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Feature Article
San Diego For Repeat Visitors by Ellen B. Klugman "Been there, done that" is an easy assumption to make when it comes to considering a vacation destination as popular as San Diego, Calif. But how well do you really know the nation's seventh-largest city poised at the southwest edge of the continental United States? Here are four ways of exploring an old favorite that you may not have tried.Seen the San Diego Zoo? Try a Wild Animal Park Photo Caravan. Margaret and Vernon Smith of Aurora, Colo., fed giraffes in South Africa, patted a one-horned rhino in the Asian Plains, took a zillion snapshots of endangered species and made it back to their San Diego-based hotel by dinner. Impossible? Not with the San Diego Wild Animal Park's Photo Caravan Tours, a daily series of in-your-face safari-style adventures through the recreated wildlife habitats of two different continents (Africa and Asia). Unlike pedestrians and passengers on the sprawling 1,800-acre park's periphery-based monorail, photo caravan participants enter the very heart of these large animal natural habitats on flatbed trucks. Admittedly, you won't see staggering quantities of wildebeests and zebras like you would on Africa's Serengeti. However, Randy Rieches, the park's curator of mammals, notes "the animals here have become far more acclimated to people, so instead of using binoculars, as you would on a photo safari in Africa, you can get really close." How close is close? The Smiths went eye-to-eye with a lumbering, 17-and-a-half-foot-high giraffe that deftly plucked treats from their hands. Later, they tossed apples into the jaws of a 500-pound, baby northern white rhino. Margaret was especially impressed by the park's efforts to approximate the conditions of these animals' original habitats so the animals will continue to act…well…naturally. One example: the lions' enclosure is placed close enough so the antelope can detect their scent on the wind. The result? "We saw a herd lying down in opposite directions," says Margaret. "Our guide explained they do that in the wild so they have eyes facing in both directions for protection." Chowed down at Old Town? Try the Gaslamp Quarter's gourmet zone. Downtown San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter is a National Historic District with charmingly restored 19th- and early 20th-century Frontier, Victorian, Italian Renaissance and Romanesque-style buildings that now house some of the hippest restaurants, pubs and martini bars in Southern California. Marked by brick sidewalks, wrought-iron benches and, of course, flickering gas street lamps, this burgeoning 16-and-a-half-block area of downtown San Diego (south of Broadway near Fifth Avenue) simply rocks. Like their New Orleans counterparts, many of the 70-plus restaurateurs at the Gaslamp Quarter are apt to beckon you with friendly invitations to look at their menus. Several dozen establishments also offer nightly entertainment. Owned by the widow of singer-songwriter Jim Croce, Croce's Restaurant & Jazz Bar dishes out double-doses of jazz and contemporary American fare. Café Sevilla specializes in tapas and flamenco guitar nightly. Café Sevilla also features salsa, tango, and flamenco dinner shows Thursdays through Saturdays, respectively. The Bitter End includes a downstairs dance club and a no-jeans-allowed upstairs lounge graced by two marble fireplaces and overstuffed sofas. The Gaslamp Quarter uses any excuse to party and autumn provides several. California's largest music festival, a three-day annual extravaganza called "Street Scene" features 90 bands on nine stages scattered through downtown. "Street Scene 2003" (September 5-7) includes headliners such as the renowned alternative band R.E.M. For detailed information, visit www.street-scene.com. Looking for something a tad more sophisticated? Consider "City Arts," an annual toast to fine art and fine wine celebrated within the Gaslamp Quarter's art galleries and other downtown venues each Columbus Day weekend (October 13). Loved La Jolla's shopping scene? Check out Cedros Design District. Take a pinch of La Jolla's sophistication, add a dash of Greenwich Village's funky flare, stir, and voila—you've got the shopping mecca known as Cedros Design District, located in sleepy Solana Beach, just north of Del Mar. In 1991, a decaying mix of World War II-era Quonset huts, industrial warehouses and wooden cottages along Cedros Avenue were gradually converted into artist lofts, woodworking studios and art galleries. Now lined with more than 100 specialty retail shops, the nearly half-mile-long Cedros Design District (Cedros Avenue at Lomas Santa Fe Drive) is a magnet for anyone looking for interior decorating inspirations, accessories, furniture and exotica. Case Brothers Custom Furniture is known for custom-crafted carousel horses and fantasy furniture, like mermaid and dolphin tables. Stencils & Interiors carries hundreds of stencils in designs ranging from classics (scroll and damask) to children's themes (angels, animals and sports). Emporiums like Leaping Lotus house more than 90 vendors selling clothing, crafts and furniture from Mexico, Morocco, China, Japan and other far-flung locale. Cedros Trading Co. contains dozens of artisan stalls brimming with handcrafts from New Mexico to Nepal. For a refreshingly romantic way of getting to Cedros, hop on the commuter coaster between downtown San Diego and Solana Beach (about a 45-minute journey). From the Solana Beach train station it's only a convenient half-block walk to the Cedros Design District. The trains run about a dozen times daily in both directions (less frequently on weekends). The station-adjacent Solana Beach Visitor Center can give you free maps and directions. Have you teed off at Torrey Pines? Link up at Balboa Park and the Four Seasons Resort. With more than 90 courses designed by leading golf course architects like Tom Fazio and Robert Trent Jones, it's little wonder that San Diego ranks among Golf Digest's top 50 golf destinations in the world. La Jolla-based Torrey Pines features San Diego's most renowned public fairways, but the municipal course at Balboa Park (home to the famed San Diego Zoo) also offers a lovely set of links right in the heart of San Diego. If you're squeezed for time, try their par 32 executive nine-hole course. Your second option is the 6,300-yard, 71.1-rated, par 72 championship course. The 18th hole offers spectacular valley views of San Diego's downtown skyline. A driving range, two putting greens and chipping greens are also available. Fortunately, you needn't be a resort guest to play golf at the Four Seasons Resort Aviara, designated one of this year's top 75 golf resorts in America by Golf Digest. Located in Carlsbad, a north San Diego county coastal community about 30 minutes' drive from downtown San Diego, this 7,007-yard, 72-par Arnold Palmer-designed golf course sits adjacent to a shorebirds' preserve. Water hazards at this wildflower-rimmed golf course include streams and cascading waterfalls. (Golfers tee off over a lake at the third hole!) Duffers who like a challenge will appreciate why a group of PGA professionals once voted the 18th hole the "Most Difficult Finishing Hole in San Diego County." Additional facilities include putting and pitching greens, GPS-equipped golf carts and a 32,000 square-foot Spanish colonial clubhouse. Seasoned travel writer/photographer Ellen B. Klugman works in Los Angeles and plays in San Diego. New attractions at old favorites
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