American Manifesto, Volume 2, Episode 10 – San Diego

San Diego is a pretty relaxed city on the west coast of California and after Las Vegas this was going to be my place to sleep in and relax. At least that was my plan going in, but in practice it didn’t work out that way at all.

Hostel Life

There was a really good vibe in the hostel and I spent long nights, sometimes to 4 AM, out on the patio having fun with other travelers and staff. Once again I didn’t get much sleep, but if the choice is fun or sleep I will go with fun (well, within reason, of course).

First night I also joined a bonfire on the beach. Some guy gave us something to put on the fire, I think it was a whiteboard or a foldable table, but I’m not sure which. Either of those should never be thrown on a fire, but guess what, someone did (and no, it wasn’t me). Big mistake, as it unleashed a noxious black cloud that drew in the police like wildfire and that was the end of the bonfire.

You never know what kind of situations you’ll come across in hostels. One night a group of marines checked in and they got a big spiel from the staff about not harassing anyone, not following women into bathrooms, etcetera. One mess up and they were all out of there. Apparently the hostel had trouble with groups of marines before. These guys were pretty cool, even though one guy who was in my room got so shitfaced he was found passed out in the bathroom at 8 or 9 PM or so. I’d just come back from having dinner to find the door to my room open and two hostel staffers inside, looking at the bathroom with this unconscious marine on the floor. They got him out of there, but he puked all over their shoes on the way out. Luckily for me that didn’t happen inside my room. The other marines were not happy – they already expected to get thrown out over this, but that didn’t happen.

Ah, hostels.

Gaslamp and Balboa Park

First day in San Diego I went with a group from the hostel to the Gaslamp district and Balboa Park, which are a nightlife and recreational area respectively. Since we went in the morning there wasn’t much to do in the Gaslamp district, even most of the stores were closed, but the buildings were nice to look at.

We walked over to Balboa Park. Like the Gaslamp district there are historical buildings though at least a few of them are fake – as we found out when we tapped the facades and found they were hollow and not made of stone at all. Aside from a lot of greenery, as expected of a park, this place also has theaters and museums, as well as a botanic garden. There are some funky looking plants in the botanical garden, plus it’s free, so well worth a visit. The approach to the botanical garden, with the rectangular pond in the middle is a good photo opportunity.

Most famous of all places in Balboa Park is the San Diego Zoo. Since we were close by we swung by the front gate, though didn’t go into it – you need a full day to really appreciate it (more on that later) and I was planning on doing just that in a few days’ time. It’s possible to do it in about half a day if you know what you’re doing. One of the zookeepers I talked to when I went there said she could do it in about four to five hours.

Fleet Week

Fleet Week was going on while I was in San Diego. All along the harbor the US navy and marines were hosting demonstrations of what they do, from equipment to techniques. It was pretty cool to hold some of the large ammo and aim the big guns.

What I especially liked though were the marines who showed some of their disarming techniques, and I even got to try a few of them.

Even without Fleet Week there is plenty to see in the harbor, since it’s where the navy stations a lot of its ships. Good place to just walk around and take pictures.

San Diego Zoo

The San Diego Zoo, currently celebrating its one hundred year anniversary, was a must see for me. It’s been a while since I was last in a zoo – if my memory doesn’t fail me, it was the zoo in Central Park, New York, in 2014. But I hesitate to call that a proper zoo, so I won’t (seriously, it is not worth the money, don’t go to the zoo in Central Park). The last proper zoo I went to was Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia back in 2013. Wow, already three years ago. I heard a lot of good about the zoo from everyone who I talked to about San Diego.

And it did not disappoint.

First of all, it’s pretty big, and the animals have plenty of space in their enclosures – which are also set up really nice for the animals. The paths from each area to the next are winding and surrounded by trees and bushes, giving the ambience of actually being in nature rather than in a constructed environment. Some paths also take you through large aviaries where you walk among the birds. In all really well set up.

For me the best moments with the animals were with the tigers (who laid down close to the glass wall) and the polar bear who started to swim around and have fun where visitors could see him. It really does take a whole day to go through, and even then you only go through every area once. I could have easily spent a few more hours to revisit some locations, such as the big cats.

What was also fun for me was that I had a reason to fiddle with my camera’s manual focus to get shots of the animals rather than the fencing. I hadn’t used the manual focus before that time, so it was good practice and I think my photos came out pretty good.

The one thing I didn’t really care for was the ‘Skyfari’, a cable car you can use to get from one side of the park to the other. I used it at the end, because I hadn’t done that yet and it was included in my ticket price. It’s a fast way to get from one end of the park to the other, but in terms of views it’s not really worth it.

La Jolla Coves

There are some great cycling opportunities in the beach towns of San Diego, going from Ocean Beach, through Mission Beach and Pacific Beach all the way up north to La Jolla Coves. The recommended bicycle route is really scenic and, if you hurry, you can do it and get back in four hours – that was the time I hired my bike for. In the end the rental guys were surprised I made it that far and back within the time limit, but this wasn’t my first time on a bike.

You do need to stay on the bike route along the coastline for the ride to be scenic and not the main roads (those are for when you have to go back in a hurry to make the rental deadline). The going is pretty easy for the first parts as you travel along Mission and Pacific beaches. You can cycle on the boardwalk but it’s so busy here with pedestrians, other cyclists, skateboarders, etc. that you cannot make any kind of speed here. But let’s be real, you don’t want to breeze through this area anyway.

The latter part of the scenic route is not so easy, as I exchanged the flat boardwalk for a whole bunch of hills and steep slopes. Well, half of it is really easy – going down. Those parts don’t really weigh up against having to go up again, especially on a bike with no gears. It’s tough, real tough.

The route is worth it though, especially with what awaits at the end of the journey. First you have beaches, then you have cliffs and surf that springs up with every wave. Those views slowly prepare you for the end of the trek north – La Jolla Coves and the sea lions that live there. There are no fences there, so you can go as close to the sea lions as you dare. They are noisy animals, especially when they’re play-fighting each other. Once they did that I backed up a bit – you never know with wild animals. Helped some people take their pictures too, all the while dodging the incoming tides.

Must see location in San Diego as far as I’m concerned. It also looked like a great spot to watch the sunset, but I didn’t have time for that since I had to get the bike back to the rental shop. To do so I just used the main road on the way back, which is straight and flat, and a lot easier.