Going to San Diego

[formulanone]

I'm going to San Diego for the next two weeks. The company pays for my rental car and fuel, so...

Any roads, transportation sites/places of interest?

Amazingly beautiful and jaw-dropping spots to gawk at?

Must-eat-at places?

Weird and obscure places to see and drive on/to?

( Oddball local custom I need to be aware of?  )

[SimMoonXP]

Interstate 15 is very widest freeway between CA-78 to CA-163- Newly done Express Lanes staging done between Sept 2008 to Jan 2012. You could see the movable barrier in middle of I-15 freeway.

Old Town San Diego is quite interesting historical place to walk around. It have a good mexican resturant at Old Town area. I not remember the name of mexican resturant at there.

Downtown San Diego is okay as the best spot is Gaslamp Quarter area, which is near Petco Park (baseball stadium for San Diego Padres). San Diego Central Library is good one as you could find the old mapbooks of San Diego area in back in 1951, I-5 freeway for Downtown section forming around early 1960s such as 1961 to 1963, they have 1961 and 1963 mapbooks for that. If you want look more different years mapbook, which is fine, you could seeing more freeways forming over the time.

Coronado is quite nice place to stop by, oldest known building in Coronado is Hotel Del Coronado, 1888.

Lowest gas price company names are: either ARCO or Costco. Other general gas stations names are: Shell, Chevron, Exxon-Mobil, and Conoco-Phillip.

I-805 and 43rd Street area is strange spot cuz CA-252 freeway was supposed built between I-5 to I-805, it killed the CA-252 proposed freeway in around 1994. Palomar Observatory is good place to stop by, while you driving down the curvy road, you could probably see the ocean. It have nice small resturant and gift shop at next door to resturant at Palomar Mtn at 10 to 15 minutes away south of Palomar Observatory.

Peterson's Donut Corner in Escondido is very good sweet treat as it have donuts, cookies, coffee, and milk. It is located at Escondido Blvd and 9th Ave. It is my favorite donut shop since when I was little boy. It have a large cinnamon roll with raisin, closely to similar size to soccer size cake size. Seasonal sprinkled frosted donut is good one too.

Five Guys burger is good one...it have good burgers at there, some locations have Coca Cola Freestyle touch screen drink selection. It is NOT Old School thingy lol.

Enjoy your San Diego trip!

[formulanone]

Mmm...donuts. Will give that one a try.

Forgot to mention I'll also be in Carlsbad, which appears to be 30 minutes to the north.

Also, any plethora of button copy, like the L.A. area?

[agentsteel53]

watch out for Arco: they do not take credit cards!

Gaslamp and Old Town are okay for tourist traps, but the really fun neighborhoods are places like Hillcrest and North Park!

[Alps]

Still was plenty of button copy on EVERY freeway when I was there. Not sure what may have been replaced in the meantime. Head over to Cabrillo Monument, I thought it was well worth the price. Balboa Park has some old architecture, including bridges/arches. Drive through it from all angles.

[roadfro]

watch out for Arco: they do not take credit cards!

And if you do use a debit card at Arco, it comes with a transaction fee ($0.45 currently in Nevada). The fee can offset the savings from the lower price...

[Brandon]

Having gone to San Diego once, I must recommend the San Diego Zoo.  You can't drive through it, but there is a bus tour that drives through it. 

[citrus]

For something transportation-related, there is a freeway under construction, but it's all the way near the Mexican border: CA-905 (and future I-905, if the cards fall correctly). If you like massive interchanges, drive I-8 from its terminus to El Cajon. Actually, if you have the time, go all the way over the mountains to the desert (about 100 miles); it is a fantastic drive. There's also a section of CA-54 where opposing directions are on opposite sides of a river.

watch out for Arco: they do not take credit cards!
Gaslamp and Old Town are okay for tourist traps, but the really fun neighborhoods are places like Hillcrest and North Park!

Second this, and I'd also add Normal Heights and University Heights.

[kurumi]

In Old Town, there's at least one "Historical US 101" sign.

Friars Road (arterial north of I-8) is an interesting "almost freeway" with a few interchanges.

Fun interchanges: 5/52, 805/163, 8/805, 8/125, 805/252 (reminds me of one of I-84's dead freeway stubs, but larger)

Semi-abandoned freeway: Kearny Villa Road, at 15/163: http://www.scvresources.com/highways/kearny_villa_road.htm

In Carlsbad, we were pleasantly surprised by Bistro West for dinner, enough to go grab lunch there the next day.

[kendancy66]

Also drive historic US-101 along the coast and see all the beaches

[rschen7754]

SR 52 between I-5 and I-805 is good if you're looking for an older-style freeway with button copy galore. SR 163 between I-8 and I-5 goes through Balboa Park and is quite dramatic too.

SR 52 between SR 125 and SR 67 was recently completed.

[TheStranger]

Route 15 between I-805 and I-8 is another recently completed freeway worth checking out - cut-and-cover design that kept some of the neighborhoods tied together (after locals delayed the project for many decades).

[agentsteel53]

Fun interchanges: 5/52, 805/163, 8/805, 8/125, 805/252 (reminds me of one of I-84's dead freeway stubs, but larger)

252 is a tough find, as it is unsigned and partly abandoned.

http://www.cahighways.org/249-256.html#252

8/163 is a fun interchange too... come in on 163 southbound and loop back to 163 northbound as a default!  I am not sure what set of intermediate upgrades resulted in this situation.

Semi-abandoned freeway: Kearny Villa Road, at 15/163: http://www.scvresources.com/highways/kearny_villa_road.htm

take that between Miramar Rd. and 15/163 - it features some old porcelain signs that never were retrofitted for buttons.  for another example of that, see Morena Blvd. southbound at I-8.  then turn around, drive Morena northbound, and look at the center-of-the-road trailblazer sign for Sherman St. 

[TheStranger]

Surprised nobody's mentioned the old US 101 freeway, Pacific Highway, from I-5 northwest along the north perimeter of Lindbergh Field/San Diego International Airport...that road dates back to World War II if I'm not mistaken.

[agentsteel53]

Surprised nobody's mentioned the old US 101 freeway, Pacific Highway, from I-5 northwest along the north perimeter of Lindbergh Field/San Diego International Airport...that road dates back to World War II if I'm not mistaken.

indeed, there are some underpasses that date to 1942.  on the 163 freeway, I believe the Washington St. bridge is 1940. 

the 'Roadside Business' sign northbound on old 101 covers up a black 1957 sign of the same configuration - the back is visible and may be inspected by climbing the berm. 

[oscar]

Fun interchanges: 5/52, 805/163, 8/805, 8/125, 805/252 (reminds me of one of I-84's dead freeway stubs, but larger)

252 is a tough find, as it is unsigned and partly abandoned.

http://www.cahighways.org/249-256.html#252

There's no 252 signage, but AFAIK the exit is signed "To 43rd St."  In any case, it's hard to miss that (now) seriously overbuilt interchange south of CA 94.

[Alps]

Ridiculously old one-way sign exiting the airport and leaving Pac Hwy. I want to say Grape at California.

[agentsteel53]

Ridiculously old one-way sign exiting the airport and leaving Pac Hwy. I want to say Grape at California.

there's at least 100 of those left.  check University at 4th, 5th, etc.  there's one on Normal in front of the DMV that even says C-62 on the back.

[Biff858]

If you like big freeway interchanges don't miss driving thru the I-8/I-805 exchange in Mission Valley.  Also visit the Dave & Buster's- the parking lot sits directly under it; Google street view link here: 

http://www.google.com/maps?q=&layer=c&z=17&iwloc=A&sll=32.773191,-117.131835&cid=7875652136052668712&cbp=13,152.2,-5.1,0,0&panoid=j3PU9XmNtS7n2KMjInLKyQ&q=dave+and+busters+san+diego&ei=qxFRT-3ZLaamiQLe0Pm0Bg&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=streetview-image-link&cd=1&resnum=4&sqi=2&ved=0CBYQnwIoADAD

As others have said here, plenty of old button-copy signs on all the major freeways except for I-15 which has been modernized with carpool lanes and new sinage in recent years. 

Other things of interest:

Visit Mt Soledad for a 360 degree view of the city.

Torrey Pines Glider Port atop the cliffs at Black's Beach.

La Jolla Cove

For the quintessential Southern CA beach experinece head to Pacific Beach but get there early on the weekends or you'll spend the afternoon looking for a parking spot.

In-N-Out-Burger

Gaslamp Quarter on a Friday or Saturday night.

Few of my favorite restaurants:
Lotus Thai
Mimi's Cafe
Sammy's Woodfired Pizza

Have fun on your trip!

[The High Plains Traveler]

watch out for Arco: they do not take credit cards!

And if you do use a debit card at Arco, it comes with a transaction fee ($0.45 currently in Nevada). The fee can offset the savings from the lower price...

And I was never able to make a Wells Fargo debit card work at Arco or any other debit card-only station.

[roadfro]

watch out for Arco: they do not take credit cards!

And if you do use a debit card at Arco, it comes with a transaction fee ($0.45 currently in Nevada). The fee can offset the savings from the lower price...

And I was never able to make a Wells Fargo debit card work at Arco or any other debit card-only station.

I used to do it all the time...since Wells Fargo started charging fees for using cards, I pull out cash before going to Arco stations.

[TheStranger]

Surprised nobody's mentioned the old US 101 freeway, Pacific Highway, from I-5 northwest along the north perimeter of Lindbergh Field/San Diego International Airport...that road dates back to World War II if I'm not mistaken.

indeed, there are some underpasses that date to 1942.  on the 163 freeway, I believe the Washington St. bridge is 1940. 

This was back when the terminal was on the north side of Lindbergh, IIRC.  The 1970s reconfiguration (moving the terminal to the south side along Harbor Drive) might be one of the few examples where a terminal was moved AWAY from direct freeway access!

[formulanone]

^ Heh...I wondered how an airport of that magnitude in a city as big as San Diego could have so many (well, nit that many) traffic lights before you get to a freeway.

[TheStranger]

^ Heh...I wondered how an airport of that magnitude in a city as big as San Diego could have so many (well, nit that many) traffic lights before you get to a freeway.

I think one of the expansion/renovation proposals for Lindbergh Field restores the north-side primary access point along Pacific Highway:

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.san.org%2Fdocuments%2Famp%2Fadopted_amp%2F08_00__SANMP_PreliminaryConceptDev_V04-21-08_LR.pdf&h=DAQEgOXL_

[oscar]

^ Heh...I wondered how an airport of that magnitude in a city as big as San Diego could have so many (well, nit that many) traffic lights before you get to a freeway.

For the longest time, Lindbergh Field was considered rather temporary, with ambitions to move it to a more spacious location (like Miramar air base, or Brown Field near the Mexican border).  That probably discouraged major improvements to make Lindbergh more accessible.

When I watched the movie "Top Gun," my first thought was that it was yet another ploy to keep Miramar in Navy hands and resist its conversion to a civilian airport.  Of course, the Top Gun program later moved to Nevada.