Solo Female Traveling in San Diego - Day 4

I had a hike to Torrey Pines, a beautiful national preserve right on the ocean, planned today, but the group canceled. Luckily, I found another group later in the week doing a similar hike, so I would not miss it. Today I headed only 6 minutes away from my AirBnb to hike Cowles Mountain.

As I was parking on the side of the street, I saw a police officer writing tickets for not turning the wheels to or away from the curb to cars parked just like mine. I quickly got back to my car and turned the wheels. I later posted a review both on Google and Yelp warning people about that (while patting herself on the back :)

Listed as "heavily trafficked" on AllTrails, this trail was exactly that, especially during the holiday week. And it was hot, really hot! With no shade in sight, the trail has multiple switchbacks, slowly exposing the beauty of inland San Diego as you climb up.

The view at the beginning of the hike

Already sweating... Ugh...

The top (and still sweating...)

Awesome feeling of accomplishment

In the evening, I decided to join the local dive bar Meetup. I never knew dive bars had such following and culture. Regardless, had such a great time and met a few nice people.

Solo Female Traveling in San Diego - Day 3

I have always wanted to try yoga on the beach, and finally got a chance to do it. It was a chilly morning with lots of clouds in the sky. The instructor spread a tarp over the dirt on the cliff overlooking the ocean. It was a great experience!

After the class, I went to Cabrillo National Monument, my second time there. This is such a peaceful place! The entry is $10, but if you have a National Park pass, you can use that.

In the evening, I joined a Meetup group to view the Christmas Card Lane, where several streets were decorated in Christmas lights. Some houses were quite amazing!

We met up in the park prior to going along the streets, and here is the sunset that we observed.

Now, how can you beat that???

Solo Female Traveling to San Diego - Day 2

How do you spend holidays, single and solo? Easy! You just stop caring about holidays and go to Meetups. This was my second day in San Diego, Christmas Day.

The first part of the day was planned to hike near Discovery lake in San Marcos. Located in a super nice neighborhood, this hike is somewhat urban, but leaves plenty of room to enjoy the nature. To get to the top, you can either hike or drive, but what fun is it to drive when you can hike?

I met a nice group of people with a gentleman who was an early retiree and thought it was time to retire for me as well. "Don't work until you are old! Just retire now!" Yeah, right, and who's gonna pay the bills?

During the second part of the day I checked out Old Town San Diego before meeting up with another group. It was insanely crowded by Asian tourists with each and every one of them using a selfie stick. A nice visit to historical past of San Diego, but probably not a primary destination.

Finally, a drink at a Mexican restaurant and a trip back to my rental. No wonder that some locals say that they have never done as much as I did in such a short time frame. The best is yet to come!

Solo Female Traveling to San Diego - Overview and Day 1.

This is the second year that I try to escape spending holidays in Fresno. Every year I can take a whole week off during the holidays. In the beginning, I would be against taking that much time off and doing nothing, but decided to change the second part of "doing nothing" and head to San Diego. Although for the 5th time (or maybe more?), I still enjoy the variety of activities there, nature and meeting new people.

This time I rented an AirBnb for 8 nights and headed to SD with my cat. The accommodations turned out to be pretty good, and the travel day I spent in my cottage just hanging out. I decided to go to the beach since I miss it so much living in Fresno. Ocean Beach is one of those places where it is not as crazy as Pacific Beach, but not as fancy as La Jolla. On Christmas Eve, I found a bunch of people on the beach surfing, taking a walk or... burning a Christmas tree...

It was a bit on a cooler side, so I spent half an hour enjoying the waves (and people burning Christmas trees).

Alum Rock Park - San Jose, CA

Right before Christmas week I decided to do another hike in San Jose organized by a Meetup group. With only 25 people attending, I thought it would be a nice way to complete this year's San Jose journey. Alum Rock Park only has 13 miles of hiking trails, and we were planning to hike a bit over half of them. We hiked both North and South Rim Trails to equal a bit over 7 miles with 1,200 ft elevation gain. There is quite a bit of shade, but some exposed areas as well, so I would recommend dressing in layers in the winter.

Parking is $6 (you can pay either at the entrance or at the parking lot), although there are two lots that are free. Apparently, you could see a mountain lion, but I was not that lucky. Lots of prey birds, smaller animals and deer. Drive slowly!