California Blog #23: San Diego
Getting to live in California again is one thing, but the one other thing that would also be fun besides that is the place that I wanna visit for the first time.
Two simple words for you.
San Diego
There's a lot that you should know about visiting San Diego. So here's some info about it.
San Diego is frequently referred to as the "Birthplace of California", as it was the first site visited and settled by Europeans on what is now the West Coast of the United States. And San Diego is historically home to the Kumeyaay people. It's main economic engines are military and defense-related activities, tourism, international trade, and manufacturing. The city is the economic center of the San Diego–Tijuana conurbation. If you look closely, there's an interesting fact about it.
To the left lies San Diego, California and on the right is Tijuana, Baja California. The building in the foreground on the San Diego side is a sewage treatment plant built to clean the Tijuana River.
The primary border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana, the San Ysidro Port of Entry, is the busiest international land border crossing in the world outside of Asia. The city's primary airport, San Diego International Airport, is the busiest single-runway airport in the world.
Over here you can also see the Coronado Bridge
The lighthouse at Old Point Loma
And right here, you can even see where Presidio Park is also located.
The City of San Diego recognizes 52 individual areas as Community Planning Areas.[63] Within a given planning area there may be several distinct neighborhoods. Altogether the city contains more than 100 identified neighborhoods.
Maybe for the first time when we visit San Diego for vacation, we can consider taking a walk around Normal Heights. This is where you see Adams Avenue.
According to Wikipedia, it says here that Several important neighborhood events take place in Normal Heights. The Adams Avenue Street Fair, Southern California's largest free music festival, is typically held the last weekend in September. Adams Avenue Unplugged, formerly the Adams Avenue Roots Festival, another free music festival, is held the last weekend of April. Another large Art Around Adams is a local community art event where unique and talented artists showcase their work inside and outside businesses and spaces along Adams Avenue.
So maybe we can participate and/or go to one of those annual events at Normal Heights in San Diego.
The Normal Heights Community Planning Group advises the city on neighborhood land-use issues, particularly local historical properties, zoning, traffic-calming, and neighborhood facilities such as parks and libraries. The Normal Heights Recreation Council advises the city on local park and recreation issue. The Adams Avenue Business Association operates the local business improvement district and sponsors major local festivals. Other community groups include the Normal Heights Community Association, the Normal Heights Cultural Council, the Normal Heights Community Development Corp., and the Friends of Normal Heights Canyons.
And like other urban mesa neighborhoods north of Balboa Park, Normal Heights has a high rate of pedestrian activity. The stretch of Adams Avenue between Texas Street on the west and Ohio Street on the east is sometimes referred to as Antique Row, due to its numerous antique stores. A landmark neon sign over Adams Avenue at Felton Street identifies the neighborhood.
There's also a place you haven't seen before called Mission Bay. It's seen in the distance right on this picture. It is facing Northwest, taken from Arista Street.
There's plenty of parks here in San Diego including SeaWorld, the San Diego Zoo, Martin Luther King Jr. Promenade, and others.
Speaking of which, the tourism is a major industry owing to the city's climate, beaches, and tourist attractions such as Balboa Park, Belmont amusement park, San Diego Zoo, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and SeaWorld San Diego. San Diego's Spanish and Mexican heritage is reflected in many historic sites across the city, such as Mission San Diego de Alcalá and Old Town San Diego State Historic Park. Also, the local craft brewing industry attracts an increasing number of visitors for "beer tours" and the annual San Diego Beer Week in November; San Diego has been called "America's Craft Beer Capital."
There are also canyons here in San Diego. For example, this is one at Torrey Pines State Reserve.
Plus, there's surfing here at Pacific Beach. And maybe I can go swimming out in the beach, so to speak.
Like much of southern California, the majority of San Diego's current area was originally occupied on the west by coastal sage scrub and on the east by chaparral, plant communities made up mostly of drought-resistant shrubs. The steep and varied topography and proximity to the ocean create a number of different habitats within the city limits, including tidal marsh and canyons. The chaparral and coastal sage scrub habitats in low elevations along the coast are prone to wildfire, and the rates of fire increased in the 20th century, due primarily to fires starting near the borders of urban and wild areas.
San Diego's broad city limits encompass a number of large nature preserves, including Torrey Pines State Reserve, Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve, and Mission Trails Regional Park. Torrey Pines State Reserve and a coastal strip continuing to the north constitute one of only two locations where the rare species of Torrey Pine, Pinus torreyana, is found.
Due to the steep topography that prevents or discourages building, along with some efforts for preservation, there are also a large number of canyons within the city limits that serve as nature preserves, including Switzer Canyon, Tecolote Canyon Natural Park,[92] and Marian Bear Memorial Park in San Clemente Canyon, as well as a number of small parks and preserves.
And most of all, San Diego County has one of the highest counts of animal and plant species that appear on the endangered list of counties in the United States.
At the University of California, San Diego has the 'Geisel Library' which is named after the famous children's illustrator known for The Cat In the Hat. His name was Theodor Seuss Geisel ("Dr. Seuss").
For sports, there's the Petco Park for baseball games.
And there's a Qualcomm Stadium.
Now here's the info on San Diego professional sports.
The San Diego region is home to one major professional team—Major League Baseball (MLB)'s San Diego Padres, who play at Petco Park in Downtown's East Village. Prior to the opening of Petco Park in 2004, the Padres had played their home games at San Diego Stadium (also known as Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium) in Mission Valley since joining Major League Baseball in 1969 as an expansion team. The Padres originated as a Minor League Baseball team in the Pacific Coast League (PCL), where they played from 1936 until they joined Major League Baseball. As a PCL team, the Padres were based at Lane Field (now the site of the InterContinental Hotel San Diego) in Downtown's Columbia neighborhood from 1936 through 1957 and Westgate Park in Mission Valley (now the site of Fashion Valley Mall) from 1958 through 1967. Their final season as a minor league team was also their first at San Diego Stadium.
From 1961 through the 2016 season, the city hosted a National Football League (NFL) franchise, the San Diego Chargers. The Chargers were based at Mission Valley's San Diego Stadium from 1967 through the 2016 season, and previously at Balboa Stadium in East Village–Balboa Park from 1961 through 1966. In 2017, they moved to Los Angeles and became the Los Angeles Chargers.
In two separate short stints, the National Basketball Association (NBA) had a franchise in San Diego, the San Diego Rockets from 1967 to 1971, and the San Diego Clippers from 1978 to 1984. Both were based at the San Diego Sports Arena. The franchises moved to Houston and Los Angeles respectively.
From 1972 to 1975, San Diego was home to an American Basketball Association (ABA) team. First named the Conquistadors (a.k.a. "The Q's") the name was changed to the San Diego Sails for the 1975–76 season, but the team folded before completing that campaign, shortly before the league itself folded.
San Diego has hosted numerous major sports events. Three NFL Super Bowl championships have been held at San Diego County Credit Union (SDCCU) Stadium. College football's annual bowl game, the Holiday Bowl, is also held at the stadium. The annual Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament (formerly the Buick Invitational) on the PGA Tour occurs at Torrey Pines Golf Course. This course was also the site of the 2008 U.S. Open Golf Championship. Parts of the World Baseball Classic were played at Petco Park in 2006 and 2009.
SDCCU Stadium also hosts international soccer games and supercross events. Soccer, American football, and track and field are also played in Balboa Stadium, the city's first stadium, constructed in 1914.
Rugby union is a developing sport in the city. The San Diego Legion were one of Major League Rugby's founding teams, beginning play in 2018. The San Diego Breakers played at Torero Stadium in the only PRO Rugby season before the league folded. The USA Sevens, a major international rugby event, was held there from 2007 through 2009. San Diego is also represented by Old Mission Beach Athletic Club RFC, the former home club of USA Rugby's former Captain Todd Clever. San Diego participated in the Western American National Rugby League between 2011 and 2013.
The semi-pro San Diego Surf of the modern American Basketball Association is located in the city. The San Diego Yacht Club hosted the America's Cup yacht races three times during the period 1988 to 1995. The amateur beach sport Over-the-line was invented in San Diego, and the annual world Over-the-line championships are held at Mission Bay every year.
The best thing about the sports in this city is that San Diego is the home of Padres baseball. San Diego is also home to the Seals for box lacrosse, the Sockers for indoor sockers, the Legion for Rugby union, the Strike Force for indoor football, the Aviators for team tennis, the Grwolers for the ultimate, the Gulls for ice hockey, and both the Loyal SC and the 1904 FC for soccer games.
Okay, enough of that for now. Let's move on.
Now, here are some things that I wanna do when we all wanna visit San Diego for spring break or summer vacation.
1. Visit the San Diego Zoo
2. Check out SeaWorld for aquatic theme shows and rides
3. Picnic at the La Jolla Cove
4. Go for a wildlife tour at Safari Park
5. Visit the San Diego Museum of Art
6. Hang out at the Fleet Science Center
7. Look at Phonographic Art
etc.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. If we're really lucky, maybe my cousin Ryan will take me to Comic-Con for the first time. And maybe I can cosplay one of my favorite characters from my favorite shows. And maybe Ryan and I can get to meet and greet my favorite voice actors from one of my favorite shows I enjoy watching. I been willing to say hello to some of my favorite voice actors. Tom Kenny, Jill Talley, Grey Griffin, Nika Futterman, Lara Jill Miller, Cristina Pucelli, etc. I can even get our pictures taken with our cosplay costumes. And maybe I can explore the world of TV, film, and in video games. Plus, sneak peeks of new stuff to come.
The reason I wanna visit San Diego for the first time is that uncle Mark chose that as a suggestion for me. So I wanna thank him for suggesting San Diego as my next choice for my next blog. The truth is, I have never been to San Diego for decades now, and I really would like to visit there someday. Maybe I can bring my family there too.
Before I work on the next blog, here's some pictures of my future visit here in Comic-Con. Enjoy.
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