It's a first!
We had never been to San Diego before but with my nephew graduating as a new Marine, we decided to make the trip from Indiana. There were no direct flights from our closest airports (IND and SDF) so between the time change (EST to PST) and flight time it was a long day both coming and going. It was our first trip with Spirit and have to say it wasn't too bad. Although after watching the Steve Harvey clip where he talks about flying first class and doing it once - yeah, we paid extra for the big seats!
I did the typical google and tripadvisor searches for how to do San Diego in a few days. I found some good ideas and we winged it. We only had two full days in San Diego and half of one was spent at the MRCD base for boot camp graduation.
Here is what we did and wished did. I reeeeally wanted to go to Tijuana but I need to reapply for my lost passport and we didn't have enough time.
Day 1
Arrived in San Diego, flying from Indianapolis to Las Vegas to San Diego on Spirit Airlines. The roundtrip tickets were reasonable. We didn't land until about 10:15 p.m. We rented a car with Fox - another first - I had never rented with them before but was very pleased with the experience. We drove from the airport to our hotel in Imperial Beach - now this was not my original pick for hotel because it was kinda pricey but it was where the rest of the fam was staying so I gave in. It turned out to be a nice room, great service, and good location. It was the Marriott Pier South Autograph Collection - the room could have been cleaner but was a typical beach room, and the staff were terrific - the rooms have the keys you can get on an app for your phone, plus an onsite restaurant and spa to schedule with. Very pleased! So we got to the hotel about 11 pm, checked in easy peasy and ordered UberEats. It was too dark to really orient ourselves but we could tell we were close to the beach by sound and smell. Off to bed!
Link to hotel! I don't blog for $ so it's a generic link y'all!
Day 2
We started the day with the Old Town Trolley tour. I read it was a great way to get familiar with what there is in San Diego, then pick where you want to spend more time later. We drove the rental car to the Old Town location where the trolley officially starts (4010 Twiggs St.) - there are about 12 different stops on the tour - some are really not what I would have considered tourist stops but would get you around to a lot of the key areas in the city limits. The trolley starts at 9 am (times vary by season, check their website). Get your coffee and drink before you arrive - most things don't seem to open until about 10 am in San Diego. The Twiggs Street/Old Town location is a block of unique little stores and refreshments. This was our starting point. We rode for a while and decided to hop off the trolley at Stop D, Seaport Village. We really were winging it. At this stop was a booth for the SEAL tour - it is a land/water vehicle - so we decided to do it, it was getting ready to take off and they had two seats left. It was about 90 minutes - driving to the launching ramp and then a cruise through the bay - not super super interesting but the breeze was nice and the sea lions were fun to look at. This is also where we got a peak at the Mount Soledad cross and sparked my memory of reading some tripadvisor stories about it. We returned back to Seaport Village - it was another small shopping area with restaurants and at lunch on the bay at the Edgewater, poked around some stores, and got back on the next trolley. We decided to finish riding the trolley through the rest of the tour (it takes about 2 hours if you stay on and do not get off). Things that stood out that we drove by - Kansas City BBQ - the restaurant where Top Gun had a film scene - the piano is still there, the Midway battleship (museum), the Coronado bridge, and in general the change of scenery from Indiana and our typical beach vacations to Florida. We arrived back to the Twiggs Street/Old Town stop where we started, grabbed an iced coffee (delish), and decided to go to Mount Soledad. It was about a 20 minute drive but SO WORTH IT (6905 La Jolla Scenic Dr S, La Jolla, CA 92037). It was a free park - and the cross and flag and view was amazing! I could have sat there all day! We drove back to the Kansas City BBQ (had to park and walk a bit) to check it out - it was neat but not sure I would do it again, we didn't eat there but it smelled delish - it was small and honestly driving by it would have been good enough for me. We ended up back at the hotel for the free drinks and appetizers on the rooftop to visit with our family. I had scheduled a facial for 7 pm at the hotel that evening which was also terrific. My husband hung out with the family on the beach. After that it was more UberEats for dinner (can you tell I have a slight obsession with UberEats lol) and to bed.
Day 3
Friday was Marine graduation. We started early with the family for the hurry up and wait for watching graduation and picking up our Marine to bring him home for a few days. I may be biased since my son graduated as an Army soldier but the Army graduation was more interesting than the Marine. Of course if you are there for the Marine graduation you will want to read all the facebook pages that tell you what to do and where to go and how to dress, etc. for your trip to the base. Luckily my brother in law has a department of defense badge (former military) so we didn't have to get pulled over and searched. We spent til prob 12:30 pm at the base and once we had our Marine loaded we headed back to the hotel. We had a great family at the hotel restaurant outside by the beach - the service was great especially for a party that big (19 people). I would say the food was kinda pricey but what isn't anymore?! Once our meal was over, the husband and I decided to take off again on our own for a couple of other places we wanted to see before leaving. We drove to the Midway museum. We got there about 4 pm which only left one hour to tour - so it was a quick trip but we still got to see quite a bit, we only ran out of time to go to the underbelly to see the sleeping quarters. From our parking spot at the Midway we were right next to the Kissing Statue. It was an iconic statue to view! We also walked around the farmer's market type booths which had some interesting fare but since it was close to closing time things were wrapping up. The one thing I wanted to do was to go to the border to see for myself. I put the address of the outlet mall next to the border in the gps because I read the back of the mall parking lot was a great place to view. They weren't wrong - it was an excellent place to park and took us to the last exit before getting in line for Mexico. The signage was pretty cool and it was interesting to people watch. We parked and walked around several blocks just to see the area, it was daylight and we felt very safe. After a fair amount of driving the back of the parking lot and grabbing a tea, we headed back to the hotel for the free drinks and appetizers again. On the way back we decided to take the street that the hotel was on to the end which got us pretty close to Mexico as well - you could see the Tijuana River tributary and view into Mexico, it was another delightful little accident. We even saw a couple getting ready to go on a horseback ride. Back at the hotel it was UberEats time along with the hot tub. Time to pack up for an early morning flight and to bed.
Day 4
Back home again in Indiana! Made it safely back home and were pleased with the amount of things we got to do and see in San Diego in such a short time. I would definitely like to come back and spend more time and bring our adult children to visit. Next time we want to go to Tijuana and will probably do the Amtrak up the coast to Los Angeles/Hollywood since my husband has not been there.
