Hey Party-Makers,

Do you ever get that feeling like you are simultaneously living in slow motion and a high speed chase? I guess that’s what January has felt like for us. Periods of stop and go, of resetting our brains, of introspection and running straight into the arms of the people we love and support. I’m sure a lot of you have some of the same experiences, or at the very least can relate to the whirlwind of January.

As we started the New Year, I evaluated some things that I really needed to cultivate in my life in order to be at my highest capacity. For myself, my marriage, my spiritual and professional life. One of those is seeking out more diversity where we live, and another one is resting well.

San Diego was that for us. It was a beautiful example of a hyper diverse community embracing each other to become it’s own little multi-cultural epicenter. It was re-energizing, inspiring, and so necessary for us to experience diversity to build more of that here in Portland. And y’all, it fueled my culinary creativity to the max.

One of my favorite parts of our trip, was that we intentionally sought to give our money to small businesses of color. We didn’t go for the top picks on Yelp. We let our noses lead us wherever we happened to be. To colorful, small, family-owned businesses. Places we wouldn’t have found if we structured our vacation around extravagance. To places where people walk in and the staff already knows their order. It was really beautiful to travel that way, to observe, and to immerse ourselves in the different neighborhood gems the city had to offer.

This post will be a rundown of our highlights of our trip, our movements, and our suggestions for traveling in San Diego.

First Things First

Here were some of our favorite traveling tools while we were in San Diego:

• Airbnb: We stayed at an Airbnb rental during our stay in San Diego in the Golden Hill neighborhood. It was hands down, one of the easiest and most enjoyable parts of our trip. If you’ve never used Airbnb, it’s a network of people from around the world that host their home spaces to travelers coming into their towns and cities. It’s a safe, comfortable, and affordable way to stay in a new city. Ben and I love to travel by immersion, which means that however long we stay somewhere, we want to experience a neighborhood. The local coffee shops, the public transit, we like the feeling really trying to learn about the communities we’re staying in. We also really love the flexibility to stay somewhere that is a home space. Our particular rental had a living room with a fireplace, a record player, a fully stocked kitchen, and a bedroom and bathroom. It was fun to explore the space and get a feel for our home through their music tastes, fridge contents, and decor. We loved being able to choose to have breakfast at “home” or come back to take a nap on days that we were spent.
  • If you’ve never traveled with Airbnb, you can follow this link to sign up for your account, and when you do that, you’ll ear $40 towards your first booking with them.
• Uber: Uber was our number one way of transportation while in SD. Because we’re babies, and don’t turn 25 until this year, the cost of renting a car is ridiculously expensive for us. Being Uber drivers ourselves, we knew that it would be a really fast, accessible, and affordable way to get around town. We also got SD trolley transit cards while we were in town, as our Airbnb was close to a stop, and that was a really helpful, clean, and easy way to get around. Just make sure to have your card on you, with funds, and activated–SD transit police constantly patrol the trolley! That having been said, most of our Uber rides were between $4 and $14, depending on how far-out we got.
  • If you’ve never used Uber, it’s a transportation networking company where ordinary, background checked, driver-tested, and insured drivers (in car models that are less than 10 years old) drive as a regular taxi service. Everything works through your phone (or user-enabled devices), from calling an Uber to choosing your destination, through to the payment method. Once your ride is accepted by a driver, you don’t have to anything but get in and out of the car at the location of your choosing. If you’re new and interested in using Uber, follow the direct link to the uber website, and enter the code: gbyzm5kyue to receive your first ride for free.
• Apple Watch: We just got apple watches for Christmas, and so far really love the ways they track activity. Contrary to popular belief, I actually feel a lot more present in my day-to-day life with the watch, because I know that any important phone call, email, or text message is going to come to my watch. This means I spend less time looking for new notifications, and more time enjoying the environment I’m in. We used our watches during this trip for everything from calling an uber, getting turn by turn walking directions, using it as a timer for our 3000-selfie sprees, and to monitor our activity levels to make sure we earned all the food we were consuming. Believe it or not, most days we were in San Diego we walked about 10 miles. Part of that was stubbornness, and the other part was just that we appreciate traveling slow and simple, and walking is the perfect way to do that.
• San Diego Go Card: This card was a real $$$ saver, and one of the easiest ways to get admission into 45 of San Diego’s Tourist attractions. From the San Diego Zoo to the USS Midway, to all of the Balboa Park’s Museums and Gardens, and beyond. We paid $55 for each pass, and it was good for two days. By comparison the San Diego Zoo ALONE costs $52 per adult, PER DAY.
• Groupon: Groupon is an online catalogue that collects coupons and discounts for activities, restaurants, and more online. You can shop by location and get great deals on sight-seeing or other city-wide activities. We used Groupon for our tandem bike ride rental, our brewery tour, and our San Diego Go Card. If you’re traveling, always make sure to check Groupon for the city you’re traveling to, and see if you can’t find some good deals to local gems!

As far as our list of attractions and restaurants, here is a list of our favorites based on regions:

• La Jolla: La Jolla is a beachside town about 15 minutes north of San Diego. It is lined with beautiful Sea Caves, Elegant Boutiques, the most GORGEOUS houses, and some neat wild life. Translated into English, La Jolla means The Gem. And I would agree with that name. La Jolla is beautiful. We loved strolling through the streets, walking along the rocky beaches, and looking at all the seals that were birthing along the shores. Here were some of our favorite places there.
  • La Jolla Cove
  • The Taco Stand: The Taco Stand came highly recommended to us as the best place to get Tacos in La Jolla. It was SUPER busy, but it did not disappoint. They have a good selection of Mexican beer, and you can watch them make your food in front of you, from the tortilla to the sauces–everything is made fresh and in-house, and you can definitely tell. 
  • Ho Chi Minh Trail: A few notes on this trail. We hiked this after it had rained the day before, and the trail was not easily accessible. It was muddy and extremely slick, so we didn’t end up making it to the beach. Although very beautiful, I think this trail is probably at it’s prime when it’s been dry and hot. That having been said, the winding formations that you walk through on a part of the trail, are very beautiful and definitely unique. 
• Pacific Beach
  • Pacific Beach Boardwalk: We walked from Mission Beach to Pacific Beach along the boardwalk and it was beautiful. We got to catch a California Sunset while walking along the boardwalk. During the week and in January, the boardwalk was pretty empty which made for a nice romantic stroll. 
  • La Perla Concina Mexicana and Burrito Factory: This place was rated 9th or 10th on Yelp, but it looked small and quiet, so we picked it anyways. One of the foods San Diego is famous for is Carne Asada Fries. Basically, think nachos, but with shoestring french fries. We had these at a couple of places, but these were HANDS DOWN the best. Expect to see our own rendition and recipe very soon!
• Gaslamp: The Gaslamp Quarter is San Diego’s Nightlife Scene. In the middle of Downtown, it covers 16 1/2 blocks of beautiful, historic buildings that house hotels, a large number of bars, and probably really expensive apartments. You’ll want to go here for happy hour. There are plenty of options, almost every restaurant and bar has a great happy hour selection of strong, cheap drinks, and several live music scenes.
  • La Puerta SD
  • Sultan Baklava: If you know us, you know that we try to eat Turkish food at every opportunity we have. In the Gaslamp we stumbled into a Turkish cafe that had our favorite Turkish dessert: Kunefe. It consists of fried shredded dough, filled with an unsalted, melted cheese. It’s coated in sweet syrup and topped with chopped pistachios. It was one of our first foods in Turkey, and we just love it. Sultan Baklava looked to be family-owned and everything we had was DELICIOUS. If you’re hopping through happy hours in the Gaslamp, make sure to leave room to stop here for dessert. 
  • Horton Plaza Mall: As tacky as it sounds to go to a mall on vacation, Horton Plaza was actually beautiful. We didn’t do any shopping, but really loved wandering through the different floors of this open-air mall. Each new level offered different views of the city. The very top floor has some fast food restaurants that have some beautiful views (it almost makes you believe the fast food might be better there). This is the view from the third level. 
  • Mission Brewery Tour: I didn’t take any pictures while on our tour because the lighting was pretty bad, but we really loved this tour. While we’re still pretty confident that the beer is better in Portland, we learned a lot about the brewing process, and got to sample five of their brews. We booked our tour with a Groupon, and also got complimentary pint glasses at the end of the tour.
• Old Town: Old Town was one of our favorite places, and somewhere we wish we’d spent more time. Because it’s a little out of the way, we didn’t stumble in until Sunday night. Old Town is exactly what it sounds like: it houses general stores, Spanish colonial architecture, and plenty of reminders of frontier pioneering. If you’re going to Old Town feel free to wander everywhere. Eat all the fresh tortillas. Look at all the colorful, beautiful Latin American goods (but don’t buy them until you go in country because they are wayyyy overpriced), eat all the food. Drink the biggest margarita of your life. Buy churros from a little stand on the side of the road. Listen to the live Salsa and Mariachi. 
• Balboa Park: Balboa Park is the country’s largest, urban cultural park. There are 15 major museums on this campus, as well as the San Diego Zoo. The easiest way to navigate this was with our Go Passes, which included entry into all the major museums. You should definitely stop by the information center and get a map, so that you can choose which museums to visit.
  • The San Diego Zoo
  • Spanish Village Art Center
  • The Desert Garden
• Coronado Island: Just a short Uber or ferry ride away, is Coronado Island. It houses one of the oldest hotel’s in San Diego and is a beautiful little island with great views of the bay.
  • Hotel Del Coronado: This Hotel is stunning. Unfortunately, I was so overcome by how beautiful it was that I forgot to take pictures. It has a beautiful history, and unique architecture. Even if you aren’t a guest, you’re allowed in the main lobby, the shops downstairs, and their beautiful beach (one of the top beaches in California!). You can see and read more by following the link to their website. This is definitely the number one stop on Coronado, so if you make the trip, make sure to stop by!
  • Ferry : We rode the ferry on our way back from Coronado and got a beautiful shot of the bay and the Island. Having sunshine on our faces and wind in our hair in January was good for the soul. 
  • Tandem Bike Ride via Wheel Fun Rentals: Make sure to scout Groupon for to shops like this! We got our tandem bike rental for $12 for half the day. We worked on trust-building (I couldn’t see anything in front of us!), and enjoyed cruising through the flat, beautiful neighborhoods of Coronado. This might have been one of our favorite things we did in SD, cheesy as it sounds. 
  • Candelas: Our Uber driver suggested this place, and while we might have been skeptical of some of his other suggestions, this one was spot on. Candelas is right on the pier (close to where the ferry drops off/picks up). The food is delicious, and the Coronadito looked amazing (margarita + small corona). Their little slogan was, “we hope you enjoy the view, but please, enjoy the food.”
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• Broadway Pier
  • USS Midway Museum (Included in Go Card): If you love planes, the navy, and military history this is the place for you. The USS Midway is a retired Aircraft Carrier. You can walk all over the ship and experience what it might be like to live out at sea. The wonderful volunteers are mostly retired service members who either worked on this ship, or one like it at one point or another. Make sure to allow for plenty of time here, as there is a lot to see—from the decks below, to the flight deck, it’s all pretty amazing. It makes you appreciate the discipline and efficiency of service members who have lived or currently live in similar circumstances.
  • San Diego Harbor Cruise (included in Go Card): If your feet need a break from walking, and you want to feel the wind in your hair, pick up some tickets to the one hour cruise by Flagship Cruises. You’ll learn about the San Diego Bay, Coronado Island, the Naval Presence in the city, all while sipping on a margarita and resting your feet.
• MISC Restaurants:
  • Buona Forchetta SD: This Restaurant took me way back to when my roommate and I used to go to a small pizzeria in Florence. The craftsmanship to the menu and ingredients at this restaurant is impeccable. As a plus, we heard ten times more italian from both the staff and patrons, than we did English. This is how you know you’re in the right place, y’all. 
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  • El Salvadoreño: This restaurant was two blocks away from our Airbnb. It’s a Salvadorian restaurant, and if you don’t know what that means, you need to fix that SOON. From fried plantains, to casamiento (a rice and bean mixture), to pupusas (think tortillas stuffed with cheese/veggies/meat). We wouldn’t have discovered this place if it wasn’t for our Airbnb, and our vacation stomachs would have been much less satisfied. We went more than once, and don’t regret it one bit. 

Afterthoughts

We loved the tastes, sounds, architecture, and feel of San Diego. We loved the way that diversity was woven into the fabric of the city in a way that seemed natural and peaceful. We really loved the sunshine we got to experience, the vibrancy of its food; we loved the (VERY cold) salt water on our toes, and all the different languages we could hear in one day.

For us, this trip was an opportunity to charge up for this year. To breathe fresh air and rest. In a climate that has been divisive at the norm, and deeply wounding at it’s worst, it was a breath of fresh air to pause, enjoy beautiful delicious things, and spend time intentionally together. We come back to you inspired, conciliatory, and hungry. Hungry for a year full of eating together, challenging together, growing together, and celebrating together.

We hope you’ll join us in 2017 as we continue to seek after balance, inclusion, awareness, overloads of celebration, adventure, and chasing after joy.

love, love, love,

Mary-Beth Johnson

Mary-Beth is a creative, food-obsessed, Georgia transplant living Chicago. She is proudly and fiercely Latina, and more specifically Chapina. In her day to day she is a food educator to students around Chicagoland aged 3 to 80+, both virtually and in-person. She is passionate about cultivating the truth that every person has an understanding of food that deserves being brought to the table, and that time in the kitchen can be sacred, passionate, and an act of love for self and others. Outside the kitchen you can find her at the intersections of infertility, chronic illness, and a deep love for the dignity of all humans. She hopes to create a space that is holistic about the role of food in the social, political, relational, and physiological dynamics of our world.