First San Diego Visit

My wife and I spent a leisurely weekend in San Diego. It was our first visit to the area. Here are some of the attractions we enjoyed…

San Diego Zoo: This famous zoo contains animals, as well as plants, from all over the world. We spent about 4 hours walking through this shaded park and observing the animals.

Hotel Del Coronado (The Del): Although the Hotel Del Coronado was not our accommodations during our San Diego stay, we spent an afternoon here taking in the beach scene on the grounds of this historic hotel and its surroundings. In addition to the very large beach, there are several blocks of shops and eateries. We found this beautiful area of the city great for relaxation.

Old Town: Old town was the site of the oldest Spanish settlement in what is now California. It was established in 1769 and has been nicknamed "The Birthplace of California". Today, Old Town consists of quaint shops, restaurants, historic buildings, and small museums containing relics from the 1700’s. There is also a central square where musicians perform. Old Town is a good place to go souvenir shopping and to learn about the early days of San Diego.

Dick’s Last Resort: This restaurant is located in the Gaslamp Quarter, the hangout section of the city. There was live music and good food during our visit, but it was the waiters and waitresses that left an impression on us. Part of their role is to be rude to the customers! I was shocked with my first encounter but after realizing it was part of an act, I found it quite amusing when I saw other customers encounter the same thing. In the end, our waiter was actually a nice guy.

Richard Walkers Pancake House: This is a very popular breakfast spot in the Gaslamp Quarter. The line to dine at this small restaurant was almost a block long when we arrived. After a 45-minute wait, we were finally able to discover why this diner is so popular. The food was very tasty – especially the Walker's Apple Pancake.

Quick Tips:

Hotel Choice: We stayed in a hotel located in the downtown area but I did not see any advantage to doing this as a tourist. The attractions in San Diego are spread throughout the region; therefore, we still needed to rent a car to get around.

Vacation packages: Southwest Airlines and AAA were offering some reasonably priced vacation packages at the time I was researching our trip. The packages included air, hotel, car rental, and admission to several attractions. The only reason we didn’t take advantage of these packages was because the leisure travel discounts my job was offering worked out to be cheaper. Otherwise, I would have considered one of the packages.

San Diego Zoo discounts: There are several sites on the web that offer various reduced admission coupons. Simply do a search on Google or some other search engine for "San Diego Zoo discount". The best deal I found at the time was www.mousesavers.com under the Non-Disney Theme Parks & Attractions link. It was offering off the Best Value Package (includes admission, bus tour, and sky tram). The zoo also provides a small discount for AAA members. Just show your card.

Bring Your Passport: A popular excursion from San Diego is a daytrip to Tijuana, Mexico. Having your passport handy makes this trip an option when you are considering things to do during your San Diego visit.

Best Way To Get Around:

We flew from Philadelphia to San Diego on USAir. At the time, USAir was about more than Southwest Airlines but we chose the airline because it was the only one offering a direct flight from Philadelphia.

We definitely needed to rent a car in San Diego because the tourist attractions are sprinkled throughout the area. We brought our portable Garmin GPS navigation system with us. Therefore, finding our way around the city was a breeze. However, we learned very early to give ourselves extra time when driving to the various destinations since the freeways were often congested.

The Hilton San Diego Airport/Harbor Island Hotel is a 3-sided building located on a man-made peninsula across from the airport. It offers views of the marina and bay. The side facing the bay provides a beautiful view of the San Diego skyline. We had a marina view which was nice but not as nice as the bay view in my opinion.

Our stay was of the good quality one would expect from a Hilton. Our room was always neat and clean. It had two double-beds, a mirrored closet, small desk, and cable television. The room did not have a microwave or refrigerator.

You pay a little more for being in the city. There seems to be fees for everything. Parking is $17 per day. Your room key is needed to enter the parking lot. My wife had her laptop with her but there was a fee to connect to the internet from the room. The business center charges to use its computers. There is a free Wi-Fi connection in the lobby but we couldn't get it to work.

The location of the hotel was convenient for getting to and from the San Diego International Airport since it was only a mile away. I did occasionally hear airplanes during the day but nothing I’d consider distracting. Chances are, you’ll hear and see airplanes constantly no matter where you go in the city. In fact, we were told that one of the open-air theaters in Balboa Park has a spotter to alert the actors to pause the action until the jet noise subsides.

The hotel has an upscale restaurant. Additionally, there is a seafood restaurant next to the hotel. We didn’t eat at either one because we spent most of our time out sightseeing.

As for attractions and more restaurants, you’ll need a car. The night spots, shopping, and restaurants of the Gaslamp Quarter are 7 miles away. You’ll need to use the freeway to get to the zoo, La Jolla, the beaches, and most other attractions.

The hotel staff was always willing to help out. I had accidently left my San Diego Zoo discount coupon printouts at home. The man at the front desk offered to use his computer to go online to get us another printout. Unfortunately, we were no longer able to find the coupon.

We had a pleasant stay at the Hilton San Diego Airport/Harbor Island Hotel. However, if we ever vacation in San Diego again, I will consider saving a few bucks and staying at a hotel outside the city since we still needed a car to get to attractions during our stay at the Hilton.

After checking into our hotel room at the Hilton San Diego Airport/Harbor Island, we thumbed through the complimentary visitors guide booklet and came across an advertisement for "ribs, chicken, and seafood" at a restaurant called Dick's Last Resort. That sounded pretty good so off we went to find this place. It was an 8-mile drive from the hotel.


Dick’s Last Resort is located in the Gaslamp Quarter of Sandiego. This historic section of the city is now full of night clubs, bars, restaurants, and shops. Parking can be difficult to come by in this area but we eventually found a spot a few blocks from Dick's Last Resort. We spent some time wandering the streets and the shops before eventually making our way to the restaurant.

Dining at Dick's is anything but a normal experience. We walked in and found napkins, straws, and paper all over the floor. There were long wooden tables, some of which hadn't been cleared yet. There was a nice live band playing everything from Marvin Gaye to the Rolling Stones. My wife and I stood around trying to figure out if we were supposed to seat ourselves or wait to be seated. I finally ask a waiter who was busy figuring out a bill at the register. I was stunned when he rudely replied in a very surfer dude voice, "Hey, can you give me a minute here?"

At the same time, my wife had asked a waitress who was walking by and she said she didn't care where we sat. She told us we could sit in the bathroom for all she cared. It turns out all this was part of an act. The waiters and waitresses go out of their way to be abrasive. They were constantly yelling out orders, banging pails together, and making goofy hats. Our place mats consisted of paper torn from a big roll. People at other tables were tearing off pieces and throwing them at each other. Even the waiter joined in at times. It seems just about anything goes in this joint. The only posted restriction I saw was no dancing on the tables.

As advertised, the menu consisted of seafood, ribs and chicken but you had to be able to decipher the wacky names. We weren't hungry enough to eat whole entrees by ourselves this late at night so we skipped over the Pork Bonerz, Half-A-Chicky, and other items and shared an order of Fry'd Shrimpies. Our delicious meal was served in two metal pails - one for the shrimp and one for the fries. This entrée cost $16, the average price for entrées at Dick’s.

The surfer dude was our loud obnoxious waiter. He was actually a nice guy despite my first encounter with him at the cash register. He was quite busy that night trying to serve a large bachelorette party, a birthday party, and a group of people at the end of our table in addition to us. After our meal, he came by and apologized for not bringing our food sooner. Truthfully, my wife and I were enjoying the band and didn't notice any delay in receiving our food. However, he insisted we accept two free Dick's Last Resort souvenir drinking glasses as reconciliation. We thanked him and headed out into the chilly night.

Overall, we enjoyed the food and the live music at Dick’s. After our initial shock of the abrasiveness of the wait staff, we even enjoyed their antics too. I recommend Dick’s Last Resort for those who want to have a lively meal. I don’t recommend it for those who are looking for a quiet, romantic dinner.

We barely made it to The Prado within the allotted grace period for our 8:30 PM dinner reservation. The restaurant is located in Balboa Park which, unknown to us at the time, becomes very busy in the evening. The restaurant is popular with the patrons of the theaters that are located inside the park. Add to that a wedding reception in the area and other restaurants and you have traffic galore. A parking space was hard to come by. We eventually found one in a large parking lot but it was quite a distance from The Prado.

The Prado is inside a beautiful white stone building with marble columns, arching passage ways, and a tranquil fountain at its entrance. There is an attractive terrace garden available for outdoor dining. However, due to the threat of rain that evening, guests were seated inside. The interior of the restaurant had a southwest decor that was dimly-lit with candles and fancy lamps. Some patrons were dressed in dinner jackets and evening gowns but there were others dressed much more casual.

For entrees, my wife had the oven-roasted sea bass while I went with the 4-inch thick slow-roasted center cut pork prime rib in an apple demi. I almost chose the braised boneless beef short rib in a bittersweet chocolate-espresso demi because I was curious about the combination of beef and chocolate. Instead, I ended up choosing the pork prime rib because it was the signature dish. Both my wife and I were fully satisfied with our entrees.

In addition to good food, we had a friendly attentive waiter that took time to find out about us and to tell us about the beautiful city of San Diego. When our waiter found out we were celebrating our wedding anniversary, he brought out a complimentary Tahitian vanilla bean cream cheese flan sprinkled with flower petals and topped with two candles. This dessert alone was enough to make me come back if I ever find myself in San Diego again. It was heavenly!

The Prado is a nice place for a romantic dinner but it is rather pricey. Our bill for appetizers and entrées plus the gratuity came to $95.

My sister had vacationed in San Diego a few months before my wife and me. She raved about her stay at the Hotel Del Coronado, a.k.a. The Del. She told us to check it out even if we weren’t staying there. Her recommendation turned out to be a nice one. This grand hotel has been in business since 1888 and is a national historic landmark. It has accommodated world leaders and has been featured in several movies; however, it was the laid back beach vibe that made our visit so pleasant.

To get to the Del, we had to drive across the Coronado Bay Bridge, one of the highest bridges I've ever seen. Once there, luck was on our side as far as parking. I found a metered parking space on the street in front of the hotel. The previous person in the spot had actually left enough time on the meter so that I only had to add a quarter to cover our visit. I definitely did not want to pay $20 to park in the visitor lot of the Del. My advice is drive around the hotel and neighboring streets to look for parking. I later saw some free parking along the beach.

The Del has expanded to be a lavish beach resort. The beach is one of the biggest I've ever seen. There are public changing facilities available. On the day of our visit, several weddings were happening both on the grounds of the hotel and on its beach. My wife and I spent time strolling the beach area and browsing the shops in the lower level of the hotel. We also took time to walk along the wide sidewalks of Orange Avenue which are lined with more shops and restaurants and frequented by people walking their miniature dogs. One caution I must pass along is to always cross the streets at the crosswalks and obey the traffic signals. Otherwise, hefty fines are enforced for J-walking in this area. Overall, I was most impressed by how clean this section of the city is. There was an air show happening in the area that day so occasionally, our peaceful walk and casual chatting was interrupted by the ear-splitting roar of fighter jets banking overhead.

We decided to celebrate our last evening in San Diego with dinner at the Del. We were seated on the outdoor terrace under the heat lamps (San Diego gets chilly at night). Our pricey meal was just okay but we had a gorgeous view overlooking the beach and ocean at sunset. We enjoyed chatting with our waiter as well. Even though he had lived in San Diego all his life, he was a fan of our hometown football team, the Philadelphia Eagles, because of his years of playing the Madden NFL video games.

A day at The Del was a nice way for us spend time in sunny San Diego. It’s a leisurely place that can be enjoyed by all.

There are discount coupons to this zoo all over the Internet and other publications. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring the $8-off coupons I had printed from www.mousesavers.com. Therefore, I had to settle for the $2.50-off per "Best Value" ticket I got using my AAA card.

Our "Best Value" ticket package to the world-famous San Diego Zoo enabled us to do the bus tour and ride the aerial tram. We never got around to getting on the aerial tram but we did do the bus tour. The tour is a narrated 30-minute orientation ride on a double-decker bus around the zoo. One of the workers told my wife and me that the best seats were on the top near the middle because the bus driver always tries to center the bus anytime she stops at an attraction. Truthfully, we could have done without this orientation tour because the zoo has directions posted all over the place, we were given maps when we entered, and there are plenty of staff all over the park to lead you to the animals you want to see. Our Denny's Grand Slam breakfast we'd eaten earlier had begun to kick in near the end of the ride causing both of us to start bobble-heading while we were attempting to fight the strong urge to take a nap.


The San Diego Zoo is quite hilly but wonderfully shaded with exotic plants and trees from all over the world. As expected, there are many species of animals to observe – everything from tiny reptiles to large carnivores. Most of the exhibits mimic the animals’ natural environments. There are not many cages with iron bars and concrete floors. Techniques such as glass and trenches are used to separate animals from people. Most of the animals we saw that day were sleeping. However, we did spend quite a while watching the golden-bellied Mangabey monkeys take turns grooming each other.

The most popular attraction is the giant pandas exhibit. In fact, you have to wait in a maze-like line as if at an amusement park to get a turn to walk by the enclosure. There is zoo staff there to keep the line moving. One of the pandas was napping while the other one was chomping on bamboo sticks.

Definitely bring comfortable walking shoes. The zoo is large and hilly. I was surprised at how long and steep the path is that leads to the polar bear exhibit.

We spent about 4-hours walking around the zoo. Afterwards, we took some time to walk around Balboa Park that encompasses the zoo. The zoo and the park turned out to be a pleasant outing.