As I write this I am exactly a week away from my flight home. I’m heading back to San Diego for fall break, and I could not be more excited. October is one of the best months to be in San Diego, in my opinion. It’s always weirdly good beach weather (which is great as long as you carve your pumpkins late and keep them in the shade. Pro tip).

I wasn’t planning on going home for fall break, but now that home is only a week away I can’t stop thinking about all the things I’ll get to do there! The weeks before coming to college were nice, and I did try to squeeze in my San Diego essentials. But in the weeks before college I was an anxious mess, and that resulted in being too nervous to eat all the burritos I should’ve been devouring. Fall break is my time to relax after my first-ever college midterms. It’s also my soak-up-San-Diego redo!

I brainstormed some plans and surveyed my friends to come up with a list of things one must do on a trip to San Diego. I’m not sure how much I’ll get to beyond basking in the glory of not having to wear shower shoes, but here are some fantastic options:

Hiking

To be perfectly honest, I’m not much of a hiker. I don’t make the effort to go out and do it unless someone else has the plan set and I can just sort of tagalong. But hiking and general outdoor adventuring became really big among my peers in high school, and learning about their adventures made me want to get out and have some fun experiences too! I talked to friends and came up with a few cool cool options.

If you’re just looking for a fun trail, you can hike Torrey Pines. On senior ditch day some random day last year, my friends and I got up early and walked up to overlook the bluffs and breathe in the ocean air. The hiking trails are pretty easy to maneuver, and definitely worth the view. Plus, once you get to the end of certain trails you can go down onto the beach and splash around!

According to my friend Dionne, Rancho Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve is a great, easygoing hike too. “It’s dog friendly and pretty easy if you start from the east!” If you’re looking for something a little more hardcore, you can always go for Iron Mountain, Devil’s Punchbowl, or Potato Chip Rock.

Potato Chip Rock pictured above. Thank you to Lynn for the photo!

Downtown Things

This is sort of a weird category because if I’m being honest, there’s not much to do in San Diego’s downtown if you’re under twenty-one or if it’s daytime. Don’t get me wrong, downtown is super fun to explore! You can see plays, cheer on the Padres at the baseball games, explore our super incredible central library. If it’s Comic-Con season you can join in the festivities.

But San Diego isn’t known for its downtown. When I think of exploring San Diego, I think of places like Seaport Village, the harbor, the San Diego Zoo and Balboa Park. All of which are pretty close to downtown! You can ride tandem bikes around Seaport Village or Balboa. Check out all of the museums in Balboa Park, or explore the floating maritime museums on the harbor.

Food!!!

This is perhaps the most important thing on this list. No matter what else you want to do, food can be added to the equation. Headed to the beach? Take a picnic. Driving somewhere to hike? Eat on the road. Exploring Encinitas? Stop in every single cafe. Get food for the drive there, and the drive home. Food.

San Diego is home to some absolutely delicious Mexican food. Stop by El Indio, hit up Kotija’s, try out Rubios. I recommend picking up Roberto’s for a day at the beach. I was recently introduced to Rigoberto’s, which serves the true delicacy of carne asada fries.

If you’re interested in Asian food, Convoy street is a hub of options. You can get pho, dim sum, korean barbecue, sushi… Fuel up and then head to a kareoke cafe! There are options off Convoy too; my family love Le Bambou, which is right in my suburban home town.

Also, there’s Souplantation. An all you can eat, family friendly buffet. I have many fond memories of stopping in with my family, my conservatory, or after a softball tournament. I know there’s been some panic after seeing articles about Souplantation financial troubles, but it seems that for now our Southern California locations are safe. Let’s go eat there every single day and keep it that way!

And let's not forget another senior ditch day stop one of the most precious places in Southern California:

Beaches and Beach Towns

I don’t think I’ll be able to list all of them here, but I’ll mention a couple of my favorite places to visit, places I wish I’d seen more of after getting my driver’s license. I hope that I’ll continue exploring! There are so many cool pockets of culture to explore throughout San Diego. I remember a kid in my AP Lit class saying, “We don’t have culture here(in the suburbs). You know where there’s culture? Encinitas.” I mean, I was pretty happy in the suburbs, but he’s not wrong I guess. So we’ll start there!

According to google, Encinitas is a beach city in the North County area of San Diego County, California. It’s home to Moonlight Beach, thrift shops (like Flashbacks), independent coffee shops (Lofty Coffee, Better Buzz), delicious food (ie. T’s Cafe), and a super cool used bookstore called Book Tales. You can wander from shop to shop, down to the beach, find cool art. Encinitas is close to the San Elijo beachside campground, which is super fun, and also near VG’s donuts! There are so many cool things about Encinitas, I feel like I’m not entirely qualified to talk about it. I never spent enough time there. But that just means there’s more to explore when I visit!

I did spend a good deal of time in Del Mar. For five summers, I woke up early to attend Junior Lifeguards on Del Mar Beach. Second semester senior year, I woke up late to be shocked into alertness by the water every morning at Surf PE. Del Mar is home to Powerhouse Park, walkable food options, a cute little playground, a beachside library, and a trail where you can walk by the train tracks. It’s where the Del Mar Fairgrounds are (home of the races and AP testing). The ocean air and fun adventures cancel out any AP test memories. By the time summer comes around, those test rooms are home to displays for the Del Mar Fair anyway!

La Jolla is home to La Jolla Shores and La Jolla Cove. You can spot sea lions sunning themselves year round, splash through watery caves, snorkel and swim. It’s a good spot to check out the garibaldi (our California state fish!) and during some parts of the year, leopard sharks (totally harmless and really cool!).

Torrey Pines is a good place to go when you just want a full-on beach day. There aren’t many walkable restaurants, but you can grab Roberto’s on the way and picnic on the beach. Befriend the squirrels that live in the rocks, chase away seagulls when they try to steal your food. It’s a great place for swimming and boogie boarding, or just sitting on the beach. From TP you can walk to Del Mar, or in the other direction toward tide pools, and a little further on Blacks Beach (but if you’re gonna walk that far, prepare yourself. That’s a nude beach).

You can drive over the bridge to Coronado and grab some ice cream at the Del before exploring the beaches. You can walk the pier in PB, look out on Mission Bay while riding roller coasters in Belmont Park, surf in Cardiff, stop for some alkaline water in Carlsbad.

Guys, there are so many beaches and beach towns, and they’ve all got unique draws, plus one big unifying factor: the beach!!! I may have to come back and go more in-depth on these places later. The important thing to remember for now is the beach.

Post Surf PE!

Anyway, I love San Diego a lot. I'm having a lot of fun learning to love Oberlin, but it'll be a good feeling to be home for a bit! And if you ever plan to visit, you can check out some of the things on this list! Tried and true San Diego adventures as told by born-and-raised San Diegans.