Travel suggestions (San Diego, Temecula: rentals, hotels, codes)

[roselily]

Hi there, my husband and I are contemplating a mini-vacation to celebrate a few things before we have kids. Our honeymoon was a trip down the coast from San Fransisco to San Diego with points between- we'd like to revist the high points and avoid mistakes we made the first time around (like renting a car in San Fransisco, staying downtown, etc.) We never made it to wine country or to see the sequoias last time, and I'd love to do both if feasable.

I'd love some suggestions on logistics, etc. Is renting a car and driving the best way to see everything? I'd love some local suggestions, we got burned by Expedia more than once.

The main reason we have for San Diego is the Zoo & Animal Park of course, we're both zoo fanatics, we visit zoos on all our travels. We'll probably visit Old Town again too. And brewery tours if there are any available, we're beer geeks. Is there anything else that we can't miss while there?

[whiteboyslo]

If you enjoy wine, a trip up to the Temecula wine country might be nice. In general, I find using Reviews of Hotels, Flights and Vacation Rentals - TripAdvisor is a GREAT way to research local attractions because you get honest feedback from everyone.

Unless you plan on staying in the most urban portions of a city (i.e. downtown), I don't see how you could get away with not renting a car. Skip the online travel sites and rent direct from the agencies themselves. Employers often have some sort of discount codes you can use, or you can find discount codes online. Costco has a pretty good discount, too. Don't need to be a member to get the codes off their travel site, but the rental agency is supposed to check your membership card (in my experience, they never do). Sometimes you can also save money by picking up your car at a non-airport location, though it makes the logistics of getting the car a bit interesting. Still, if you can figure it out......

Mike

[Clevelandgal]

San Diego is actually a HUGE micro brew town and building a national reputation. I would say the style is very hoppy in general, but most microbreweries will turn out some really good seasonals too. Im hoping someone will post some links regarding breweries and I will look too for you. Before I moved here, I went almost entirely gluten and grain free for health reasons and craft beer was by far the most difficult thing to give up. I do have one once in a blue moon but once you have grain detoxed it never tastes quite the same. Except Siasons...still so good .

If you want to enjoy local food and brews 30th st from North Park to South Park has a lot of nice local brew pubs and eateries, you might find it less touristy than Old Town. Here is some info on the area, which is very public transit accessible http://30thstreet.org

There is also a very well regarded brewery out in Julien you might visit if you want to go up into the mountains.

[Clevelandgal]

If you are back in SF you must, MUST go to the Toronado. The best beer bar in the world! Oddly I have never been to the one here, but the one there, terrific!

[bloom]

I've been partial to the manageable, smaller, nicely landscaped Franklin Park Zoo in Boston, except when the gorillas have escaped multiple times.