Who lives in San Diego?

[jukief]

My husband got laid off last week (HUGE shock to us; we thought his job was secure). Fortunately, he has some pretty highly sought-after skills, so we know he'll find another job, but it looks like we're going to have to move. Not many jobs in our neck of the woods.

He's interviewing this week with a company in San Diego. I've always wanted to live there, so I'm pretty psyched. I'm just wondering what the riding is like down there. I know there will be a lot of traffic to deal with, but once you get out of town, what are the local rides like? How difficult is it to ride down into Mexico, and is that something a person would want to do?

Thanks in advance for the info!

[MFolks]

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.

[Spok]

SDBRit lives in the area, he seemed to have no problem finding decent areas to ride.

[wmlkaw]

Julie,
You'd love it. period. Brenda and I want to know when you'll be here.....

[ispeed77]

dangit, now i have to ride even further every year

[PainlessWolf]

Wow, Jukief, that's weird news! What Company did he work for that let him go? You know Colorado will be a poorer State for not having you here. Good Luck with the Interview.
Painless Black Wolf
...Here for the Dawn...

2005 Drifter 800

[RichLockyer]

+1... some of the best twisties in California are within 100 miles of SD... and if you like dirt, you're just over the hill from Ocotillo Wells SRVA and Glamis... but it's a TOTALLY different kind of riding than the woods.

Mexico? Dunno if I'd be riding down there. Erring on the side of safety, I'll believe the stories I'm hearing out of there... tourists are generally okay when in the tourist areas, but I wouldn't do any kind of travel out of those immediate areas.

Where to live is a tough call. The people of San Diego County don't like taxes, so they keep voting down tax increases that would pay for a County fire department... they rely on CalFire and local agencies... and that's what has cost 50,000 homes over the past 4 years. Don't try to find something in an area that reminds you of Colorado... you won't be able to get fire insurance.

Traffic is bad, but not as bad as LA. I can leave Chino for a job in Chula Vista and it takes me less time to make the trip than it does to get to Santa Monica (120 miles vs 50 miles).

Near the coast... Carlsbad, Encinitas, Solana Beach, LaJolla... it's very nice with very mild weather... the kind of place that you might need to run the air conditioner 2 weeks out of the year, and run the heater 2 months.
Once you move inland... El Cajon, Escondido, San Marcos, Poway, Santee... temperatures start climbing rapidly and it gets into the 90s and 100s for extended periods in the summer. The worst part is the mountains along the coast tend to block the sea breezes, so even when it's only 80, it can be pretty durn miserable if there's any humidity.

Try to stay clear of National City, Lemon Grove, Imperial Beach. They're not unlike parts of Denver near Stapleton.

[SilverEagle]

I second that traffic is BAD in San Diego.........but downtown is REALLY nice......almost has a little European metropolitan feel to it with it's active night life and nice climate. I was there on vacation in August and stayed with my brother in law in Chula Vista.

[sdbrit68]

oceanside is very reasonable to live.........my mom commutes from there to sandiego all the time


hmmmmmmm...............I am thinking jukief needs to meet the LCR

( insert evil denomic laugh here)

[skewterdewd]

If you visit this time of year, you'll never want to leave.

I lived there for many years. It's a fantastic city. Most of the good riding is in the north/eastern parts of the county, where it's a mix of burbs, ranchettes, and alpine/desert vistas. Pretty, but also really really busy. It's very hard to ride anywhere without biting off big chunks-o-slab. There is very little driving on surface streets there- you just can't get anywhere like that.

North County between Del Mar and Carlsbad are still some of my favorite places, and PCH/101 rolls right through them, right next to the big blue ocean and some of the finest beaches in the US.

Coastal temps are mostly cool. Inland it gets blinkitty-blink hot in summer.

Mexico? Very questionable at the moment. Drug-related nonsense on the Mexican side has made travel south from TJ highly suspect. (There was just a huge shootout in TJ this weekend?) Further down it might be safer, but the Frontera is a bit like the wild west @ the moment.


Also, I mention this because It might be important to you- The restaurant scene in San Diego is downright pitiful for a city of that size! Be prepared to do a lot of work sussing out good places to go, only to have them disappear overnight. But there hidden gems too. There are worse problems to have.....

Check out the reader for all things SD.

San Diego Reader | San Diego's Guide to local events, music, restaurants, news and more!

[RichLockyer]

Originally Posted by skewterdewd

Most of the good riding is in the north/eastern parts of the county

Trying, but I can't resist pointing out that this is probably because anything west/south is under water

It looks kinda like this:

[skewterdewd]

Oh also, SD puts you in striking distance of LA, Palm Springs, Vegas, Scottsdale, San Francisco, the wine country, Tahoe, Carmel, Big Sur, Shasta, and with a bit more effort, Oregon. You can come visit here in the summer when it's WTF hot in SD.... If you move, expect visitors.

[RichLockyer]

Originally Posted by sdbrit68

hmmmmmmm...............I am thinking jukief needs to meet the LCR
( insert evil denomic laugh here)

LOL!

She'd love them.

[sdbrit68]

Originally Posted by RichLockyer

LOL!

She'd love them.

she and hubby would never be the same again

[Jake '53]

dammit. Not the way to start the holidays. I was looking at a job in SD, maybe 3-1/2 years ago. Housing prices were pretty bad, would have been looking at a 60-80 mile commute.

[jukief]

Thanks for all the input, guys. I've always wanted to live in that part of the country, so I'm hoping this job comes through. The company is also one that Alan would really like to work for, so it's a win-win situation.

We know the cost of living is going to be high there, but I've been wanting to scale back and simply our way of life for a while. We have a really big house with just two people in it. And way too much STUFF. It'll be nice to get rid of a lot of it. So as soon as we get home from our trip to Oregon, we're going to start clearing out the house. We know we'll be moving to a much smaller place.

I will definitely be hooking up with you guys when and if we get down there. At the very least, if we have an interview trip, maybe we can hook up for dinner with some of you.

Painless, he worked for National Semiconductor. He was the only lay-off in the Fort Collins office, although they laid off about 400 people companywide. Alan was the lead engineer in the Fort Collins power group, which produced the chips that made the most money for the company. It seems that they let him and some other lead engineers from Santa Clara go for no other reason than they were at the top of the pay scale. Very shortsighted, in our opinion. Alan had a vast amount of experience that will be hard to replace. But then that's also what makes him attractive to other companies.

[BigJohn]

Julie - that's rough news. I really hope that SD pans out for you two. I loved working down there. Had to commute a couple times a week from RC, but I was nice. There is some very nice riding west and north of town, once you get out of traffic and away from the denser populations.

[WeBeToyz]

San Diego is a really nice area - I lived in Santee and just loved it. As mentioned, lots of great roads for you to ride on, and a whole world of dirt bike riding is available. I especially love the CA susets from the coastal highway.

I wouldn't advise riding into Mexico. It's bad enough traveling by car into it. I recommend it for the experience, and I've camped throughout it, but I wouldn't do it on a motorcycle. Law enforcement is simply too unstable there, and sometimes it's whatever rules they decide on for that day - $$ amounts as well. Hard to explain - something you have to experience. It's difficult not to stop & kiss the pavement once you get back into U.S. soil...

[bennice]

Sorry to hear about the layoff, Julie. But like you said, Alan's got skills so he shouldn't have much trouble finding work. Sucks to hear that you guys are leaving CO though....you'll be missed!

[daemon]

Originally Posted by bennice

Sorry to hear about the layoff, Julie. But like you said, Alan's got skills so he shouldn't have much trouble finding work. Sucks to hear that you guys are leaving CO though....you'll be missed!

+100

damn it mum!!!

that blows