The roads to the Hale observatory on Palomar Mountain, the twisty roads on Highway 94 from El Cajon to the east, Sunrise highway in the Laguna Mountains, Highway 67 to Ramona and out to Julian(stop at Dudley's bakery in Santa Ysabel for refreshments & bread) are but a few places I've been on while i lived in the San Diego area. Ride out to Point Loma some day and see the beauty of the city. Scripps Aquarium is slighty north of San Diego in La Jolla and Sea World is located in the west Mission Bay area.
San Diego is a very beautiful city to live in and has many parks including the Zoo at Balboa Park and the Wild Animal Park near Escondido.
The downtown has a busy nightlife with the Gaslamp quarter and it's micro- breweries.
I used to live in San Diego ubtil 5 years ago when my wife retired from the U.S. Post Office after 33 years. We could not afford our mortgage on her retirement pay and moved here to Springfield Mo. I used to work in Aerospace at General Dynamics/Convair until the cold war ended and the contracts ended.
General Atomics makes the Predator and Reaper UAV in northern San Diego County and Qualcom is there also making Cell Phones. A lot of other companies are there. Far too many to mention here.
Most of the high tech companies are in the Sorrento Valley area between Interstate 5 and 805 and more are moving north to Del Mar and even Oceanside.
SignOnSanDiego.com | The San Diego Union-Tribune | San Diego news, California and national news is the website for the San Diego Union newspaper to see what San Diego has for news and current events.
As for going into Mexico I'd strongly advise against it! In Tijuana several drug gangs are fighting between themselves and the Mexican Army and daily shootings and beheadings take place down there. No tourist's have been harmed yet, but kidnappings for ransom are hitting Tijuana's business leaders to finance drug activity.
If your computer has the capability use Google Earth for a view of San Diego and get a feel for the city. You'd be surprised at the numder of canyons seen from space.
Hope this has helped about living in San Diego, If your Husband gets the job there and the housing market being what it is now, you should have your pick of where to live.