Finally, I’m starting with my probably favourite part from the blog series “USA Road Trip” – the upcoming blog post from the city of my dreams – San Diego! After the days spent in the state of Arizona and the last night in Sedona, in the morning of June 19th, we headed to the most beautiful city that managed to find a place not only on our Californian map but also in my heart.
The travel time spent in a car from Sedona to San Diego was the longest on this road trip. It took nearly 7 hours and 30 minutes, some canyons, 2-3 Indian villages and the Mexican desert before we finally arrived in San Diego in the late afternoon on that day. The most impressive natural scenery that we saw during those 7 hours was definitely the Mexican desert with its 54°!!! The highway was burning under the wheels … We stopped once at some gas station in the middle of the desert in order to get some cold drinks and to fuel. I don’t really have some proper words to describe the stifling heat outside the car! Living here?! No way, these temperatures are not the most appropriate for my blood pressure…
After 200 km. of “nothing” as if something magical happened – with approaching San Diego the landscape was continuously changing from sand dunes into some green oasis of graceful palms, dancing above the Californian sun. Only after the first minutes spent in our hotel, my first real Mexican Chimichanga (absolutely delicious!) and an hour of sunbathing at the swimming pool, it became clear that San Diego is very different from the rest of California. And how could it not be – the city is located only 30 km. to the Mexican border and Tijuana, you could really quickly notice that this one doesn’t feel like an average city in America. The architecture, the restaurants, the Spanish language and the people themselves – it’s clear that the city was part of Mexico until the year 1850.
The next day was very, very long, full of emotions and positive experiences. We started our tour at San Diego’s Navy Pier and the USS Midway Museum which offers an extensive collection of military ships (the biggest I’ve ever seen) and aircraft. The Naval Base of San Diego is one of the largest in the United States and it was the main connection with Pearl Harbor in the state of Hawaii during the World War II.
We continued our walk toward Seaport Village, where you can visit one of the most famous statues and a symbol of love after the World War II – The Unconditional Surrender. Very pleasant and interesting place to see! After an hour and several photos, we headed to the downtown of San Diego, which was very quiet, very clean and “green” city, with no homeless and weird people on the streets (different than the other US cities we have visited). And Hell Yeah! I went shopping! In downtown San Diego you can find the best small shops that offer my favourite kind of Hippie-Ethno clothes! It couldn’t have been more perfect!
After a few hours of walk, we went to the city of Coronado, located in the same named peninsula, which is one bridge and a few kilometres away from San Diego…
Enjoy the day!
