Day Trips from San Diego

AJ: Well, thank you for joining us. We wanna start things off by thinking our awesome new sponsor, Yasa Kochi Family Farms. They're an amazing local family farm farmer. Donald and his family have been farming in San Diego since 1927, and they have what I know to be one of San Diego's most insane CSA boxes.

Now, if you've never heard of a CSA Box, CSA stands for community supported. 

Sara: This is something I have always wanted to do. I have always wanted to receive a C S A box. I don't know why I never pulled the trigger before, but you can sign up for a box.

The regular size box, which is perfect for a family of four is $29. They have a jumbo box that's $39, and it's delivered right to your door free delivery. These are the freshest fruits and vegetables because they're local. They haven't been sitting on a truck somewhere traveling across the country, and they have a ton of add-ons too.

You can add a bouquet of fresh flowers or uh, some baskets of berries. They have Carlsbad Strawberry Company jam. I mean, there are tons of add-ons that you can add to your box. 

AJ: Yeah. And one of the really cool things is you're supporting 11 to 14 local farms just by getting one box every week or every couple of weeks, or once a month.

Your choice. 

Sara: And like we said, delivery is always free. In fact, Yasa Kochi Family Farms is the only local CS A with free delivery to your home or office.

AJ: So get in on this. Get started at yasa kochi family farms.com. Y A S U. S U K O C H i family farms.com/csa.

We'll put a link on our Instagram or at all in san diego.com if 

you 

Sara: need it, man. I'll post a video of my amazing hall. You're gonna wanna get in on this. Yaa kochi family farms.com/csa. Enjoy.

AJ: And thanks for tuning in to another episode of the podcast All in San Diego. We're all about the people and places that make San Diego awesome. We're actually gonna give you some ideas for getting outta San Diego Day trip style. This is not staycation. This is getting going somewhere fun and coming back on the same day.

We'll get to that in a little bit. We've got a special guest from Fleet Science Center that's gonna tell us about the amazing thing they have going on right now and through the summer and, and a lot more. But I wanna start with you making San Diego awesome, Sarah, because you took, took part in a pizza battle on 

Sara: National Pizza Day.

Oh my God. This was the most fun. I haven't had this much fun in a long time. So we got a chance to be a part of the uh, Sammy's Pizza, national Pizza Day Pizza making competition. Yes, you and I collaborated. We discussed what might be the best angle, uh, to try to get on the menu because the winner. Got $5,000 for the charity of their choice.

Yes. Which is amazing. Um, and then they would also get their pizza on Sammy's menu for the year. So it was a lot at stake. A lot at stake. Uh, you and I talked about how I should make a Mediterranean pizza because there wasn't anything like that on their menu. Mm-hmm. And the kicker was the hummus drizzle.

Yes. Right. The hummus 

AJ: dri. We're going, aj, all your favorite Mediterranean veggies. A little feta cheese on the top. Yes. And then, yeah, who thinks to put hummus on pizza? But it does work. 

Sara: I mean, right brain explodes. I made a fatal error. 

AJ: Oh, no. 

Sara: Any guesses on what I did that I shouldn't have done? 

AJ: No, I, I know you didn't win, but I don't know why.

What did you ? 

Sara: I didn't, I didn't win. Congratulations to Allie Wagner, by the way, from K U s I. She won. I put the hummus drizzle on. Before it went into the pizza oven, not 

AJ: after Sarah Perry, Sarah . What were you doing? No one wants hot hum when you made cook hum in your life. 

Sara: Oh, you know what I felt like once I got started making the pizza, it felt sort of frantic and the person next to me was like, finish with their pizza and.

A friend of ours from another radio station, like all in good fun, like made a comment about how long it was taking me to make the pizza They got in your head. They totally got in my head. They totally got in my head. Um, I wish you were there to like keep things calm anyway. I like just sort of, I drizzled the hummus.

I drizzled Bahamas and then they took it away. And like as I was drizzling it, I swear aj, as I was drizzling it, I was like, why are you doing this? This should be after. 

AJ: Yes. This was like dipping your nuggets and ranch before frying them. . This is, this is not the order of operation for our idea, but I know, I'm sure.

I know. I'm sure you still represented. It looked like you had a great time. Congratulations to Allie Wagner and her truffle pizza. I know. Liberated ingredient in the world. Come on. No, no, no, no. Be cool. They're like mushroom only dirtier. No, don't be a 

Sara: sore. Don't be, we can't be a sore loser. these were professional grade food judges, so I have to sure. Just accept their judgment and it was my mistake and I will never do that. 

AJ: Yeah. Well, they, they need to, they're gonna put the pizza on their menu for a year and they need to make, have that pizza sell.

And I'm sure writing out the menu talk with piping hot hummus was the 

Sara: hot, the hot hummus pizza did not win. And then, oh my God, they kinda just made it all like look like brown, you know, . Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, presentation counts. People , 

AJ: you know what? This pizza needs baby food on top cuz that's what that hummus seems like.

Sara: one, one of the judges did say, they're like, oh, never heard. I never thought to put hummus on pizza. And I was like, I don't know, like should I take that as a good, like is that a good thing? Yeah. Or a bad thing. anyway, didn't win but had a blast and, um, very happy for Allie Wagner's charity. They got $5,000 challenged athletes.

A very worthy cause. We'll get '

AJ: em next year. I love it. Yeah. And that was for National Pizza Day. So I want to take a minute to remind you. Most of us can't see you see your friends, you know, on Instagram, on national whatever day going, oh, I'm eating a burrito.

Cuz it's burrito day. We can't always drop everything and go get the burrito, right. So pizza, no we can't. Pizza day just came and went. But if you're dying to have a good pizza, we need a whole episode about pizza. I'll put the link in this episode. Um, there are a lot of great places. Oh my God. In San Diego.

And as a quick update to that, in honor pizza today, there are a couple hot new pizza places. Oh, I don't know if you've been catching the buzz about Prince Street Pizza. No. Um, tell me. Oh. It's got everyone on fire. Sarah. This is a very popular pizza place that actually started in Manhattan, keeping it real New York style pizza.

They opened up some locations in the LA and they were on fire and they've now opened one location on Market Street in San Diego. It's supposed to be amazing, and they, they specialize in Sicilian squares of pizza. So you're not getting that big New York slice. Oh, square pizza. Judging by the buzz, it's amazing.

So if you're looking for a new place, check them out. Or gnarly girl pizza, their pizza's supposed to be very good. This is in North Park. I wanna go just for the vibe because the walls are painted with teenage meat and Ninja turtles. Who famously love pizza. Oh yeah. They have vintage boomboxes hanging on the wall.

It's just, you know, and it's gnarly, girl. It's gnarly. It's supposed to be fantastic. Um, again, in North Park they do have the classic New York slices. They also have hot sandwiches and a lot of other things to try. So two new pizza places 

Sara: for you to try. That's what I should have done. A square pizza. Do you think that would've helped me stand 

AJ: out?

Well, if you did it in the right order, I fear you would've like baked it and then tried to cut it into a square or something. Insane. Alright. Okay. I deserve 

Sara: that . 

AJ: That's fine. Maybe next time. Okay. Maybe next time. All right. Sarah, do you wanna get into, uh, these day trips? Oh, 

Sara: yeah, for sure. I love 

AJ: this. We, we did a whole episode about staycations, which are, they're a lot of fun too, right? Where you go stay overnight. Mm-hmm. , but sometimes you just want to get outta San Diego for the day, come back and sleep in your own bed and you're looking for a great idea.

And there are a lot of them. There are ones in San Diego, right? Like, I, I love a day trip too. Ocean Beach. I love a day trip to Carlsbad. There are a lot of fun places to just go for the day. But if you wanna leave San Diego, I've got five ideas for you. Um, get outta bubble 

Sara: a little bit. It's a, it's an amazing bubble, but just a little bit.

It, 

AJ: it is, and I'm gonna start with an obvious one and get out of the way because so few people take advantage of the fact that we live on the border to another country, go to Mexico and enjoy. Uh, cause So for so many people, they went, when they were 19 to TJ and they got, you know, went to senior frogs and spun around in the chair and had the whistleblower guy.

There's a whole nother experience whether. Ensenada or Rosarito or even TJ itself. Yeah. The food, the culture, the music. A day trip to Mexico is super fun. 

Sara: And the wine country, Oh my gosh. These insane wineries that are all over Mexico.

I mean, it's like right at our fingertip. 

AJ: You're right. And that's, that's a another huge appeal just to do that. Uh, whether it's a girls' day or a, you know, an anniversary or whatever it is. I think the barrier to the Mexico Day trip for a lot of people, uh, is the logistics.

Sara: That's what I was just gonna say. It seems overwhelming. You 

AJ: don't have to do it. You don't. And you can ask around, figure it out. You can stop. You get the Mexican car insurance right before you cross the border. Yes. And you go and you, there are ways to do it, but there are so many ways to not do it. Uh, nowadays there are so many buses that'll pick you up, tours that'll take you over and come back.

We could probably do a whole nother episode about that and maybe, and 

Sara: we should. Yeah, we should. 

AJ: But in the meantime, just, just open your mind, do a little groove of research yourself. It doesn't have to be an intimidating thing. And my gosh, it's, it's, it's fun. And, you know, as a, as a, as a lover of food, just to, just to go over there and eat some, some great food.

Oh, a authentic, yes. Yeah. Uh, it, it's a great day trip for sure. 

Sara: Sidebar. Yes. You, you talked about like going when you were 19. I cannot believe to this day when I look back on my college years at SD s U. We would get on a party bus on a Wednesday night that would just, I know, pick us up by the dorms.

Like, I can't believe I did that and like made it back to tell the tale. Yes. Like if you did not get back on that last call bus ride at like 2:00 AM you would be there like you would be spending the night in club a. 

AJ: Yeah. And after met him shots that were going around, that's not an unheard of possibility that you left that bus like such 

Sara: a mom thing to say.

But I'm like, oh my God. I would never let Lila do that. I would never let my daughter do that. But it didn't seem like that big of a deal 

AJ: at the time. Oh my gosh. I know, I know. All right. and a little bit more of an obscure note. A lot of people have never even heard of this, which is amazing, but you can do a day trip to idle.

Now I love Idle Wild. I haven't been, but it's, it's getting, you know, now that I live out more in the Temecula area, it's a pretty common day trip from out here. Um, and from what I hear, it's a lot like Big Bear, which I love. I got a big bear three, four times a year. Yeah, yeah. But it has that small town vibe.

It gets some snow in the winter. Yes, it's beautiful. In the fall, it's, you just go eat at a little cafe or a dining. Totally. You go on a hike, you enjoy. You're not gonna spend a ton of money, you're not gonna ride any roller coasters or do anything like that. No. You're gonna have, you're gonna have a, a relaxing day away from San Diego, and sometimes that's the best kind of day trip.

Sara: It feels like you're a million miles away. And I love that feeling. It's you, you're just like, totally, you could disconnect. You could completely disconnect for the day. 

AJ: Yeah. And it's less than a two hour drive for most of San Diego.

And unlike the drive to Big Bear, it doesn't feel like a rollercoaster. I mean, I love Big Bear that drive over the mountains is a, a white knuckle . I know. You know, so this is a more relaxed drive. Definitely. It's a one un wild. Uh, it is a great idea. Another one a lot of people don't think about is Stan Clement.

Now this is gonna take you north, right along the Pacific Ocean. And it's more, it's kind of like going to PB or Mission Beach, but you're not at the same old San Diego beaches. Right? Yeah. Big, long stretching beaches. You can do all the things, whether it's whale watching or fishing or biking or walking.

They have a pier. They've got amazing seafood restaurants. Uh, there's something for everybody if like, again, you want that beach experience without, we love our beaches, but sometimes you want to just, you know, do something. Yeah, for sure. 

Sara: That's a great one. And it's not too far at all. Same with San Juan Capistrano.

I mean, I kind of put that in the category of San Clemente, but like San Juan Capistrano, you get off there, you can even take the train. You just, you get off. Yes, and you can just explore that little area. Great restaurants, if you've got little ones, they have Zoo Mars, which is a really cool petting zoo.

That's a really super fun experience too day. 

AJ: In fact, thank you for leading me in by next one. Cause that was the next one. Oh no, sorry. No, I still, no, I love it. Yeah, no, it is a great one. And I, I think the difference is this one has a little bit of more of that, uh, Uh, historic.

Yeah. Cultural experience. Right. San Juan Camran was founded in 1776. Mm-hmm. and a lot of the buildings have been there since around then. So you see amazing architecture and the rowing hills and it's certainly beautiful, but there's plenty to do as well. And like you said, how many the day trips can you take the train to, that's a huge appeal right there.

Sara: Yeah, it's awesome

And I would put that in the category of maybe not as much as Mexico, but you feel like, oh, what are the logistics of that? It's easy. You just go to the closest train station to you in San Diego, and when you get off in San Juan Capistrano, you're right there. You're in the heart. Yes. Of everything that you would wanna see.

AJ: Yep. that day. Trip. Without driving. Can't. Can't beat it. All right. And finally, another one that people know about but probably don't take advantage of that often is Palm Springs. Mm-hmm. , and I know it's a little bit of a longer drive. A lot of people like staying overnight, and certainly if you can do that, it's great, but you don't have to.

It's not that far of a drive to Palm Springs. And when you get there, do you know about the tram, Sarah? 

Sara: I've seen pictures of this and it's one of those things where you go, I can't believe I didn't know that that existed. , 

AJ: yes, it goes up the side of a mountain for two and a half miles and takes you to a whole nother.

Area of all the fun Palm Springs thing. I'm talking dining and live music and entertainment and shopping. There's so much of that in Palm Springs. The tram is super fun. And here's a pro tip. You can take the tram up but then skip it and walk back down. Two and a half miles is not that crazy to walk, right?

Oh no, not downhill. It's clear. Clearly all downhill, right? 

Sara: Am I picturing this correctly? I think I've seen pictures of it or video where it, it's almost like if you're at a ski resort and you're going up the ski lift, but it's.

It's all 

AJ: right inside of a mountain. Yeah. Yeah. So it's not like you don't look down and just see a, a thousands of foot free fall. You're, you're just literally going up the mountain the entire time. Super scenic. Yeah. Super scenic doesn't take that long. Two and a half miles. A lot of fun. I Have you ever gone outlet shopping in Palm Springs?

Oh my gosh, 

Sara: yes, of course. I mean, what kind of a question is 

AJ: that? Yeah, I don't like shopping. I don't love outlets, but my gosh, theirs are so good. Even I get excited about it. You could literally just do that. Literally just get up early. Dread Palm Springs, go to the outlets, spend hours.

Because it, it's the biggest outlet center I've ever seen. It's, and then have a nice dinner and go 

Sara: home. Yeah. I actually think it's so big that it's like on two separate side, they have like two separate sides of the street that are like They built more. Yes. Or you could just go, you could go see the dinosaurs from the Peewee Herman Mo movie.

AJ: You can definitely squeeze that in as well. Yeah, don't miss it. That's important. Cultural stuff, , so there are cer certainly more, uh, amazing road trips you can take from San Diego, including ones we've talked about to death on this podcast, like Julian and, and things like that. Of course, there's five new ones, five ideas get out.

As much as we love celebrating San Diego, we could all use uh uh, something new and fresh as well. 

Sara: 

Another thing that just opened is at Fleet Science Center, we love fleet. You guys always have the coolest, most interactive exhibits. It's called flashback, and I think if I understand it correctly, you're flashing back through the decades.

Um, Carla is here from Fleet Science Center. Why don't you tell us more about it? 

Karla: Yeah. So Flashback, came up as an experience for us to celebrate our 50th anniversary because believe it or not, the Fleet Science Center is turning 50, so as a way to celebrate those 50 years, we came up with flashback, which is an experience where we flashback to five different decades, the seventies, the eighties, the nineties, the two thousands, the 2010s, all the way to today. And what we wanted to do is really embody each decade and each time where we collected those, super exciting exhibits that we have on a, on a regular basis here, and just create an entire experience based on that. 

Sara: So like if you're flashing back to the seventies, you're in, maybe your, you're in your mom's living room with shag orange carpet and your mom's Tupperware stacked up next to you.

If you're, um, in the 2010s, you're taking selfies. It's hard to believe actually that the 2010s is flashing, is flashing back. Right? Kind of scary . 

Karla: Yes. So, um, every decade, uh, has something very, very iconic. So in the seventies, like you said, we're in the middle of the, uh, living room. We're also in a kitchen with linoleum floors.

Yes. 

Sara: Right. Ew. In the . 

Karla: and then in the eighties, we have the, uh, classic American, um, mall like food court, and we have a little. Bringing it back to that, um, we have exciting experiences that also reflect that time at the fleet. Um, in the, um, nineties, we have, records, you know, going to the record store, buying them, the beginning of the CDs also, 

Sara: tower Records.

What was the other, what was the other thing? The Warehouse. The Warehouse. . 

AJ: Yeah. 

Karla: Yes. So, um, that is in the nineties, very, very nineties. Um, in the two thousands we have, popups and MySpace 

Sara: Aj, did you have a MySpace page? Sure 

AJ: did. I had friends. Do you remember friends?

What was your handle? . Oh, I don't, I don't remember my handle, but I spent a lot of time customizing it, making sure I had the perfect song that played when you came on. Sure. Shortlived, but it was a big deal while was here. Yeah. 

Karla: Yeah. We made sure to include Tom, 

Sara: Oh my gosh. I had totally forgotten about that.

AJ: MySpace was so much more fun than all the newer, uh, social media platforms. It really was. Well, I love MySpace . Yeah, Okay, so how long is this going on and where do we need to go to get our tickets? And what do we need to know about our visit? 

Karla: it's gonna go all the way through the summer. So, um, make sure to come in, It's included with a mission so you don't have to pay extra to be part of this 

Sara: experience.

I love that about Fleet. 

Karla: Yes, we're open 365 days a year. 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM So if it's a Tuesday or Monday the weekend, whenever you want to come, we're open. Um, and you can find all of the information@fleetscience.org. 

AJ: science.org. Little pro tip. Don't get so distracted by customizing your MySpace that you're tamago die on you

Sara: That's, that is a good pro tip. Thank 

AJ: you. We, we need to multi-task. Carla, thanks for joining us. We'll all be headed out there, uh, either now or in the summer when you have a little bit more time. It sounds like a ton of fun and congratulations on 50 years. you so much. Okay, so that legit is one we have to go to. I don't know if I want to go with you because I'm just gonna lose you in the nineties section. Immediately. , I'd 

Sara: be like, bye . You go check out the 2010s. I'm staying here, . 

AJ: Yeah. No, it's, it's gonna be one to definitely check out. I'm glad it's gonna be here for so long, so we all get a chance to check it out.

We love fleet. And I wanna give a quick heads up, uh, about something new that's, uh, blowing up in San Diego since we're all about the PE people and places that make San Diego awesome. We now have a hot Sarah, a hot new flea market. What do you know about that? 

Sara: I don't know anything about 

AJ: this. Well, we, we famously have always had the Kobe swap meat.

People love the swap meat, love the swap, but we don't have flea markets. And a lot of people who love flea markets road trip to LA on the weekends to go to the big famous flea markets. Well, one of the big LA ones, the Silver Lake flea market has opened up operations in Encinitas right off the 1 0 1.

What? And it's getting bigger and bigger every weekend. Absolutely. This 

Sara: is my hometown. How do I not know about this 

AJ: already? , you gotta get out there. Okay. So the beloved LA location has over 80 vendors. Mm-hmm. , and they're quickly growing at the Antonina's location to have, uh, at least that many, that is their goal.

So it's every Saturday and Sunday from 10 to four and oh my God, think of a farmer's market without so much farming. Right? It's, it's actually people, you know, it's actual businesses selling their wear. So it's a little bit of everything makers. Makers is a maker's Mark. Yes Makers. And that's the term. And you get, you get to support people like you know their own, with their own small businesses and you get things you're not gonna find at the mall.

Super fun. Um, it's getting a lot of buzz lately. Check it out. 

Sara: That's a great tip. Had not heard about 

AJ: that one yet. well now you have and, uh, now you let me know and everyone else listening what's coming up in San Diego, uh, this 

Sara: week.

This is something that my son really wants to go to. Have you heard of the Beyond King Tut immersive experience going on at the Delmar Fairgrounds? 

AJ: I have and I want to go and it looks awesome and, and ancient Egypt is so fascinating. I don't know why we focus so much on King Tut, but we do. I know. I don't know.

And we're gonna continue doing it, I 

Sara: think because they probably have a lot of cool artifacts and stuff like that. It has been 100 years since the discovery of the tomb. And they say they are bringing the magic and mystery AJ of ancient Egypt to San Diego. Uh, this is a multi gallery multisensory exhibit.

Uh, and it's going on now through the end of next month. So you have through, I think it's March 26th to go check it out. Um, tickets@beyondkingtut.com start at $22. And this is kind of cool if your kid is into this kind of stuff. It's like fun and educational. 

AJ: Yeah, it looks awesome. Honestly. Yeah. 

Sara: Um, also you can check out a goals home game. We've talked a lot about checking out some local sporting events and the goals. Games are super fun. A bunch of home games coming up, uh, February 14th, 18th, 19th, 24th. The games are usually at five or 7:00 PM um, down at Pachanga Arena.

Tickets also for this, starting at $22. Go check out a goals game. Circus Vargas is in town, . Um, it's probably not the same circus that you remember when you were a kid because of animal rights and everything. And yes, animal cruelty, um, is on their radars. This is, uh, I believe, just completely human, uh, human circus.

Yeah, they're wrapping up their shows in Mission Valley. They're in National City starting on the 17th and then Westfield, north County and Escondido at the beginning of March and tickets started just $19 for that show, and it's awesome. It's so fun. Have you been to the circus in the last several years?

AJ: I, I did Circus la, which is, you know, like fancy circus. Yeah. But I, you know, I have gone to the circus. I'm glad they're not doing the animals anymore. That seemed like no kind of life for the animals. Yeah. Uh, but you know, it's a great life for the tightrope walkers and the jugglers and the clowns.

Yeah. And all that stuff. It's super 

Sara: fun, really cool. Uh, if you're in the mood for some live comedy, Chris Hardwick is at the American Comedy Company downtown this Friday night, the 17th. Chris Hardwick was attached to, he was the 

AJ: host of mtv. Singled out my friend, which that you were on. You should know 

Sara: this.

I know. I, um, I was hoping to not bring up, singled out. I don't know 

AJ: why I teach up for that. That's what you may know Chris Hardwick from, as well as a lot of other nerdy stuff. He did the after show for Walking Dead and um, many other things. 

Sara: I thought he was the guy from Remote Control, but that was 

AJ: somebody else.

No, Ken over. Wow. Yes, that was Ken 

Sara: over. How did you just pull out Ken 

AJ: over. Hi. My brain is weird with this kind of stuff and a pre snl, Adam Sandler was the guy that would come on and do all the wacky skits on on uh oh. Remote control. My 

Sara: gosh, sorry. You need to go be a part of some MTV history trivia night.

That was amazing. 

AJ: I guess 

Sara: So just some options for this coming up week. 

AJ: A lot of options as always, cuz there's always so much to do in San Diego. Thank you for tuning in. Um, thanks again to Yassa Kochi Farms for sponsoring this episode.

Love the idea of having that. You know why I love it, Sarah? Because it challenges you not to just make green beans for the 8000000th time, right? You get things in the box, you're like, not kidding. Hey. What am I gonna do with a turnip? I wouldn't buy a turnip at the store. I know I'd go fucking 

Sara: away. Yeah.

Fennel leaks. I mean, I, it, it has, uh, inspired me to make some different foods. I made a cauliflower soup. When would I Yeah, you did. When would I have ever made a cauliflower soup? But it was this beautiful, amazing head of cauliflower that I didn't want, I didn't want it to go to waste. It's a great way to get your family to eat more fruits 

AJ: and.

Did you fill it with some piping? Hot hummus? You know 

Sara: what? You know what? I don't need to take this from you. I admitted my mistake, . And actually that might be 

AJ: kind of good. Uh, maybe, maybe might. We'll see. We'll see you next week. 

Sara: Always drizzle your hummus after, 

AJ: after all. Dip. Go on. After. After. Okay.