The greater San Diego area has not given us a glory-of-nature feel with the sprawling suburban landscape. However, when it’s 70 and sunny in the middle of winter and we get out for some tank top-friendly hikes, it’s easy to enjoy wherever we go!
Daley Ranch
Beth’s parents joined us from their Florida retreat for a long weekend in the dry San Diego landscape. For a traditional weekend hike with them, we traveled north to Escondido into the Daley Ranch conservation area. In addition to the diverse biological habitat the area preserves, it also offers many paved and dirt trails for people to enjoy.
It was a picture-perfect February day in Southern California! There were quite a few people starting and finishing in the late morning when we got there. The trail starts on a paved mile walk down to the old ranch. It never ceases to amaze me how a rancher would chose such a remote site for a ranch! There was fresh water feeding into here, which is an obvious necessity, but you can also see large open areas that were likely fields back in the day.
We were able to get some nice views to the South, overlooking the outskirts of Escondido.
Tijuana
We were lucky enough to host our good friends, Aaron and Dara on their trip to SD! We were looking for some new and high-end tequilas, and we thought a great place to explore would be Tijuana, a quick 15 mile, 30 min drive South. We heard a great way to visit was to park on the US side, where there is plenty of parking next to the premium outlet mall lots, and walk across using the West Pedestrian entrance. It was fast and easy!
We planned on calling an Uber but ended up walking to everywhere we wanted to go!
- Our first stop was Casa Cocoa for a delicious mole-based meal with a variety of refreshing cocoa-based drinks.
- We continued to the Mercado El Popo to explore a variety of stalls with local foods and ingredients. I wanted pretty badly to stock the pantry but help myself back so we could continue our adventure.
- Next stop was, of course, to get some beer! Just off the main drag, Revolucion, we were told about Azteca Craft Brewing which has an eclectic space that you could easily miss.
- Beer was great, but we were looking for tequila! So, we headed to a trendy cocktail bar, Estacion. The menu looked good, and the food smelled divine.
- Ok, so the Tequila came from an unlikely place… Victor’s Liquor Store. Don’t let the sign in front of the building fool you- “Want to get drunk?” it has some HIGH END tequilas on the shelf! Many we had never heard of, of course. There were some amazing looking bottles, so many kinds from blancos to 23+ super anejos. We walked out with a good find, very satisfied.
- We took the hike back to the car, and what do you do after a good day of walking and trying tequilas? TACOS! We went to one of the hottest places in the city – Tacos El Gordo in Chula Vista! At 8:30pm there was a line down the street, maybe no surprise. It’s a strange setup with ad hoc lines that are based on the type of food and protein you are getting. The crazy long line is for the adobada which is an amazing-looking, seasoned and slow-roasted pork skewered on pineapples. Pro tip- For a quick bite, grab the shortest line- it’s all so good and will only take a couple minutes!
Big Laguna Mountain
So… Who is ready to get outside?? The expansive Cleveland National Forest offers quite a variety of landscape, including some moderate altitude, 5k ft trails. The air does feel a bit thin coming up from sea level. We headed straight into Big Laguna trail at the Penny Pines Trailhead for a 10 mile moderate hike/run. This is a very run-able course for anyone looking to leg it. We ran about half of it on-and-off to burn a little energy and enjoy the fresh air.
This area has a very different feel from the trails around the San Diego area. The higher altitude and pine forests really bring us back to a Colorado landscape. The reminder that we’re in Southern California comes early when you look East and see a massive drop-off into the desert landscape.
Big Laguna Lake
The lakes (2 of them!) midway through the hike are beautiful to look at, containing many water foul. You can definitely tell this was (is??) range land, with much of it pasture land that is clear of scrubs and plants from the grazing cattle and many fences along the perimeter of the trails.
mattandbethtravels 