San Diego
Campground
San Diego Metro KOA
This is a very well maintained campground, like every KOA we've been at. So many amenities that I won't list here. Very well kept bathrooms and showers. The on-site cafe is nice to have.
Things to see
Coronado Island
We went to Coronado Island multiple times while we were in San Diego. It has a great dog beach right next to the Naval Airbase. Polly loved it. It is also a great place to see the sunset, eat, shop, find sand dollars, and see a great view of the San Diego skyline.
Coyote's Flying Saucer Retrieval and Repair Service
What an odd little place. We wouldn't go out of our way to see it; however, it was along the road near the Desert View Tower. We didn't get to speak with Coyote himself, but we read that he is an interesting guy. The photos speak for themselves on this one.
Desert View Tower
Quirky doesn't quite do it justice. Off-grid? Anti-society? The tower and the rest of the property is actually private. You pay a fee to walk around. The hills surrounding this compound are pretty fun and they've constructed some "rock art" in various places. The tower does give quite an expansive view of Interstate 8 as it comes across the desert from the east and snakes through this mountain pass. The tower, and building that contains it, are filled (and I mean completely filled) with, um, treasures. Yeah, that's the word we use. For one thing, they have dozens of player-piano scrolls. They don't have a working player-piano (it seems to be in pieces), but they have the scrolls for it. When is the last time you've even seen one? I would think some modern-day inventor could rig up some sensor to a computer and translate those scrolls to actual music!
Flight Experience in San Diego
Warning...not for the faint of heart. Mark, Breanna, and Kyle had an amazing experience flying in an acrobatic plane. Just you and the pilot flying over San Diego and executing several different maneuvers. Breanna upgraded her flight and was able to execute the maneuvers herself. Kyle upgraded and experienced 8 G's, executed the maneuvers, and simulated air-to-air combat. If you are wondering why Barb isn't in any of the pictures, refer back to the first statement...she was the photographer.
Jacumba Hot Springs
The actual access to the hot springs was being renovated when we stopped in. Apparently, the town was quite the place to be, once upon a time. Now, it is pretty dead. So dead, in fact, that someone bought the city! Not everything, of course, but all the "municipal" land. Homeowners keep their homes but this group of people own everything else. They are currently fixing up the hot springs and various other buildings. Not sure what the end goal is, but it is rather cool that someone is trying something like that.
La Jolla
Great place to see seals and sea lions. There are also several restaurants, shops, and street vendors in the area. We enjoyed walking along the beach and taking in the great views. There were a few surfers, skim boarders, and kayakers to watch also.
National Salute to Bob Hope and the Military
Outdoor bronze statues depicting armed forces personnel listening to comedian Bob Hope. We recommend eating at the Fish Market - San Diego (see below) which is right next to the statues. We sat outside and had a great view of the bay.
San Diego Harbor Cruise
We took the 2 hour cruise with Pat and Tom. It was a great source for information about the area.
Hiking
Biking
Along the Sweetwater River
Just outside the KOA is a canal where the Sweetwater River flows. There are paved paths on both sides. We rode down to the end, which is Pepper Park. High and low tides decide how much water is in the "river". Unfortunately, low tide means you can see all the garbage that people have thrown in there.
Food and Drink
The Fish Market - San Diego
We enjoyed a wonderful meal and bottle of wine with friends while sitting outside on the waterfront. The curry dish is fantastic. There is so much to see in this area of San Diego. The U.S.S. Midway is right here as well as a cute "National Salute to Bob Hope and the Military" just outside the restaurant.
Donny's Cafe
This cafe is only open for breakfast and lunch. Donny is a former professional bicycle racer and is the brother of Tim "T-Bone" (see below). Donny, like his brother, is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. He's the kind of guy who remembers what you ordered last time you were there. The cafe serves very health-conscious dishes along with smoothies and coffee.
To make a long story short ...
Garry and Marcely
As usual, we met this couple at the hot tub. They are from Israel and travel the U.S. quite often. When Garry was younger, he and his family emigrated to the San Francisco area and Garry ended up flying for the U.S. Air Force. Garry's father and uncles were victims of the Nazi slaughter of Jews during WWII. Garry has so many stories and is such a intelligent and nice person. Garry is a widower and Marcely is a widow and they met and are so happy together. Marcely is a bundle of energy. Barb has spent quite a bit of time with Marcely helping her to understand some of the apps available to travelers such as us.
Adam and Georgia
This cute couple are in the 5th wheel trailer right next to us. Georgia is a "traveling nurse" and just got a 13 week gig here in San Diego. Adam Freeman (I'll use his full name because he is somewhat of a public figure - a fighter) is a very well put together, as you'd expect for a fighter. I suppose some people might rely on their first impressions to be a little leery of Adam but he's just the nicest guy you'd want to meet. Adam is trying to get into the mobile RV repair business since they plan to be on the road much like we are.
Tim "T-Bone" Carroll
I'll use his full name here because he actually wants publicity. Turns out this is one of our longest "short" stories.
This story starts out bad and levels up a little. You might remember that we purchased mountain bikes when we were in Las Cruces. Trek Marlins. We faithfully lock them up at our site, using a 1/2" multi-strand cable strung through the frames of the bikes and our motorcycles. We came out of the camper one morning to discover that the bikes were gone. The cable was cleanly snipped right off. Our neighbors (see Adam and Georgia) almost lost their bikes too but the would-be thieves only got partially through his chains and locks before giving up.
A police report was filed and, unfortunately, the chance of getting the bikes back is pretty bad. There have been quite a few thefts in this area in campgrounds and residences. The management here at the KOA is, obviously, sorry but there's not much for them to do either. The campground has fences and locked gates all around but a determined thief is going to get in.
So, we went bicycle shopping again. As we found in Las Cruces, inventory is slim. After looking in a couple different bike shops (and at different brands), we decided to stick with Trek. The models we bought then are not available here but we found a couple models we liked. What turned out fun was talking to a guy who splits time between the two Trek stores in this area. Tim T-Bone Carroll.
He and his family have lived in this area of San Diego for generations. His parents had a bike shop and the family became a local fixture. His brother, Donny, was a professional rider "back in the day". Donny now owns "Donny's Cafe" in Bonita. The cafe is in the same building as the Trek Bicycle South Bay location (the sibling store to Trek Bicycle La Mesa where we bought our replacement bikes).
Turns out, he has a 30 year side-gig making flavored beef jerky. His current favorite is peanut butter whiskey beef jerky. Have I mentioned that we love peanut butter whiskey? To be exact, Skrewball brand. We've tried others, oh how we've tried and tried and tried. Well, guess which whiskey this guy uses? Skrewball. Guess where it was invented. San Diego. He knows the guy! So, rather than picking up our new bikes as early as possible (getting some accessories installed), he asked us to wait a couple days until he's back in the store so he can bring us some jerky! Done.
Oh, but this isn't the end of the story. Not only did he give us several packages of jerky but also a whole bottle of Skrewball and a gift card to his brother's cafe. So generous. The cafe was wonderful! The next time we came to San Diego to explore Coronado Island, we ate at the cafe again and Tim met us there with an entire cooler of smoked meat for us to take back to Palm Springs! Seriously, it fed eight people.
Tim plans to meet up with us when we're in the Grand Canyon area.