I am coming to San Diego this week. I have a fill in Mexico. I decided to bring the family and make it a vacation. We want to go snowboarding...do some shopping and maybe an amusement park type thing.

My questions are this:

Where is the nearest snowboarding place?? Can we rent the equipment we need when we get there??

Is there anything within a couple hours of San Diego that is a "don't miss" activity???

My daughter wants to shop at "Forever 21"...is there one in the San Diego area???

Thank you for helping me with this!

Dana

I don't live in SD now but I was born & raised there, and try to get back at least once a year. I'll do by best to help you out.

When I lived there and we wanted snow we would head to Big Bear, Tahoe, Mammoth, or Shasta. I believe all are open to snowboarding and ahve several terrain tracks. There are actually LOTS of ski places in CA, but you won't find much skiing in San Diego proper -- the farthest south to find skiing would be San Bernadino & San Gabriel mountains... most skiiers head to Tahoe or farther into the Shasta area. Here is a site with more info.

"Don't miss activity" depends... who will be there, what are their ages, etc. They have the best zoo, and it's in Balboa which I personally would consider the whole area a must-see. Balboa Park is beautiful (I was born at Balboa hospital!), and has lots of museums & activities, especially on the weekend. Here is more info ob the Balboa area. If you want a relaxing day, and one a little removed from tourists (but very busy nonetheless) I would suggest Seaport Village. There's a small outcropping known locally as the best place to picnic & fly a kite. The backdrop for the whole area is the Coronado bridge, and across the bay is the Coronado (home to a naval ship base, the Hotel del Cornodao, and some very nice beaches). There are some great brunch harbor cruises). Here's more info about Seaport Village[/url]. Another huge hit, especially with out of towners, are the Sea World and SD Wild Animal Park (actually in Escondido, and HUGE, over 1800 acres). If you want fun, ecclectic shopping take the drive up to Laguna Beach - HUGE arts/crafts area, and a beautiful beach. Old Town is just hands-down a great/fun area, lots of things to walk around & see (and home of the Whaley House - your kids might get a kick out of that, depending on their ages). La Jolla is a great beach and a beautiful place to spend an afternoon, and if you're there make sure to see Mount Soledad - one of the best views of the city... and something virtually no tourists know about, but we used to take field trips there in school & I still go back is Shell Cave. It's part of a little store, and for a very little fee (I think it's like $3) you can walk down this looong tunnel (a cliffside cave) in stairs, neat to explore w/ the small cave offshoots & such, but at the bottom is a downright amazing view of the ocean from just inside the mouth of the cave. Beautiful sightseeing.

As for shopping, I'd say you could pretty much stick to two malls, Fashion Valley (great for high-end stores) and Horton Plaza (fun, zany, good selection of stores). I always like UTC (University Towne Center) b/c it's less touristy. (According to the Forever21 website store locator, there are stores at both Fashion Valley & UTC).

Hope this helps. Feel free to post or PM if you have other questions. :confused: