Today is my son's 8th birthday. Last week, we went to San Diego for school vacation week as a special birthday vacation so he could visit Legoland. We used miles for the airfare and our timeshare exchange for the hotel, so apart from meals, inevitable Lego purchases and the telephoto lens I bought for my DSLR, it was a fairly reasonable vacation.
Recommendations:
The San Diego Zoo is great, but if you have to pick one or the other, go to the San Diego Wild Animal Park in Escondido. We splurged on a one-hour family Photo Caravan there and got to feed a giraffe.The tour we took, 1-1/4 hours for $69 each extra, does not appear to be offered online, but even if it costs you a bit more, well worth it.
More pictures here.
Legoland. Go before your kid turns 10. Folks had warned me of this, and I am glad we heeded the advice. Doug had a great time but I could see that in a couple years, he would be past the rides. Use your AMEX card, save $12 off admission, and if your kid is a LEGO Brickmaster, s/he gets a free ticket.
Old Town Trolley Tour. Not bad, but unlike Key West (where we had done this before, things are close together and there is no parking), in San Diego I would only recommend this in the high tourist season. We could have driven and parked at the sites we really wanted to see, at about the same cost and far less wait.
La Jolla. Seal Beach. Worth 1000 words:
Restaurants: Highly recommend Monterey Bay Canners in Oceanside (esp. cold appetizer plate), Old Town Mexican Cafe in Old Town (super duper queso) and Pacifica Del Mar in Del Mar (salt & pepper prawns, yum).
Hotel: We exchanged our timeshare for a week at the Welk Resorts. The unit was small but clean. The restaurant was AWFUL, and the selection of merchandise at the on-site grocery very slim. Dave and Doug enjoyed the mid-week magic show at the theater -- I was up in Santa Rosa at New Comm Forum for two days mid-vacation. The pool area was nice, even though the well advertised water slide was closed for maintenance most of the time we were there. But not all. :-)
(using new telephoto lens)
On the whole though I would recommend it if your plans include Legoland and the Wild Animal Park, both of which are closer to Welk Resorts than they are to downtown San Diego.
Airfare. If you fly United (or any other airline that has a similar offering), buy Economy Plus if you can. It is a little more money, but your legs will appreciate it. We used Amex points for our tickets, but on my side trip to San Francisco, I happened to be in Economy Plus so we upgraded on the way home. Worth every penny.
And that's what we did on our school vacation.
Tags: San Diego
Ok, I am coming out of lurking. First I want to say, what a great trip. I love the pictues. Looks like fun. Second, I wanted to ask about your new lens. I have a DSLR and am looking for a good telephoto lens. Do you like the new lens, pros/cons?
Thanks
Michele
~~~slides back into hiding~~~
Posted by: Michele | April 29, 2008 at 09:11 AM
The lens is a Tamron A17 70-300mm tele-macro. I really like it, especially for the money, under $200. Props to the clerk at George's Photo near Balboa Park in San Diego who probed for how I planned to use the lens as well as my budget, and presented this as an alternative to the more expensive Canon lens options.
What I really like is that is has both tele-photo and macro, so I can do pretty much everything I want with just 2 lenses.
Posted by: Susan Getgood | April 29, 2008 at 09:42 AM