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10 Best Day Trips from San Diego

We’re encouraging you to explore your own backyard with the best day trips from San Diego. We’re sharing 10 amazing places within driving distance of San Diego for a quick day trip out of town to explore Southern California and Baja California, Mexico. These fun day trips from San Diego are within just a few hours drive and can be a fun way to mix it up and see different nature, views, and activities this region has.

10 Day Trips from San Diego:

  1. Temecula approx. 58 miles/ 1 hour drive from SD
  2. Julian (1.25 hrs, 61 mi)
  3. Disneyland & California Adventure (1.5 hrs, 95 mi) 
  4. Los Angeles (2 hrs, 120 mi)
  5. Idyllwild (2 hrs, 111 mi) 
  6. Palm Springs (2.25 hrs, 139 mi)
  7. Big Bear (2.5 hrs, 145 mi) \
  8. Joshua Tree National Park (3 hrs, 173 mi) 
  9. Solvang (4 hrs, 248 mi)
  10. Mexico! (closest to farthest)
  • Tijuana – Right across the border
  • Rosarito – 30 minutes
  • Valle de Guadalupe – 1 hour, 45 min
  • Ensenada – 2 hours from TJ

Day Trips from San Diego – Episode Transcript

4 (55s):
Welcome to this weeks episode of the Travel Squad podcast. Today, we are sharing with you our top 10 day trips from our beautiful hometown San Diego, California.

3 (1m 6s):
You know, we’re all about exploring our own backyard here in San Diego. And we have some amazing places that are just a short distance away. So while we’re talking about day trips from San Diego, our hometown, I’m sure your hometown has just as many cool places around it.

2 (1m 20s):
And you know, Kim, you hit up a point that I was going to say is that although San Diego is our hometown, and these are super close to us, we understand that not everyone is from San Diego. Who’s listening to this. So, Hey, when you do come to San Diego, we’re a great place to explore. And then you can have offshoots from San Diego.

3 (1m 38s):
So stay awhile. Yeah.

6 (1m 39s):
Yeah. And 2020 has been such a hard year for travel due to COVID and travel restrictions. So we did what we do best and we explored our surrounding areas. And so now we have 10 day trips to share with you guys, and we’re so excited to do so.

3 (1m 53s):
All right, let’s get into number one.

6 (1m 55s):
Number one is Temecula, which is wine country, right outside of San Diego. It’s only about an hour drive, about 58 miles. And there are like 50 different varieties of wine. And there’s so many places to wine taste in the region.

3 (2m 10s):
So many cute wineries there.

4 (2m 12s):
Yeah. There’s so many different wineries vineyards. And that’s one of the great things about California is really where you are. Sometimes you’re not really too far from great wineries, you know, and if we’re going to equate wine country in California, everyone knows of Napa and Northern California to macula is really going to be that for Southern California. Yes. There’s some in the Santa Barbara area, which we’re going to touch on a little bit later too, but this is a really, really good day trip to do some wine tasting and supporting local businesses in that matter, just as well.

2 (2m 41s):
I have been wine tasting out there. And let me tell you, it is massive. So you have your vineyards and like when you’re driving from one vineyard to another vineyard, it’s just like, it’s a long ways out there.

4 (2m 53s):
Well, at least you’ve had a couple of drinks and you know, those long ways may not seem just as long.

3 (2m 58s):
I went to one winery, their squad tip, You can get Groupons for Temecula wine tasting. There’s tons of different ones. So if you want to make a little wine excursion of your own, you can do it through Groupon and save a buck. I got a Groupon for Oak mountain winery. It’s a really, really cool winery there that has a massive underground cave. And they give you a tour of the cave. It’s really cool. They sit you down and take you through a wine tasting. They have a charcuterie board that comes out with it. It was a great find. Really good sounds really

2 (3m 30s):
Cool. I want to hit that up.

3 (3m 31s):
Yeah. And they tour the premises with you so you can see the whole vineyards and everything. And the lady that was giving us the tour was saying that this winery in the way, the sun sets over the mountains looks just like France.

4 (3m 41s):
Oh, wow. Look at that. Did they have any Bordeauxs for you to try and Kim out there?

3 (3m 46s):
You know, it wasn’t about a year and a half ago that I went, so I can’t remember all the ones we tried, but they were good

4 (3m 50s):
Wine tasting in general is really fun. I know Brittany. And I’ve been out there a couple of times. One of the more times that I recollect the most is we actually used a certificate that we got as a gift for our wedding. So we did that, that one time. But like Kim said, you could find stuff on Groupon. There is a travel company, local business to macula, private limo and wine tours. So you can book with them. They may very well have a time where they’re on Groupon as well, but they’ll take you from vineyard to vineyard, winery to winery, and you can just enjoy your time, be safe about it and not have to worry about drinking and driving

2 (4m 24s):
Uber’s and Lyft’s are out there, but they’re far few and in between, and it is going to cost a little bit of a penny and another squad tip. If you are in the area and you hit up a timeshare presentation, a lot of the times they have free wine tasting coupons to go out to Temecula.

4 (4m 43s):
Sounds like you’ve done that before Zeno. I have

3 (4m 46s):
Life hack right there, but there’s more to Temecula than just the wineries. That’s obviously a huge draw of the place, but they have pitching a casino out there. Heck yeah, love bingo. I have a lot of family that lives in Riverside. So we’ll meet that’s the halfway point between Riverside and San Diego is pitching a casino. So I’ll meet there with my family and dot out some bingo boppers and never win, but it’s okay. Have a great time.

4 (5m 15s):
Well, let me say this. If any of our listeners are as big on breakfast, buffets as us, let me give you a squad tip right here. Spend the night, wake up, hit up a breakfast buffet at the Chenga. Huh?

3 (5m 29s):
And then they have a really nice downtown too. They call it old town Temecula. And there’s a lot of nightlife. There’s a lot of good restaurants. It’s really fun at night to coasting in to number two, Julian California.

4 (5m 42s):
Julian is about an hour and 15 minutes away from San Diego, about 61 miles. And what I really love about Julian, several things, but one of the most ideal things that I find about it is it’s a quaint small, old mining town, really? So you go up there into the mountains, which, you know, you’re in San Diego along the coast. You think beaches, but here you are not too far away getting into the mountains, getting to the trees. And it’s this old Western style mining town. And I really love the theme and feel of that.

6 (6m 12s):
Julian is really well-known for their apple pie. They’re all

3 (6m 15s):
Yet

6 (6m 16s):
Two really famous apple pie companies. One is called Julian pie company and the other one is called mom’s a pie house. Both of them are super, super good. You can go and get full pies. You can get pies that you can bake later, or you can even get a slice for right now. I squid ice cream on

4 (6m 35s):
Top.

6 (6m 36s):
So good. And Kim and I actually went hiking in Julianne. We went to full kin mountain wilderness preserve, and we did the Volkan mountain trail head, which is a great hike. Yeah. It was a great hike, five mile hiking trail. And when we were done, we rewarded ourselves with a nice slice of apple pie.

3 (6m 54s):
That sounds like an amazing day trip from San Diego. Go up, do a nice, beautiful five mile hike and then hit the apple pie all of mode on your way out. I want to do that today.

4 (7m 6s):
Yeah. The pie is the fame declaim. And definitely when you’re there, you do have to have it. But again, like I was saying earlier, I really do love the rustic mountainous feel of it. And it’s not too far from San Diego. So that makes it always so enjoyable for me too.

6 (7m 19s):
They also have breweries and they also do produce a lot of ciders as well. That are really

3 (7m 23s):
Good. Right. They do

4 (7m 25s):
Hard apple.

3 (7m 26s):
You know, I can’t remember the name of this restaurant if I think of it, I’ll say it in the episode, but there is a restaurant that does really good pot pies in the Julian area and ciders too. So pot pie cider, maybe get an apple pies dessert.

6 (7m 39s):
I can’t wait to do this.

3 (7m 42s):
All right. Sliding right in to Anaheim specifically for Disneyland in California, adventure parks

6 (7m 49s):
Who doesn’t love Disneyland.

4 (7m 50s):
I mean, I’m a Disney fiend. We all know this. I’m saying it again, just in case he didn’t know. And we’re living under a rock and not paying attention to what we say during these podcasts, but how can you not have Disneyland on this there’s Disneyland park, the original and Disney, California adventure. It’s only an hour and a half away, 95 miles wake up early, get there when the park opens and enjoy yourself a Disney day. How can you not

2 (8m 18s):
Now when Jamal and Brittany moved down to San Diego, they joined me down here a year after I moved here, labor day was coming up and that was my birthday weekend. And we’re like, oh my gosh, you guys, what should we do for labor day weekend? And we decided to get Disneyland and California adventure season passes. And we went down to Disneyland and then every month from there on out, at least twice, each month, we would drive down to Disneyland for

4 (8m 39s):
Work drive up to drive

2 (8m 41s):
Up to Disneyland. That is correct. Yeah. We would go get a Costco pizza, eat in the car and drive to Disneyland and stay there until 12 or 1:00 AM closing time. And I’m just like my God, my energy and my late.

4 (8m 52s):
I know, I can’t imagine doing that. We would stay till closing around midnight. Then we would drive the hour and a half back home, then wake up and go to work the next day. Sometimes if we didn’t leave on a Friday. So we were pretty wild back in the day and I’d still do it to

3 (9m 5s):
Say, I can definitely see us still doing that today.

2 (9m 8s):
I don’t think I could do it twice a month. Like, oh

3 (9m 11s):
Yeah,

2 (9m 12s):
Yeah.

6 (9m 13s):
Down to like once a month,

4 (9m 14s):
Hosanna is a little too old. Now I’m working on it. The girls bring it right behind.

2 (9m 20s):
I can keep up. All I need is to sleep in the car.

4 (9m 23s):
So again, Disneyland who doesn’t want to go. And from there, move in a little bit more north onto number four, Los Angeles in general, perfect day trip from San Diego.

3 (9m 34s):
There’s so much to do in LA. And when we say LA, we’re not just talking about Los Angeles city center, we’re talking about all of the surrounding communities, the cities towns that make up L a

4 (9m 46s):
Yeah. And again, it’s only about two hours north of San Diego, assuming there’s no traffic or you leave early enough in the morning. So it can be a little bit longer about, about 120 miles. But like Kim was saying just so much to do. I mean, when you think of Los Angeles, there’s Hollywood, there’s Malibu, there’s Santa Monica,

3 (10m 3s):
West Hollywood,

4 (10m 4s):
West Hollywood, the LA Brea tar pits. And so there’s just so many unique things. I mean, Los Angeles in general draws people around to come visit as a tourist spot. So as a day trip from San Diego, it’s definitely perfect.

3 (10m 17s):
A couple of cool beach towns in the Los Angeles area. Santa Monica is really cool. They have the Santa Monica pier with the roller coaster that I have written.

6 (10m 26s):
Wow. I’m really impressed.

4 (10m 28s):
Not

3 (10m 29s):
Once but twice. No,

2 (10m 34s):
Not a big Ferris wheel fan.

3 (10m 35s):
Oh, I’m not a big fan or hate them, but I just didn’t write it. But it’s a fun little area to explore lots of people watching for sure.

6 (10m 43s):
And in Santa Monica, they have a famous farmer’s market and you can go pick up dried fruits or veggies. And it’s actually really cool just to walk down the street and try little samples from all of the vendors and Jamal and Zeno’s aunt and uncle actually used to have a stand at the Santa Monica market.

3 (11m 2s):
They don’t anymore.

4 (11m 3s):
No with COVID. They just figured by the time it comes back to do safely, I mean, they’re already old. They were near retirement anyway, but they are farmers and that was their bread and butter as they sold their produce down at the Santa Monica farmer’s market. So they have the weekend market Saturday, Sunday, and they also have a Wednesday one. And it’s a cool way to walk the downtown area because that’s where the farmer’s market is. They close off the streets. So you can walk on the downtown prominent area.

3 (11m 28s):
A lot of good restaurants and bars there too. Oh, the bungalow in Santa Monica is a super cool loungy vibey place. You’ll be likely to see bachelor and bachelorette contestants hanging out there. It’s a really fun place. Definitely recommend the sand. Grit is sneaky. So watch out.

2 (11m 45s):
That’s how it wasn’t Cuba don’t taste the alcohol. So you drink it fast. Next thing you know, you’re like, whoa, there was alcohol in there.

3 (11m 51s):
Yes, yes, absolutely. Another beach town is Malibu in the LA area. The beaches are gorgeous. And then one really cool attraction in Malibu that I’ve done before. Really fun is the Malibu wine safari. You sit on this safari truck, you go around the vineyards, they make stops. They do wine tasting. You can play with the animals, you have goats and sheep and cows and a giraffe and you get to feed them. And it’s super fun.

4 (12m 14s):
Those animals are rescue animals, right? Or are they not animals that are used in Hollywood movies? And they’re out there? Remind me

3 (12m 21s):
Both. The giraffe is a famous Hollywood draft.

6 (12m 24s):
That’s really cool. Another part of Los Angeles is Hollywood. And one of the things that we’ve done is we’ve hiked to the Hollywood sign squad tip. Don’t do it in the summer without adequate water

3 (12m 38s):
Spring water don’t even do it during the summer.

4 (12m 40s):
There’s no shade out there. It’s really crowded. Number one, but I mean, it is a cool hike, but if it’s a really hot day during the summer, there is no shade. There is no reprieve. So do keep that in mind. But other than hiking, the famous Hollywood sign, which is definitely fun, you can stroll Hollywood Boulevard, see the Hollywood walk of fame, see all the stars. And it’s just a really fun, unique experience. Is there really much to do other than the Hollywood walk of fame out there? You know, it depends on what you want to do in terms of visiting the shops. A lot of people like to go see it and then leave it and explore a lot of the other areas around Los Angeles. And I would recommend the same, but if you’re there, you have to see it.

2 (13m 18s):
One thing about Hollywood that I just wasn’t expecting was it’s really, really, really dirty.

3 (13m 24s):
You know, the first time I went there a couple of years ago, I thought the same thing. I was a little let down at night. I was expecting Hollywood and that’s not what I got, but I did go a year ago, I think January of 2020. And during the day it was a lot more fun. There was people walking, it wasn’t as dirty. So maybe it’s turning around a bit, but it was looking shabby for a minute. Yeah.

4 (13m 47s):
And that’s what I was saying to you. It’s good to go see the Hollywood walk of fame and then go do other things around in the area. Yes. You can see the star walk. You can see the grom and Chinese theater to Kodak theater, all these famous theaters where they’ve held the Oscars, do all these things, but their downtown area, again, leaves a little bit, much to be desired. The Hollywood studios, you know, you don’t really have access to that unless you go to universal studios, Warner brothers, studios, paramount, et cetera. So the surrounding areas is really what makes Hollywood, if you will, where the studio and filmmaking is.

2 (14m 20s):
Yeah. Well, when I was in Hollywood, I got on one of the hop on hop off bus tours, which I would really recommend because Hollywood is pretty big and small at the same time. So just jump on the bus and then you get to see all of the sites such as like the Viper room. Do you guys know what the Viper room is? Yeah.

4 (14m 37s):
Yes I do. Johnny Depp used to own it. And that’s where river Phoenix has actually died in front from a ODI.

2 (14m 43s):
Yeah. It was a club that the celebrities used to go to. Yeah. So then there’s that Chateau Marmont where celebrities go to party, the Brentwood neighborhood who knows the Brentwood neighborhood.

4 (14m 53s):
Audrey Simpson.

2 (14m 54s):
Yes. A lot of celebrities live in Brentwood neighborhood because it is so fancy. And then it does take you past rodeo drive and into Venice beach, which we haven’t touched on yet. But if you’re looking for a way to get around there’s that and get all the history to

4 (15m 9s):
It’s really an LA tour in general. I mean, that gets you outside of Hollywood in a sense, but it gives you the surrounding LA areas. No.

3 (15m 15s):
Nice. So if you’re in Hollywood though, definitely check out west Hollywood, it’s more of a nightlife place, a lot of fun places to eat and drink. The famous comedy club is there were a lot of major comedians have gotten their start. There’s the gay district, which is so much fun to definitely go out. So definitely hit up west Hollywood and then another recommendation for downtown LA. There is a contemporary modern art museum called the Brode and it’s a free museum. You just have to reserve your tickets online like a month ahead of time, but it’s a super cool art museum with really, really cool exhibit. Some interactive, just really modern and definitely go there. If you’re in the mood,

4 (15m 55s):
Couple more things on LA is going to be Venice beach. I mean, who hasn’t heard of Venice beach when you’ve heard of LA Baywatch was filmed at Venice beach. I mean, so you can go to a old filming location, but that’s not going to be the only reason you go. It’s a very famous Los Angeles beach. They have a boardwalk area that is just so entertaining, amazing waterfront. But one thing too, that I do want to mention about LA, I would be remiss if I didn’t say is the LaBrea tarpits and what this is is they found in the kind of the downtown LA surrounding LA areas. There are these tar pits where they’re actually doing live excavations and you can actually see them digging up dinosaur bones and all this stuff.

4 (16m 38s):
So it’s really unique to go see,

3 (16m 40s):
I want to go back to Venice real quick though, because I don’t think you did it justice. Not everybody has heard of Venice. We have a lot of listeners who listened from Australia, who may not have heard of Venice. Venice is so unique and so cool. And it’s a good place to do a day trip to because the walking, the boardwalk, the people watching is unreal. There are so many kinds of characters from the beach gym that they have there. You can watch the muscle heads out there working out on the beach. One of my favorite things to do, They have basketball courts, you can watch a game. They have tons of like hippies and interesting people selling art and different things along the boardwalk. There’s a lot of places to drink and eat.

3 (17m 20s):
There is a freak show where there’s a two headed turtle. Oh, wow. A bunch of other weird stuff you can go in and check that out. So it’s a cool place.

4 (17m 28s):
Have you ever done the Venice beach canals?

3 (17m 30s):
I have. And I did not even realize that was there until just rather recently, actually, what are the canals that it’s modeled after Venice?

4 (17m 37s):
More like Amsterdam? I would say, cause they’re kind of squared, I guess, because Venus has canals to have been as beach canals. Right. But they’re really cool. You can stroll these, these are public streets, but people’s homes are on them and they’re so well maintained in terms of like, yes, well-maintained in terms of, they’re just gardens the lush greenery, the bridges that cross over the canals itself. So it’s a really unique experience and I would highly recommend doing that in Venice as well.

3 (18m 2s):
And it’s not far from the boardwalk either, just a couple streets over. All right. So pressing forward to Idlewild number five,

6 (18m 10s):
I know wild is only about two hours from San Diego and it is this super cute mountain town. I actually wished that we had seen it outside of COVID because I feel like there’s a lot of shops to explore and places to see and just kind of walk that downtown area. But it’s also a really cute town to go to and hike in. So Jamal, myself, Kim, and one of our friends, Robin, we did a little day trip out to Idlewild and we did a hike called deer Springs trail to suicide rock. It was a great day hike. It was so cool walking through the forest and just seeing all of the outlooks and just viewing over to suicide rock and just seeing how cool the surrounding mountain area was

3 (18m 50s):
It’s dog-friendly to.

4 (18m 52s):
And that’s what I really like about San Diego in general, one living here, but two, when you guys come and make a trip again, do some of these day trips because there are so many clothes things around and you can get to the mountains real quickly. And I love that about this. I mean, when we lived in Northern California, all of us, we weren’t too far from the mountains. So for me, this is really nostalgic going to places like this, where you can get up into the mountains, breathe the fresh air, smell the trees. It’s really, really cool up in Idlewild and the town is cute and quaint. And I really, really like it. It gives you that kind of like small rustic feel, which is really cool. And minus the deer Springs hike that Brittany was talking about just as well. If you want to be a little bit more adventurous, you can hike.

4 (19m 34s):
Mount San has siento, which actually has an elevation of about 10,800 feet. It’s the 17th, the tallest peak in the U S and a lot of people go there to hike Mount Hasina though. So do check that out. If you want to be a little bit more daring for you,

3 (19m 49s):
And it will snow there too in the winter months. So you could actually go up and do a hike in the snow, which would be really, really pretty. Oh, that would

6 (19m 57s):
Be really pretty

2 (19m 58s):
Jamal. You got me going when you said that you can smell just the outdoors, you know, like, you know, when you step out of a car and you realize, gosh, I am in the middle of nature and you take a deep breath and it’s like pine,

4 (20m 10s):
It was there when we were there. I smelled it.

2 (20m 12s):
Yes.

6 (20m 13s):
Hey travelers, let’s break for a quickly over to talk about our San Diego itinerary. We created for first time visitors. This full day guy takes you on an epic day down the San Diego coast,

3 (20m 23s):
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6 (20m 29s):
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3 (20m 37s):
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4 (20m 42s):
You can purchase this itinerary on Travel Squad, Podcast dot com for $30 or message us a screenshot of your five star written review on apple podcasts. And we’ll send it to you for free. So travel on over and get yours today. Megan headway on through to number six, Palm Springs, California, who doesn’t love Palm Springs, who hasn’t heard of Palm Springs,

3 (21m 6s):
Palm Springs is so cool. Not in the summer. It’s very hot, very

4 (21m 10s):
Cool as a place to go. It’s

3 (21m 13s):
Super cool. It’s got this retro almost like fifties kind of vibe with the architecture. And they’ve kind of kept that spirit of it to really vintage and really cool, really unique, really artsy and since Coachella and the music festivals that happen in that area have become more prominent. Palm Springs has gotten a lot of the cool LA it’s gotten really hip really vibey. They also have really, really expensive like designer store area. So it’s got that side of it too, but it’s, it’s a super cool place.

4 (21m 41s):
Yeah. And it’s only two hours and 15 minutes away from San Diego and Kim, you were saying it’s kind of 1950s retro. They have those fancy shops. Like you would maybe see an LA, but it really became famous because it was an LA getaway for a lot of people that who wanted to go out to the desert, it’s kind of kept that retro feel to it. And so it’s really unique in that, right as well. And if you’re a golfer, they have lots of amazing golf courses out there. So that’s something to check out too. Even if you want to take a day trip just to go golfing, they have amazing courses out there too.

6 (22m 13s):
I haven’t really been to downtown Palm Springs, but I have been to Palm desert, which is surrounding Palm Springs. And I actually went on a little hike with Kim and some other friends. We did the painted canyon ladder hike, which was super cool. You go through these canyons and you have to go up all of these ladders. It’s kind of like you’re in a slot canyon in a way. And then you come out and you see all of the mountains in the background and it was just a really cool trip. And on that trip, we also stopped at salvation mountain and it’s a weird place. It is a weird place. So basically this guy created this mountain with hay bales and whole bunch of paint and clay, and he’s made it very colorful.

3 (22m 56s):
It has a yellow brick road up to the top of the mountain where there’s a big cross. Yeah.

6 (23m 1s):
And so it’s a place to definitely get some pictures taken. There’s a lot of photo ops there and it’s right next to the Salton sea, which is also a very strange place to see. But you can hear all about Palm desert in episode 30, which is a Palm desert girls trip

3 (23m 17s):
So much fun. I think Palm Springs has a lot going on where you can definitely do a day trip and have a really good time. But if you do have the availability to do an overnighter, it is highly recommended. There’s some really, really cool hotels out there. The Cigarro Riviera ACE, they’re all really cool. The pool vibe is alive and well. So definitely check that out. And my last tip about Palm Springs is to check out the pink door, Google it and check it out for yourself.

4 (23m 42s):
You’re leaving everyone in suspense. Then

3 (23m 44s):
You’re going to have to look into it,

4 (23m 46s):
Look into the pink door. All right. But before we move on from Palm Springs, I just want to say it was so inspirational. One time you were there at Kim because didn’t you do something that almost inspired you to get a tattoo when you were there.

3 (23m 58s):
Yeah.

4 (23m 59s):
And you were talking about festivals earlier, so we have to mention this.

3 (24m 1s):
Yeah. Yeah. The areas is really big for different kinds of festivals. One of them, my favorite festival in the entire world is splash house. It’s the super cool festival that they hold at three different hotels in Palm Springs. And it’s a pool party slash music festival. Everyone’s in swimsuits. Everyone’s having fun. The people are the nicest I’ve ever met at any festival. Everyone’s partying in your hotel rooms. There’s a bus that takes you from hotel to hotel. It’s a major ranger, but that’s a three day experience. So it’s definitely not a day trip, but it’s super, super worth.

4 (24m 34s):
It was so fun. You almost got a tattoo about it. I know we’ve kidded you on this before. So I just want to let everybody know. And remind Kim was so inspired by splash house.

3 (24m 42s):
I could have had a splash tattoo, thankfully I don’t.

4 (24m 46s):
I’m glad you don’t care.

3 (24m 47s):
All right. We’re somersaulting right into number seven. Big Bear.

4 (24m 52s):
Big Bear. Well, one Big Bear is so awesome. We actually had an episode about it. Episode 28. So do check it out for more information. Cause that’s how cool it is complete episode in its own. Right. But why don’t you ladies tell us a little bit of the highlights

2 (25m 7s):
It’s going down in mountain town,

4 (25m 9s):
Only two and a half hours away from San Diego or about 145 miles. What is there to do that?

3 (25m 15s):
Or if you drive in the middle of a winter storm, it could take you up to 11 hours.

4 (25m 19s):
Well, don’t do that. But I think now you’ve let everyone know that it’s a mountain town in a way, and that it’s a good summer retreat area. And during winter, it definitely snow. So why don’t you ladies tell us a little bit about the activities and what we can do there.

3 (25m 32s):
Definitely during the winter, it draws snowboarders and skiers. I don’t do either. I want to try cross country skiing, but not downhill skiing, not into it, but it does draw a lot of that. And sledding

6 (25m 45s):
Tubing

3 (25m 45s):
Too. You can go to being went tubing there before super fun sledding. You can go into actual neighborhoods and just sled in the mountains of the street

6 (25m 53s):
And in the summer, Big Bear lake draws in kayakers paddle, boarders, and then around the lake, you can hike and get really good views of the lake from below.

4 (26m 3s):
Yeah. And the lake is a man-made lake, but it’s completely fed by the snow melt and the surrounding mountain areas. So depending on when you go, if it was an abnormally wet season, in terms of snow, the lake is going to be a lot larger. If it was kind of a drought year, the Lake’s going to be smaller, but so many things to do, no matter when you come to San Diego, summer, winter, fall spring, you can find activities to do in Big Bear. And one thing that I would recommend go up, rent a cabin, just enjoy it out there. It’s so beautiful.

3 (26m 36s):
I’ve done it many times where he rented Airbnb. Oh, so much fun to be in an Airbnb in the backyard, in a jacuzzi. Nice and hot while it’s snowing.

6 (26m 45s):
Oh yeah. That’s gotta be magical.

4 (26m 47s):
Yes. No bunny status for sure.

2 (26m 49s):
Yeah. Plowing on into the next number eight is Joshua Tree National Park. And you better believe we have an episode for this one too.

3 (26m 58s):
What number episode is that?

6 (26m 60s):
It is episode 30. It’s also included in the Palm desert girls trip. So Joshua Tree, National Park, you know, we love our national parks. And so we had to hit up Joshua Tree and it’s so great that it’s not far from San Diego, only three hours away. Joshua Tree National Park is famous for the Joshua Tree is how would you describe them?

3 (27m 19s):
You’re like, well, we’re looking cactuses, CAC die,

4 (27m 23s):
But they’re not really not, but they’re not really cacti. They’re actually trees. But their leaves are really weird. They’re long. I don’t want to describe them as ferns, but they’re just really long leaves. And as a matter of fact, one of the cool things about the national parks, when you go, they always give you a little bit of history. They show how the native Americans use the actual leaves from them to actually weave the leaves into their own shoes. So if that gives you like a little image of what they look like, but even though they’re trees, they don’t really provide a lot of shade, but they are desert dwelling trees. So almost like cacti.

6 (27m 57s):
So squads, hip, Do you not go to Joshua Tree National Park in the summer? It gets very, very hot. It’s in the middle of the desert.

3 (28m 6s):
We’re talking like one 30 sometimes.

6 (28m 9s):
Yes, but it’s definitely cool to see in the spring or winter, there’s a lot of hiking or you can even Boulder. We

3 (28m 16s):
Saw climbing people,

6 (28m 17s):
Boulder and rock climb, which was really cool just to even see, and you can just explore the desert. It’s also like part of an old mine town. So there were remanence of that, that you could view while you were on some of the hikes as well.

3 (28m 31s):
It’s also a place that draws a lot of camping and at night because there’s not a lot of city nearby. You can see the stars really, really well when it gets cold at night. So just for the warmth and the cold,

4 (28m 42s):
That’s what the, one of the crazy things about the desert too, is how hot it can be. And, and just equally how cold it could be during the, during night or during whatever season and that it may be. But a lot of unique things about Joshua Tree. Again, listened to that episode that we talked about. We go into it a little bit more here, but it’s slightly larger than the state of Rhode Island. So it is big. And another unique feature is that it is encompassed by two different deserts, the Mojave and the lower Colorado desert. So a lot of unique things about it that make it a very interesting and awesome trip to do as a day visit trip from San Diego

6 (29m 15s):
And right outside of the national park, there is a place where you can dig your own cactus for 59 cents.

3 (29m 21s):
I haven’t been to Joshua Tree in a year or two. I’m wondering if they’ve raised their prices or if it’s still 59 cents,

6 (29m 28s):
Maybe they raised it to 99. I don’t know,

3 (29m 29s):
60 cents.

4 (29m 30s):
It’s a dollar who knows, but point being it’s very affordable, good deal. Bring yourself a desert souvenir back.

6 (29m 38s):
So marching right along to number nine, we’re going to solving and solving is a four hours north of San Diego, about 250 miles and Jamal and I recently did a day trip to solving and it was so much fun. It’s a cute Danish, inspired architecture town with clock towers and windmills and cottages. And it’s just so nice to walk the downtown area and just be inspired by the architecture.

4 (30m 3s):
Yeah. There’s a lot of history about the town that makes it really unique in its own. Right. And it obviously is that Danish history that has the architecture resembling almost being in Europe, if you will. So if you want to go someplace and feel like you’re in Europe and California solving as the place to go,

6 (30m 20s):
It’s actually called a slice of Denmark in Southern California.

4 (30m 24s):
So cute.

2 (30m 25s):
Have you guys ever been to Denmark?

4 (30m 27s):
I have been to Denmark. I

2 (30m 28s):
Have,

3 (30m 29s):
I have been to Denmark and I didn’t see any of the, what are those things called? Windmills, the windmills. I didn’t see any of those in Denmark. Did you, when you went?

2 (30m 36s):
No, I didn’t see any, but it was very, very quaint Copenhagen, super cute, super colorful. I’ve never been to solving, but I can only imagine just how replicable it is of Denmark.

3 (30m 50s):
So it’s even more Denmark in solving then Denmark.

6 (30m 55s):
They also have really great pastry shops in a soul thing. We went to one called Mortenson’s bakery where we got this Danish with raspberry and cream cheese in the middle and oh my God, it was so good that we had to go back and get another one for the

3 (31m 9s):
Road. The same thing. I’m trying to think different.

6 (31m 12s):
Well, we did get other things too, but that was our favorite thing that we got there. There’s also a lot of wineries in the area, cause it’s not far from Santa Barbara. So there’s a lot of great tasting places to go and try as well. And a lot of restaurants in the downtown area and it’s a great place to shop pop as well.

4 (31m 28s):
Yeah. And what I really like about it in also with the architecture that makes it really unique, really cool feeling like you’re in Europe, like Brittany said, there’s those pastry shops, but a lot of the shops that they have down there are mom and pop shops. So it really gives you that old town feel. And I really, really liked that about it. It’s so unique and definitely worth a visit. It is a little bit farther. I know Brittany said earlier four hours, but you know how adventurous we are. So we drove four hours, spent time up there, four hours back. But if you do want to do some of the wine tasting that they have up there, because they do have wineries, you can make it a little overnight excursion if you want. And that would be something to do as well.

4 (32m 8s):
But solving is not to be missed. I actually had up until recently had no clue that this place even existed close to us. And then mom’s Anna mentioned it because we were in Santa Barbara recently and she’s like, oh, are you going to go to soul thing? And I said, mom, I had no clue solving existed until about two weeks ago until Brittany said, we’re going to be going. And then that’s the only reason why I know about it, but mom loved it. She remembers going to it in the seventies. So it still had that charm back then too. Wow.

2 (32m 37s):
That’s so funny that you say that because when I first moved to San Diego 10 years ago, maybe a little over 10 years at this point, mom asked me if I was going to take a day trip to solve it.

4 (32m 46s):
And I love solving

2 (32m 47s):
No idea. I’ve never heard of solving. So because of my mother, I found out about solving 10 years ago. How funny?

3 (32m 53s):
All right guys, now we’re venturing into number 10. And for this one we’re going international. We are really, really lucky to be in San Diego where Mexico is just a skip hop and a jump across the border. And there’s a lot to do in Mexico, especially

6 (33m 9s):
Actually for Jamal night, we only live about five minutes away from the border can

3 (33m 13s):
See Mexico from your house.

4 (33m 15s):
I see the beautiful Tiawana Hills lit up at night. It’s so beautiful. And I don’t say that sarcastically. It actually really, really is. Yeah,

2 (33m 21s):
I know. It’s hard to say. I love the Tiawana lights at night.

3 (33m 24s):
We’re in the downtown area of San Diego. It’s about 30 minutes to get to the border. And there’s plenty of parking at the border anywhere from like five to 20 bucks, you can find parking for eight hours, 12 hours overnight. Even if you wanted to stay late, they do have a nice nightlife going on in Mexico. But the parking cost will depend on where you go and definitely bring your passport. You will need it. And you can walk across. You can also drive across. I’ve done that before.

6 (33m 48s):
You can also take a trolley that will take you to the border as well. And then crop walk across from there,

3 (33m 53s):
Uber and Lyft as well, lots of ways to get down there and then cross by foot. Or if you have a car drive over.

6 (33m 58s):
So Kim, why don’t you tell us about Tiawana? Cause I know you recently went.

3 (34m 2s):
Yeah. So we have four places in Mexico that we’re recommending closest to farthest away. The closest is Tiawana, which is just across the border. We call it TJ. I was actually there last night for dinner and it was so fun. I think people have an image of Tijuana that is either good or bad and not every part of TJ is a safe place that you want to go to. But there are tons of really great restaurants, safe places to be. If you’re smart, you know, obviously it attracts a lot of people coming for the nightlife. So just be careful when you’re over there, but don’t be afraid of TJ. It is a fun place to go. There’s the Plaza, which is a really fun like bar and restaurant square area where a lot of people go for nightlife know there’s another street down there.

3 (34m 44s):
That’s a really fun, main street to go on to what’s that one?

2 (34m 47s):
The avenue to revolution.

3 (34m 49s):
Yes. Yes. And that has a lot of really good bars. Restaurants. Caesars is there where the Caesar salad was invented. I highly recommend this restaurant I’ve been before. We’ve been trying to go as a squad, but we haven’t made it yet, but okay. If you’re going, you, you have to go to Caesars. They make the Caesar salad at your table side from scratch the dressing. They don’t make the curtains from scratch. They’re already made, but then they put everything together, mix it up and it’s seriously the best Caesar salad I’ve ever had in my life.

4 (35m 17s):
Did you get it with anchovy? Kin?

3 (35m 19s):
I did. I went full

4 (35m 20s):
In. Wow.

6 (35m 22s):
I’m so proud of you.

3 (35m 24s):
Yeah. And the story goes, it was owned by Italians, but during the depression, when they didn’t have a lot of food, they had stale bread and people coming in wanting to eat. So they’re like, well, what are we going to do with the stale bread? So they made it into croutons and then the Caesar salad was created. And then ever since boom, super solid changed the world guys right there in TJ

4 (35m 43s):
Caesar himself in Rome created it.

3 (35m 46s):
You thought wrong. And that’s people think it’s from Italy, but it’s not.

4 (35m 49s):
And you know another thing about TJ again, Bordertown so depending on your preference, some people will love it. Some people, it just may not be their thing, but beyond the nightlife, do go check out Las playas. If your Spanish isn’t very good like mine. But fortunately enough, I do know this means the beaches. They do have a nice beach area of Tijuana. So they have lots of restaurants along in that area as well. You can be along the beach and just really enjoy that Baja, California beach experience really nice, but continuing on with that,

3 (36m 22s):
Whoa, tacos,

4 (36m 24s):
Tacos, well tacos or anywhere. So I didn’t realize that we were specifically,

3 (36m 28s):
That’s true. That’s very true. But if you are in TJ definitely hit up one of the street taco vendors or multiple street taco vendors. Why not just go on a taco tasting like I did last night and eat as many tacos as you can. They’re super cheap. Like I think maybe a dollar or $2 per taco.

4 (36m 43s):
We haven’t done that in a long time, but Brittany and I used to just take weekend trips and by weekend, I mean just for the day to Tijuana and we would just go eat street food, particularly tacos. So it’s definitely worth doing.

2 (36m 56s):
And one thing that you should know is that when we’re talking about tacos, we’re not talking about like those Ortega taco shells that you buy at the bin you buy at the supermarket, like these are real Mexican street tacos. So they’re probably no more than two, three inches in diameter. They are tiny. So they are super cheap, but they will fill you up. Now I have had a few day drinks there on the avenue revolution. And I remember there was some ice in my drink, which wasn’t weird, right? Like it was part of the drink, but because I was enjoying the drink so much, all of a sudden I realized, oh shit, I forgot that there’s actually ice in here. Is this from the TJ water? Is it gonna make me sick?

2 (37m 36s):
But fuck it. I’ve already been drinking it. And guys, I was okay,

4 (37m 40s):
That’s good.

3 (37m 41s):
The ice is made through water filtration system. So you can drink the ice when you go and have cocktails there don’t drink the water from the tap. Even the locals don’t do that.

4 (37m 50s):
And again, if you’re having tacos, be mindful to have any raw or fresh veggies that they may put on top cilantro, radish, you know, it could have it. So just be mindful of that, but that shouldn’t discourage you from eating it. We do that.

2 (38m 3s):
And you know, once you go to the border just real quickly say in this, even if you don’t cross over into it, you can see the arc of Tijuana, which starts at the beginning of the avenue revolution. So even if you weren’t crossing over, you can see the big Mexican flag waving there and the wind on the mountains and you can see the arc of Tijuana.

3 (38m 19s):
All right, now we’re cruising down the road to Rosarito. Just another 30 minutes from the border.

2 (38m 25s):
I have done a day trip with my girlfriend, Nicole. We just crossed over by foot and negotiated a taxi there in TJ to Rosarito super, super cheap. We ate tortillas on the beach. We rode a horse on the beach for $5.

3 (38m 38s):
Nice. I’ve always wanted to do that.

2 (38m 42s):
I wrote a cover IO in LA Playa. So it’s a good time. It’s a beach city. So, and not even a beach city. It’s not a city at all. It’s a cute little beach quaint town.

4 (38m 54s):
Didn’t they film Titanic there, the water scenes. Oh my

2 (38m 56s):
Gosh.

4 (38m 59s):
Cool.

3 (38m 60s):
Yeah, that’s hilarious.

4 (39m 2s):
So when you watch the movie and you see rose or Kate Winslet telling Jack never let go. I think she let him off in the beach and Rosarito my

3 (39m 10s):
God. That’s so funny. Can we

2 (39m 12s):
Go and recreate

3 (39m 12s):
That?

4 (39m 14s):
But when you go to Rosarito, you’re obviously going to be coming from Tijuana, do take the scenic route. There are two different highways that you can go. The scenic route along the coast is the way that you do want to go.

3 (39m 26s):
There’s a small toll fee. It’s less than a dollar, I think, but you have ocean views the whole time. And there’s not as much traffic as there is on the other,

4 (39m 35s):
You know, driving along the coast and Baja, California reminds me of driving in big Sur a little bit here in California. It has that kind of mountain cliff seaside road. And it’s really unique and really beautiful to see it that way too.

2 (39m 49s):
You guys are making me want a margarita really, really bad, a margarita or a cold cerveza. That sounds so

4 (39m 56s):
Well. You could enjoy all of those and Tijuana and in rosary.

3 (39m 60s):
I enjoy them both at the same time. Double

4 (40m 3s):
Fist.

3 (40m 5s):
Yeah.

2 (40m 7s):
Well these are also cause you know, these are on the coast. So these are hotspots where ship stock as well. If you’re on a cruise. And so, you know, you can go into one of the restaurants, they have people who have those whistles and then they come by throw your head back and they like throw that the Keela down your throat.

3 (40m 22s):
Oh yeah. Papas and beer. It, that is a big party spot in Rosarito actually saw little John there once. Yeah. Yup. Yup. And they definitely do that. They, the people that work there will come over, blowing their whistle, pour liquor in your mouth, put a rag over your face, which is weird.

4 (40m 40s):
And

3 (40m 41s):
Then shake your head. Sometimes I’ll take you up and spin you around.

2 (40m 45s):
Have you had the whistle blown on you before they

3 (40m 48s):
Have tried? They’ll come up and start whistling whistling until they get a taker, but I’ve never done it

8 (40m 53s):
The next time. Kim,

3 (40m 54s):
Hey squad trip

4 (40m 56s):
Squad, but chugging on down the road. If we’re staying along the coast within two hours of San Diego and Sonata, Mexico

3 (41m 4s):
In Sonata, another beautiful beach

4 (41m 7s):
City. So this is really where they’ll stop you in Mexico. If you take the cruises, Susanna was saying cruise spots earlier, they will take you to and Sonata on cruises. So this is one of their main stops. Rosarito is a little bit more north of Ensonata, but this is such a beautiful little beach resort town in a way. It is its own regular city, but it does bring in a lot of tourists and it is a good place to go eat and have a good margarita. And one of the claim to fames and Sonata is LABU fedora where you can actually go watch along a sea cliff, where there is a natural water cave where when the tide comes in, it pushes out almost like a Geyser.

4 (41m 47s):
So you can really watch a fountain, but obviously it’s coming in from the pressure of the ocean and to that little spout, if you will, and pushing on through and out. So it’s real cool to go see, they have lots of shops in that area. I remember one time, a old next door neighbor from up north Anthony. He came down, picked me up along the way here in San Diego, we went to Ensanata and he took me to that spot. Cause he frequents in Sonata quite often, blow hole. There you go.

6 (42m 13s):
I’ve actually been to that blow hole before I went on a family trip and it was actually a family cruise. So we stopped in Ensonata and that was one of the highlights was the blow hole.

3 (42m 24s):
They have another Papas and beer and in Sonata and they do bring big name artists there too.

4 (42m 28s):
But little John was in Rosarito apparently.

3 (42m 30s):
Yeah. Got to see little John.

4 (42m 33s):
Well trekking on east a little bit inland from and Sonata. There is a very famous spot to go to highly, highly recommended. It’s called Avaya, the Guadalupe and Kim, you frequented more than any of us. So why don’t you tell us all about via?

3 (42m 51s):
I’ve been several times once I went on a work Christmas trip where we took a bus down there, another time I drove down there, another time I’ve been with someone else. So it’s really cool. They have a lot of cool wineries. The prices can be anywhere from lower prices you’d expect from Mexico or the same price as you would find in the U S depending on what winery you go to. I would definitely recommend Quatros Quatros, it’s a super cool winery. It has these massive wooden boats that you can go on and take pictures on and hang out on beautiful winery where they’ll give you blankets. If it’s cold, like they’re super, super nice there. It also has this big hilly area. It’s probably closer to the coast than any of the other wineries in this area, but this big hill area that you have to take a shuttle to get up on, have all this gorgeous seating and you have use of the ocean.

3 (43m 40s):
It’s so, so cool. Monte Zanuck is another one. That’s really cool. That draws a lot of people, but you can’t really go wrong with any of them there.

4 (43m 47s):
So via the Guadalupe is pretty much Mexico’s wine region, if you will, or these Northern Mexico’s wine region. Yeah,

3 (43m 54s):
Absolutely. And if you’re coming back to the U S you are allowed to bring one bottle of wine per person.

6 (43m 59s):
Ooh, great squad tip

4 (44m 0s):
Duty free.

3 (44m 1s):
Yes. Duty free.

4 (44m 3s):
So do bring one back with you.

3 (44m 4s):
And there’s a lot of great places to eat too. With all these wineries. Gourmet food is really big. There. They have a lot of really big name chefs there in via. They have an annual like wine festival event that draws amazing chefs, musical artists. It’s a really fun event over there too.

4 (44m 21s):
All right, ladies, any final thoughts on the top 10 day trips that we had mentioned?

3 (44m 26s):
No final thoughts on any of those, but now I really want to go to Mexico

6 (44m 30s):
Too.

4 (44m 31s):
Weren’t you just there though.

3 (44m 32s):
I was just there last night, but I want to go and

4 (44m 33s):
Get SCO is a fun place to be. That is for sure. Very underrated. A lot of people we’ve said this before. I want to say it again, just because you said it, a lot of misconceptions, Mexico is a great time. Just be mindful of what it is that you’re doing with anywhere else you go, you just don’t want to be stupid doing what you do. Even here in the United States.

2 (44m 50s):
Mexico got me jazzed up. It made me feel like, oh my gosh, we’ve got to do a TJ episode. Yeah. I feel like having a margarita. I’ve already said that. And you know what? My Spanish really is good, but I don’t talk about blow holes that often

4 (45m 2s):
Seems like it’d be right up your vocabulary then

2 (45m 4s):
Maybe I should. But just for the record, I didn’t know that word because I don’t often talk about blow holes.

4 (45m 13s):
Well, I think it’s that time.

3 (45m 15s):
It’s my favorite time

4 (45m 18s):
Of the week

3 (45m 19s):
Question of the week. All right. Looks like we have one question this week and it was submitted to us online, so we don’t have a name, but thanks to whoever gave it to us.

4 (45m 34s):
Thank you. Anonymous.

3 (45m 35s):
And the question

2 (45m 36s):
Is just say it was Jack from Rosarito

3 (45m 40s):
May have dated rose before in his life. Okay. So where is your next day trip planned?

6 (45m 46s):
So actually Jamal Zaina and I actually have one coming up. It’s not from San Diego, but we are flying into our hometown of Sacramento and we’re doing a day trip to Vernie falls.

3 (45m 55s):
Where’s that? What is

6 (45m 56s):
That? Bernie falls is a famous waterfall in Northern California and it’s super gorgeous.

3 (46m 2s):
Wonderful.

4 (46m 2s):
So even though we’re going to be there more than a day, because we are visiting family, we’re using Sacramento as our hub to take a day trip. Right.

3 (46m 9s):
Nice. I actually don’t have anything planned, but I have been thinking more about going to Julian or Big Bear being that we’re recording this in the fall right now. And so that’s kind of when I start to want to go to those places. So I’ve been percolating something in my mind.

4 (46m 22s):
All right, I’m going to throw this out there. Once it starts to get a little bit cooler, whether there’s snow or not, ideally there’s snow to go to julienne, get some hot cider and have an apple pie Up in the mountains and wearing our jackets. How nice is that sound? That sounds so quaint.

3 (46m 38s):
That sounds super bad. I actually have a trip coming up next weekend to go to new England for those fall jacket vibes. So I’m really excited about that. It’s not a day trip, but we will be day tripping from our home stand in Boston,

4 (46m 50s):
Boston.

2 (46m 50s):
Yeah, Boston.

3 (46m 52s):
Cool. Well, that’s our episode for you this week. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. Please keep the adventures going with us by following us on Instagram and subscribing to us on YouTube at Travel Squad Podcast. We appreciate that. And obviously, please, please send us in your questions for the week.

2 (47m 8s):
And if you found the information in this episode to be useful, or if you thought we were just playing funny, please make sure to share it with a friend that would enjoy it too.

4 (47m 15s):
And as always guys, please subscribe, rate, and review our podcasts and tune in every Travel Tuesday for new episodes.

6 (47m 22s):
Stay tuned for next week’s episode, we have some more amazing adventures and tips in store for you guys. Woo.

3 (47m 28s):
Can’t wait for next week. Bye everybody.

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