Typical trips to Southern California are made through the dreaded CA-152 and deathly boring I-5 stretch via desolate farm country. For this trip to San Diego we decided to take the leisurely King's Road - El Camino Real - or Highway 101 for the most substantial chunk of the journey. For anyone with an extra hour of time on their hands, I would heartily recommend taking 101 all the way to Los Angeles, as a much prettier alternative to I-5. Not only do you graze all the important Missions of California, you also get to stop along some really interesting towns along the way, such as the spoilt and sun-drenched Pismo Beach, and the tourist-trap Danish villa of Solvang.

Solvang, California Solvang belongs to the class of sugar-coated, extra-sweetened tourist-trap towns I call the Disneyland towns. A prime example of such a town is Rothenburg od der Tauber along the Romantic Road in Germany. Solvang claims to be a Danish village, but shops sell everything that has a Northern European flavor - ranging from Dutch clods to German Black Forest cuckoo clocks. It is nevertheless a charming town, and you can satisfy yourself with delicious baked goods and a scrumptious dinner after a long drive from Northern California.

San Diego, California Our first trip to San Diego was part of a long winded journey through modern Southern California icons - such as Universal Studios, Disneyland, and of course the San Diego Wild Animal Park. We couldn't do much sightseeing on that trip other than those of sleeping cheetahs and hiding mountain goats. Our next trip, in October 2005 was for a conference in computer networking where Rachna was presenting. Needless to say, I was left babysitting Anika, and was completely at her mercy and timetable. As luck would have it, a rare storm and heavy rains pounded Southern California during the 4 days that we were there. Nevertheless, we did end up probing some of the sights that this truly enchanting city has to offer.

Mission San Diego

Established in 1769, by Father Junipero Serra, the Mission San Diego is one of the older structures of Western United States. It is the first mission established in California, out of the 21 missions that were erected from San Diego to San Francisco along the historic El Camino Real (which still exists today in stretches as highway 101, Monterey Highway, and El Camino Real).

Coronado Island

Rising unnervingly high above the San Diego bay, the Coronado Island bridge takes you to the other side of San Diego for a panoramic view of the downtown skyline. Various parks along the shore provide varying angles of view of downtown San Diego, the Naval bases, and the cruise ships waiting to whisk you to Mexico.

Old Town, San Diego

Just minutes away from the Hotel Circle in the Mission area is Old Town San Diego. Its a state historic park, preserving the original settlement of San Diego, before the United States took over the state of California, and hence, the development of the new town (current downtown) of San Diego.

Balboa Park, San Diego

A parallel to Golden Gate park in San Francisco, Balboa Park is a vast, open stretch right in the middle of the city, and is a host to most of San Diego's museums and the San Diego Zoo. Balboa, though, hands down beats Golden Gate park in terms of architecture. Though we could only cover the place at night, Balboa impressed us immensely, and reminded us of the architecture back home in India.