The trolley stop into San Diego stops right outside the campground (and reminds me of the trains in London). Met two students from SanDiego State University on the trolley, one from Saudi Arabia and the other from China who said they both love San Diego and gave us some ideas as to what to do. The trolley took us into Old Town where we picked up a hop on and off tour bus.
San Diego has a lot of diverse neighborhoods and we got off at just about every one. The first stop was San Diego Harbor where The USS Midway and the Star of India are docked. Lots of shops and restaurants (we sampled the chowder) and big Navy and Marine presence here. Lots of locals out for the beautiful weather, too. We saw a unicyclist and a man who was walking his pet chocolate lab named Diesel and his pet goat name Fawn (go figure).
From there we walked to the Seaport area (reminded me of Mystic with all the shops) and then back on the bus to the Gaslamp Quarter where we sampled fish 'n' chips, saw the convention center and Petco Stadium, where the Padres play. You can walk right into the park (which we did) and watched a game, not a Padres game, they're not in town, but a local game. Also passed Qualcomm Stadium where the Chargers play football.
Back on the tour bus and over the Coronado Bay Bridge to Coronado where we had a beer at McP's, where the Navy Seals hang out (they train here) and then wakled to the beach and for the first time saw the Pacific Ocean (which resembles the Atlantic Ocean). Saw a marine wedding on the beach about to take place and yes, I did get some sand.
The tour then went to Balboa Park-beautiful grounds, lots of people out doing outdoor things, 15 museums, lots of architecture and history. We will go back. Right next door is the San Diego Zoo, where we plan on going Monday. From there we drove through Little Italy and then back to the transit station in Old Town where we planned to get the trolley back to the campground.
But wait! What's this! Old Town is the Mexican neighborhood of San Diego and THERE'S A CINCO DE MAYO FESTIVAL GOING ON! Lots of music, dancing in the street, food, drinks, exhibits, vendors and entertainment. Streets and streets filled with Mexican fun. They really know how to do Cinco de Mayo here, we're only about 10 miles from Mexico. Our cell phones picked up a tower in Mexico because it was closer than any in the US.
Stayed and partied for a few hours and then wearily made our way back to the trolley and the campground.
Everybody here talks about how wonderful the weather is lately, because they say they had a really wet spring even though they usually only get 10-12" of rain a year. The weather reminds me of FL in March-sunny, 80's,but it's less humid here and the nights are chillier. It's definitely spring here, all the flowers are blooming and they are beautiful. There's some jasmine right outside the campground office and the smell is wonderful!