OT: San Diego

I stayed at the Del 4 nights in June. We found no reason to leave the "island" (it's not really an island, but seems like it)...Coronado has a quaint little town with good restaurants, and the Del has a great beach. Did yoga on the beach several days, including the morning the USS Carl Vinson came in after 10-month deployment. Rented bikes one day and a 24' sailboat on another day. I don't remember what I paid for the room, but it def wasn't $800/night.

FYI, those rates are when something specific is going on and they only have suites and such available. If you book ahead, you can generally get a room for around $300, which ain't cheap, but is not stratospheric. For the record, while it's a cool place, it ain't worth those super high rates IMO.

If the weather's nice (fingers crossed for you), you can always drive down there and have lunch and walk around. Not sure when you'll be there in January, but we're supposed to get five days of rain next week. Lately, we haven't got five days of rain all winter...

So my mini trip starts tomorrow bright and early. I arrive in LA at 10:30AM. So i pretty much have the day free as my business meeting is Tuesday morning. We are staying at the Long Beach Marriott. Any ideas on what to do for the afternoon? I've been to downtown LA, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica Pier, 3rd Street Promenade.
Wife and I are not "do-ers" as usual, we are getting there with no plan, other than landing, picking up a car, and dropping bags at the hotel, then winging it. So any ideas appreciated.

Tuesday afternoon, we'll drive down to San Diego, staying at the Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina. There, i pretty much know i want to go to La Jolla, Coronado Island, Gaslamp district one night, and do a casino one night. Also thinking of going into Tijuana just for curiousity, not sure if its wise, but its 15 minutes from the hotel.

Thanks Ed, but I'll be flying home Friday, short stay, just 3 days

The "touristy" things to do in Long Beach are the aquarium and the Queen Mary. Nice walking area at the beach, although our weather hasn't been great lately. (But no El Nino storms, which is a big plus!) 2nd St in Long Beach is their equivalent of 3rd St Promenade in Santa Monica--not necessarily worth its own trip, but if you eat that way you can walk around a bit.

A lot of people are surprised at how close San Diego is to Tijuana and you can take the trolley right to the border. Personally, I haven't been in Tijuana since my 20s (when I ended up in jail through a police shakedown from a fender bender) so not sure how I'd feel about it now as a more mature adult. I'm sure it's still interesting. Bring your passport if you think you'll go. Safe travels!

Thanks guys.

@IT, not much that my wife wouldn't do. lol

All great stuff, thanks.
Opine, dong the Hornblower one hour cruise tomorrow (Wednesday) morning, then driving to La Jolla.
Thursday, probably Coronado Island, maybe Loma point, and something else.
Tomorrow night we'll probably do dinner at the Gaslamp Quarter, then Thursday night, maybe hit the Barona Casino. Maybe, it's a 45 minute drive.

I'd love to go to Balboa park, the San Diego Zoo, and other things, but with only two full days, so much I can do.

On the other hand, supposed to be a big snowstorm Friday, the day I'm supposed to fly home. So I could end up being "stuck"here for the weekend. LOL

Not sure which loop i did, think the North Loop though, its the lone that passes by Loma Point. It was nice.
Spent the day in La Jolla, got some amazing pictures. Then walked around Balboa Park. Gaslamp tonight for dinner, then Coronado Island tomorrow. Fun. I need fun.

Biker, i got back last night, just in time for the big snow, flurries started a bit before we landed. The next flight out to NY was cancelled, so we were lucky (or not, now that i think about it LOL)

Anyway, Coronado Island is very nice. The Hotel Del, is magnificent, very high end. We walked around, and really enjoyed it. We had an outdoor lunch at the Del, looking out at the Pacific, which was a highlight.
The other highlight for us was La Jolla. If you have time, its worth taking the drive up there. Very nice town, and along the shore, some great panoramic views, and really interesting wildlife. (for a NYC guy, anyway). I got some great photos.

And if you like to gamble, casinos are about a 40 minute drive. Our last night, we drove out to the Barona , did some gambling, had dinner. Nothing special, you can gamble anywhere, but it was a diversion.
Oh, and dinner at one of the million restaurants in the Gaslamp Quarter. Just dont do that on a weekend, we did it on Wednesday night, then Thursday night we were driving through on our way home from the Barona, and the streets were flooded with loud, drunk, kids.

Enjoy, you will love the Del

Thanks Mel. Yup, whiteout conditions here right now. We have about 18 inches on the ground and they are predicting another 4 hours or of heavy snow before things BEGIN to taper off.

Glad for you that you are getting to go out West for a month. Weather there is great. Enjoy,