Before going crazy from three months of carona quarantining, we booked a hotel, packed up the dog and drove four hours to San Diego for some beach time. It was our safest choice and San Diego is really cool. Here’s how it went!
We arrived at the hotel near check-in time. The hotel staff took all of the necessary Carona precautions. The place was empty and I felt totally safe.
After checking in, we disinfected our room by wiping down all surfaces with anti-bacterial wipes and sprayed anti bacterial mist over everything. I tore off the comforter and stored it in the closet and sprayed down the sheets. The hotel had a new policy where they will not clean your room unless you requested it. We opted out and cleaned up after ourselves, made our own bed and took out our own trash for the entire week. I don’t like people in my hotel room under normal circumstances so this didn’t bother me at all.
Before setting out to explore, we checked the news and the city of San Diego was in an all out war with the police due to the George Floyd protests. The beach towns looked clear so we planned our five night trip around beach activities.
The weather for the week looked decent. San Diego goes through what they call “June Gloom”, which means most of the June and the summer months are cloudy. We lucked out because we had two days of full sun (I got sun burned the first day) and five days of partly sunny skies. It didn’t matter to us. We were happy to be in new surroundings and at the beach!
Hers is a list of places we visited. Every day was spent walking on the beach and taking in the beautiful sights of San Diego.
Dog Beach
★★★★★ · Beach · San Diego, CA 92109
A beach for dogs and humans! We let our dog run around for a long time while we watched the tide go. No matter where you are it’s always fun to watch dogs play. I call Dog Beach the happiest place on earth!
Pacific Beach Pier & Cottages
★★★★★ · Historical landmark · 4500 Ocean Blvd
The first time we visited San Diego we checked out Pacific beach and really liked the location. Parking wasn’t hard to find and there are miles of beach to walk in either direction. If you’re not into walking on the sand, you can walk the concrete path that runs parallel to the beach with all the skateboarders, bike riders and rollerbladers.
There are tons of shops and eateries here, but they were empty due to the virus. It wasn’t anything like we experienced the last time we visited, but it was nice because it felt like the place was ours.
La Jolla Tide Pools
★★★★★ · Public beach · 303 Coast Blvd
It’s best to go when the tide is almost out, or even all the way out so you can explore all of the tide pools. You can spend hours looking in to each tide pool big and small. They’re so clear and full of life!
Children’s Pool/Beach
★★★★★ · Beach · Village of La Jolla, CA 92037
Children’s Pool Beach was a super fun stop on our trip. It’s a man made cove originally built for kids to swim away from the big powerful ocean waves. Unfortunately for the kids, the seals thought it was a great spot too and they took over half the beach to sunbathe and give birth to their babies. People still swim here, but need to keep their distance. We loved watching them play in the shallow water and wobble around on the sand.
The Cave Store
★★★★☆ · Tourist attraction · 1325 Coast Blvd
This is a store with a secret! The place looks like a regular store front when you walk up and in to it, but towards the back there is an entryway to a secret cave. Go through the small door and walk down 140+ tiny steps through a tunnel to that opens up to a beautiful cave. Watch your head!
The cave was dug over a hundred years ago and was used to smuggle alcohol and drugs during the prohibition era. The sounds alone are worth the visit.
The store portion is closed right now because of Carona, but the cave is open. Call ahead and make a reservation. The cost is $10.00 per person and your group can stay in the cave area for 1/2 hour.
Cabrillo National Park& Minument ($20 per car, but worth every penny)
★★★★★ · Park · 1800 Cabrillo Memorial Dr
The gift store is closed due to Carona, but the rest of the park is open. The views of San Diego here are jaw dropping.
Before buying your pass into the park, take a drive through the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery. There was hardly anyone there when we went and it was stunning.
Point Loma Tide Pool
https://goo.gl/maps/HLWbeoYhKUbUG9F46
★★★★★ · Hiking area · 1800 Cabrillo Memorial Dr
Located within the Cabrillo National Park.
If you’re here during low tide, you can climb down the cliffs to the rocky beach below for some exploring. There are also hiking paths on the cliffside to explore too.
Coronado Beach
★★★★★ · Beach · Coronado, CA 92118
This is where I found sand dollars for days. This is a long stretch of beautiful beach. It’s a long each too so there is plenty of room to keep yo yourself here.
While you’re here, check out Hotel Coronado (Built in the 1800s!)
A huge old victorian hotel built in the 1800s that a majority of the presidents and royalty have stayed at. We walked by it on the beach, but didn’t go in to check it out.
Mission Beach
San Diego, CA 92109
A laid back neighborhood whose namesake sands attract surfers, sunbathers and volleyball players. A paved path curls around Mission Bay, which is a popular spot for water sports. Belmont Amusement Park (Closed due to Carona) has a small wooden rollercoaster in it that was built in the 1920’s. There are also cafe’s and eateries here as well.
Gaslamp Quarter
San Diego, CA 92101
This cool section of the city is 16 blocks of historical buildings, shops and restaurants of all kinds!)
The protesting quieted down so we went to dinner here on our last night. We were one of two couples that dined inside. It felt weird, but everyone wore masks and everything was wiped down.
Gaslamp Quarter is usually jam packed with people, but it was super quiet when we were there, and a majority of the restaurants were open for business. Take out or dine-in.
Torrey Pines Glider Port
2800 Torrey Pines Scenic Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037
https://goo.gl/maps/JWzx5TbEdS27S1HWA
Watch paraglider take off and land off of steep cliffs over the ocean. This was really cool to watch!
Sunset Cliffs Natural Park
Ladera St. San Diego, CA
https://goo.gl/maps/WTorDWuViaJ6S2NJ7
Nature Cliffs overlooking the Pacific ocean. This is great place to watch the sunset! You might see the occasional cliff diver or two.
Here are a few photos I took while running around for the week. I wish I was able to capture more but I was too busy having fun. I’m already looking forward to our next trip back to to beautiful beach towns of San Diego.
