We came to San Diego along the railway line, having hugged the coast for more than 2 hours, each new vista bring a new sight: mountain bikers, RVs, even a few marine helicopters when we went past the base. And for the whole trip, so close that you could almost touch it, the Pacific Ocean sparkled next to our train tracks.
I didn’t know what to expect in San Diego. It doesn’t have the same cachet as Los Angeles or San Francisco. I knew little about it before I arrived, and when we got there, I realised what a failing that was. I felt like I had discovered a little part of California that was still… pure. I’m not even sure what that means in the context of travel and USA, but I knew straight away that I liked the place. It didn’t hurt that the whole place was drenched in sunshine as we arrived, and the first place we stumbled into was a bar that had a wide selection of beers on tap. After the crush of San Francisco and the traffic of LA, San Diego felt like an oasis of calm.
And they had their priorities straight. As we explored the city, we found the beaches and the city centre, and then we found the Gaslamp Quarter. Sure, it was probably a tourist trap, but it was a good one: any place that has shuffleboard and craft beers and is named the Tipsy Crow is good enough for me. Everybody we met was unfailingly polite, helpful, hard working, ready to leap to our aid.