Hey, San Diego

I’ve been to San Diego before, but only to visit specific destinations in the city. I had driven here from Los Angeles a few years ago to visit a friend who took me to the San Diego Zoo and Coronado Island, and I went again about a week later to see a Padres game at PETCO Park. I had loved San Diego, but it wasn’t until this trip that I fell in love with San Diego.

After our visit to Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, my family and I hopped back into our rented SUV and creeped south down Interstate 5. Just prior to reaching San Diego’s city limits we made a stop in La Jolla, one of my favorite small towns in the United States. A mostly affluent community, La Jolla is a hilly resort town that occupies 7 miles of coastline along the Pacific Ocean. We ate lunch on the rooftop terrace of George’s At The Cove, a restaurant overlooking the town’s sandy beaches and rocky shoreline. Then, we made our way to the coast, where wild seals swim and sunbathe among the town’s friendly beach-goers.

When we arrived in San Diego, I realized the downtown has a similar feel to that of Denver, Colorado, where I lived for three years. Young people swarm the streets of both cities while locals enjoy beers on sidewalk patios. San Diego’s 16.5-block Gaslamp Quarter is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and fills streets with shopping, restaurants, bars and festivals. San Diego is the eighth largest city in the United States, but the constant sunshine and laid-back attitudes make it a manageable city to visit.

San Diego offers a gorgeous oceanfront walk with an adorable Seaport Village, an opportunity to visit the famous USS Midway ship and easy access to Coronado Island either by car or boat. The progressive San Diego Zoo rests on 100 acres of parkland and holds 4,000 animals, 800 species and is one of the few zoos in the world to house the giant panda. Even the airport is downtown, which makes it exceptionally easy for travel to and from the city.

Those visiting Coronado may enjoy an afternoon of shopping, walking and eating ice cream along the 7.7 square-mile island. Just do not leave the island without visiting the Hotel del Coronado, a beachfront luxury hotel built in 1888 and considered one of the few surviving examples of a wooden Victorian beach resort. It has even been listed in USA Today as one of the “Top 10 Resorts in the World.”

It is not easy to say goodbye to a city like San Diego, but then, what constantly sunny, relaxed beach town isn’t? I hope to see you again sometime, Southern California.