Toast-Worthy Travels

Known for many things, including the movie Anchorman, San Diego was the perfect destination for our 2025 Spring Break getaway.

Making the most of our time living in California is our top priority this year. With its many attractions like Legoland and the San Diego Zoo, we decided to make San Diego our week-long Spring Break destination. During the last full week in March, we loaded up the trailer and headed to America’s Finest City for some family fun, adventure, and relaxation.

When we can drive to a destination, we love taking our camping trailer and our doggos. I am a glamper, so on top of having a travel trailer, I like to make sure we stay at a clean campground with lots of amenities. Sun Outdoors has quickly become our campground brand of choice. Sun Outdoors San Diego Bay is conveniently located off of I-5, adjacent to the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge, and close to the ocean.

This newer campground offered tons of amenities, including a playground, pool, hot tubs, arcade, full bar, quick-service restaurant, and spacious sites with propane fire pits and chairs. We chose a corner lot, to give us a little more space, close to both dog parks. We spent our first full day at the campground enjoying the pool and riding our bikes around.

The San Diego Zoo was our favorite attraction on this vacation. We’re all animal lovers and we were excited to show our daughter the pandas. When we got to the zoo, we hoped on the double decker bus tour. It’s complimentary with zoo admission and we saw some really unique animal behaviors. The bus driver actually said a variation of “we rarely see this” a handful of times. Some highlights included seeing (and hearing) the male lion give a long series of roars and spotting the jaguar, who is rarely out in view.

The next day, we made our way to Legoland California. It was about a 45-minute drive from the campground. It was an overcast day, but we still had a blast building LEGO creations, enjoying rides, and admiring all the fun LEGO statues. This is such a great park for the little creators in your life (perfect for those 4-9 years old). One of my favorite features of Legoland is the multiple GIANT playgrounds located throughout the park. If you’ve ever traveled with little ones, you know they ALWAYS have energy to burn – no matter how many rides or entertainment options you offer. The highlight for my husband & daughter was the swords & shields they bought. Many epic battles have been fought since.

On our fourth full day, we decided to go explore Coronado Island. Instead of driving, we hitched up the bike trailer, hopped on our e-bikes, and took the 24-mile Bayshore Bikeway. And BOY, what an adventure we had! On our way to the island we discovered Novo Brazil Brewing – right on the bike trail! We stopped for a quick pint while our daughter played on the playground. Then we continued on. We biked past miles of beautiful beach and through the streets of Coronado until we reached our destination: Coronado Brewing Company.

We enjoyed a late lunch and some yummy beer, resting our legs for the return journey. We made the (maybe not-so-wise) decision to do the full 24-mile loop, instead of turning around on Coronado. After lunch, we bought our tickets and loaded up the bikes on the ferry to downtown San Diego (and by ferry, I mean large passenger boat). We unloaded right as the Padres game let out, so we had to navigate around some crowds and traffic. Once we were out of downtown, we were back on the bike path portion of the trail – but in the not-so-nice part of town.

I had read the full description of the Bayshore Bikeway before we left, so color me SURPRISED when we reached a pedestrian bridge with no ramp and no way around. Big shout out to my husband for carrying our 60+ pound e-bikes up and over while I wrangled the toddler – who was, of course, picking up broken glass – and the bike trailer. LOL. Eventually, the path loops back to the wildlife preserve and our campground. It ended up being a nearly full-day excursion, and while we’d definitely do it differently next time, but we’re glad we went for it.

Our last full day in San Diego was spent at *whispers* SeaWorld. Prior to this, my only experiences with SeaWorld were visiting the Ohio location (yes, Ohio) when I was around 4 years old and watching the documentary Black Fish on repeat in my 20s. We decided to give it a try since we got free military tickets. I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised, especially after they announced the end to their orca breeding program a few years ago.

However…SeaWorld was what I feared. Not well taken care of, animals in small enclosures, and some not-so-friendly staff. The one thing they do get right? Their tasting pass for the food and wine festival – even though a few of the booths were closed. But the wine? Good and plentiful.

While SeaWorld left us in our “save the whales” era, we give San Diego a huge CHEERS. It makes a great family vacation destination with so much to offer (we hardly scratched the surface), and it can easily be added on to your next Disneyland trip. We made lasting memories and hope to visit San Diego again in the future.

So, raise your glass to San Diego – and stay classy!

Ready for your next SoCal adventure? Email me today: s.kemp@cruiseplanners.com