Checking out SD in July (San Diego, Corona: apartments, hotels, live)

[lost_traveler1]

Howzit all,
I'm moving to the Mainland US from Honolulu and gonna pick up my car up at the San Diego Port mid-week of the beginning of July. I plan to stay for a couple of days since I've never been to SD. I've been researching on the forum and gone google crazy but still not sure what activities to do in 2 days worth.

I'm a mid 30's dude and I'm looking for laid back chill activities where I can wear slippas (flip-flops) and jeans. I love Slightly Stoopid and Sublime, any bars that play live reggae or island style music where I can hang a have some beers?

As for hotels so far I've seen some cheap, under $100 cool places at the Gaslamp area and plan to park my car at 6th and K st since the Padres play away that week. Not sure if this area is the best place for me but cheap hotel is a factor since I don't plan to spend much time in it so as long as it got a bed and bath, I'm good.

I'm gonna checkout Cafe 222, Basic pizza, and see if I can find that Miho Gastrotruck. Don't really need to go to the beaches, have enough here in Hawaii.

Any recommendations or critique on my 2 day plan is greatly appreciated! Mahalo!

[lost_traveler1]

Thanks for the responses! So much activites, what to do!!! Maybe I'll just skip SD.......

[moved]

If you find a a cheap hotel in the Gaslamp, it;s probably pretty crummy. Check the bedbug registray at Bedbug Registry - Check Apartments and Hotels Across North America in advance. You can wear your flip flops and jeans anywhere you choose. I don't know of any bars that play reggae or island style music here.

[cruitr]

Here in San Diego, we spend our summers at the beach. Since you're not interested in beaches (for obvious reasons), we just don't know what activities to suggest.

As for cheap hotels in the area, summer is our expensive season. Priceline.com might get you a good deal.

Pomaika'i.

[mewzikguy]

go online and check out CitybeatSD and The Reader. . . . .plenty of things to do

[windnsea00]

Discoversd.com and the mixster.com are helpful. For your type of music I would say coastal town bars would be the best best.

[lost_traveler1]

Right on, you guys rock!

Thanks for the info, ahhh maybe I'll just chill on your beaches n' soak up the SD sun anyway! And maybe I'll wear a cheesy turquoise and orange polyester aloha shirt with parrots and marlins to get me in the mood!!!!

[kixette]

We just got back from a great week in San Diego area. First of all, we just wanted place to sleep too. We found a room for $38 down by Imperial Beach. I saved 100's of dollars by sleeping there. And it wasn't bad. Any time there was an issue, the cops were on it. If you interested, DM me, I'll share.
some of the things we did - first day we checked out "Old Town" and "Gaslamp" kinda boring to us, but touristy, and glad we did it. Drove up to Del Mar and checked out the area, pretty. Then back over the Coronado bridge (I made by boyfriend take me over that bridge about 20 times that week!) to Imperial Beach which is such a funky little cool surf town - IB Forum was a cool little happy hour bar there. The Plank not so welcoming, but maybe that's localism? Lots of surfing by the pier there, people, dolphins, and seals, yeah I loved seeing the seals playing with the surfers it was so cool. We also checked out the Maritime Museum (14 dollars each) which enabled us to climb all over I think 4 ships and 2 submarines - that's right on the San Diego Bay and I'm not a history buff, but still really thought it was fun. We also spent a day at the Zoo, believe me, the pandas are as cute as you would think.
We spent an afternoon in Tijuana (eh, had to do it, not as cool as...) we spent a day in Tecate, drove through the mountains about an hour (through chula vista) and it was absolutely the funnest day ever. There's a plaza, and restaurants, and the "Bar Diana" and I just LOVED it. It was NOT your typical border town. The Tecate brewery was there and it just smelled SO good!
One thing I COULDN'T do, being from Texas, was chill on the beach. Well, actually, if you put it literally, all I did on the beach was chill, or in other words FREEZE! The highest temp it got was around 75 and all the surfers still in wetsuits. You from Hawaii, you used to the humidity too, you might be a little chilly like I was too.
But we had a lot of fun there, and I only brought my slippahs and no one told me that was unacceptable anywhere. In my opinion, you wear boots to work, an slippahs everywhere else. And if they don't want me in my slippahs they don't want me at all!
Have fun dude... and rock that cheesy shirt! Everyone in SD was so friendly to us, it was great, and I highly recommend vacationing there!