinary Desserts was the first U.S. bakery that compared favorably to my favorite, Cafe Demel, in Vienna, Austria. I hope to come back here many more times!
On the way back to our car, we stopped by the shore.
It was starting to get chilly on our walk back, but there were many beautiful buildings to enjoy.
The walk back was filled with stops at some cutesy shops to look at the touristy merchandise like kites and t-shirts.
We drove to our hotel - Inn by the Sea at La Jolla. Inna secured a very advantageous price for our trip to San Diego, but I did not like our room there. It was always too cold/drafty or too hot.
As Alex was not hungry, we decided to go out to dinner, but the two of us. We selected Puesta Mexican Artist Kitchen in downtown La Jolla based on Yelp reviews.
I ordered a margarita - but it was too spicy for me! I prefer a little less Jalapeno in my Margaritas!
The chips were fresh, and the salsa was hot! Come to think of it, many of the traditional Mexican dishes were much spicier in San Diego than in the San Francisco Bay area.
We shared a couple of spicy taco dishes, which were well prepared.
The guacamole was really delicious, too!
Although we had a fantastic first day, we were exhausted. We returned back to our Inn by the Sea for some needed rest.
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