San Diego Dreaming

San Diego is my favorite vacation spot. I’ve been there three times total, but most recently I vacationed there these past two summers. I found some of my favorite places last summer and made sure to go to those places again this last summer. I then again found quite a few great restaurants and shops that I have added to my ongoing San Diego list. I am planning to go back next summer and am sure I will find even more to do.

I used Pinterest to plan for my last trip. I found so many awesome coffee shops, hiking spots and ice cream parlors to try. I have already started browsing Pinterest for next year!

You can use my list as a start off point for your San Diego vacation. So many of the places on my list are in really cool neighborhoods that are worth exploring.

If you are interested in doing a lot of attractions I would recommend looking into a San Diego card. You can purchase them from different sites. We bought ours through Expedia, but Groupon has them as well. Purchasing the card allows you to visit a ton of attractions! Before you decide which card to buy, make sure you read through the list of attractions. I know for us, we wanted to go to Seaworld so this meant we had to buy the 3-day card. It was worth it! We ended up saving almost $300!

Packing tip for San Diego: Layers! We went at the end July. While mornings and evenings were cool, the afternoons were pretty hot! A few of the mornings were gloomy, so I would recommend to plan to go to the beach early afternoon!

We drove to San Diego from Tucson. If you do this, I recommend stopping at Dateland to get shakes!

1. Better Buzz Coffee: The best Chai tea latte I had in San Diego. There are several locations. We went to the location in Hillcrest twice. We also walked by a Better Buzz in an outdoor mall. The Hillcrest location is pretty big. It’s actually where they do their employee training. We were able to see new employees being trained in the conference room. I had the Iced Chai will almond milk both times we went. They also have a pretty good-sized menu. We went at breakfast time both days. I had the toast with almond butter and jelly the first morning and the breakfast sandwich the next morning. Both very good. I just checked the menu and I don’t see the sandwich I had last time, but it does look like they have a few other tasty options!

I loved the atmosphere of the coffee shop. We spent a good amount of time there planning our day and playing games. The line does get pretty long, but it moves quickly. I especially loved the glass that my Chai came in. It was so cute! I wanted to buy one as a souvenir, but they were pretty expensive. Keep in mind that there is no parking at this location. We parked on the street one day and the second time we found a shopping center close by to park and walked. This location was close to some of the other activities we had on our itinerary, so it was a good jumping off point for the day. I will definitely be going back here next year. I have already started looking at Airbnb’s and found one that looks like it is within walking distance of one of the locations. Score!

2. Soda Swine: We tried this restaurant last year and ended up going twice this year. They share the space with a bar and you can order your food to be brought over there instead of eating at Soda and Swine. We didn’t get any drinks at the bar, but we did walk through it and it had a cool vibe to it. At Soda and Swine I highly recommend the macaroni and cheese. It is so creamy and delicious! You have the option of adding jalapenos. I enjoy the pork meatballs with pepper jack cheese and barbeque sauce, as well as the burger.

Soda and Swine is in the North Park area and it is a nice area to walk around. There is a small parking lot near the restaurant, but you’re probably more likely going to be parking on the street. There are two really good bakeries in the area. One is called Twiggs, but I can’t remember the name of the other. This is the neighborhood where we stayed last year. It is close to a lot of attractions. There is another location of Soda and Swine as well, at Liberty Station. Liberty Station also has a food court with a lot of options

3. Pigment: This store is very cute! They have an area where you can put your succulent terrarium together. There are quite a few succulents to choose from. The store is organized by color, which made it a really place to shop and walk around. They have a lot of items that would make cute gifts. If I had more room in my luggage and wasn’t wary of items breaking, I would have picked up some items for my desk. You could definitely decorate your office with items from this store! I also saw a section with items for kids. Something neat is that their business cards are bookmarks so I picked up a couple of those to give my fellow readers. They were actually really pretty bookmarks!

We were able to find a parking garage in the area. After Pigment we walked around a bit. We found a cute toy store and a coffee shop. I also heard someone talking about a Farmers Market. I have heard there are quite a few Farmers Markets in San Diego. Las year we stopped by one in Hillcrest. I believe the area with Pigment would be considered North Park. Near Pigment was a restaurant called Swami’s. We did not go to this location, but we did go to Swami’s closer to our Airbnb that we stayed at this year. It was in La Mesa. I highly recommend Swami’s! The portions are huge and the food was delicious. We had dinner, but they have breakfast and lunch too. They also have smoothies that looked pretty good!

4. Library Shop: this is located in the Central library. You can park in the garage beneath the library and the library itself does validate parking. This was a cute shop. They had a few knick-knacks that would make great gifts. They do sell a some books as well. I saw some really pretty jewelry. The library has a used bookshop too.

5. Mission Beach: There is plenty of free parking for this beach. This is where you’ll find Belmont Park. We played laser tag and mini golf there. It was a blast! We were pretty hungry after running around Belmont Park, so we headed over to the Ocean Beach area to go to Hodad’s for burgers. Ocean Beach is pretty close to Mission Beach. We did have to pay for parking when we parked for lunch. Hodad’s had a very long line (out the door) and we were on a bit of a time crunch, so we headed to a nearby barbeque place that ended up being pretty good! There was also a Mexican restaurant that looked good. I will definitely be going to Hodad’s next year!

6. Windansea Beach: This beach is located in La Jolla and it is very secluded. I have gone there twice and neither time was too busy. It was fun watching the surfers. When we left Windansea we headed to La Jolla Cove to see the sea lions. I had seen them the first time I went to San Diego. This time, though, it was so busy and we weren’t able to find parking. We did walk around the neighborhood though and a found a cute shop.

7. Frost Me Gourmet: BEST CUPCAKES! Last year, we found this gem and this year we went three times! There are two locations. We went to both this year. They have a rotating schedule of cupcakes. At the Seaport Village location we had the Toasted Coconut flavor and the Cherry Mocha flavor (not sure about the name for this one). I liked the Toasted Coconut the best. They were featured on Cupcake Wars a couple years ago and the Cherry Mocha flavor is one of the cupcakes they made on the show.

There is a lot to do at Seaport Village! We were able to go to the USS Midway. I really enjoyed walking around. You can do a self-guided tour. I would recommend this. It’s really interesting. The kid versions of each station are so funny! This takes about 2 hours, so plan accordingly!

The other location for Frost Me is in Little Italy, which is near the Gaslamp quarter (the downtown area). We tried the German Chocolate and the S’mores flavors. I really enjoyed the S’mores! Little Italy is a nice neighborhood to walk around. If you only get to go to one Frost Me location, I would recommend the Seaport Village location.

8. Balboa Park: A ton of attractions on our San Diego card were at Balboa Park, including the Zoo! We arrived at the Zoo in the morning and grabbed lunch there. We then went to a couple of the museums at Balboa Park and headed back to finish up the Zoo later in the day. The Zoo is huge so be prepared to walk a ton! Balboa Park is a great place to walk around. They have a cute souvenir shop and there is a free trolley that will drive you around the park.

9. Seaworld: This was a long day! I enjoyed the Pets show and the dolphin show.

10. Legoland: Probably more fun for kids, but this is the most beautiful and clean amusement park! Seeing all of the Lego creations was awesome! Some of them are amazing. You can also see where they do the building. On the way home from Legoland we stopped at The Crack Shack for dinner. They have the most delicious biscuits!

11. Refill: OH MY GOSH THE CREPES! SO GOOD. I had the peanut butter and jelly crepe with bananas. These are very filling so go hungry!

12. Vin de Syrah: This wine bar is Alice in Wonderland inspired. The door to the lobby for the restroom is super trippy. It’s located in the Gaslamp Quarter. We did a Paint Nite there. If you haven’t tried a Paint Nite before, do it! It’s a great date night idea. Especially because there are so many restaurants in the downtown area. Vin de Syrah's drinks were great! They have more than just wine. Very cool atmosphere.

Happy travels!