Question for San Diego area DG'ers

I'm going to be attending a conference in SD in December and was thinking of renting a house near the beach instead of staying in the boring hotel. I've found a few places in Solana Beach that look interesting plus they're near the beach and I can afford them, but I was wondering what traffic would be like between there and the Mission Bay area where the conference is during rush hour. There were some other places closer to Mission Bay that I didn't like quite as well, but if your traffic is as ridiculous as ours I might consider them instead!

Traffic is probably worse than yours! Since we're always there in the daytime, I'm not sure about whether or not the train blasts it's whistle at night as it comes roaring through, but you might want to find out about that and even if it doesn't, you might want to be sure you aren't getting a place next to the tracks.
Sherry

Thanks--hadn't gotten far enough to think about RR tracks and things like that, will definitely check on that before I decide on a place. Any guesses how long it would take to get from Solano Beach to Mission Bay during rush hour? Mapquest says it's about 20 min (that's without traffic of course!)

Maybe someone who has to make that trek will have some info, we don't head toward San Diego at all during commute times. Down here just as where you are, "timing is everything"
Sherry.

Depends on what time of day you go.. 20 minutes would be accurate if you drove in the middle of the night or middle of the day... but in the rush hours, or on a weekend (almost worse) that drive could take you nearly twice as long. San Diego is developing LA-like traffic, but with highways designed for a lot less people... so bumper to bumper traffic is very common.

Another problem, if I remember correctly, is that there's only one alternate route between Solana Beach and Mission Bay - old Hwy 101/Torrey Pines Road, just to the west of I-5. Once you get stuck in traffic, you're STUCK!

Marilyn

yeah, only two options, neither one good. once you're stuck, you're stuck. My strategy for going anywhere on the freeway is to plan ahead for off ramps to bail if necessary.
Sherry

Thanks for the input everyone...I think maybe I'll try to find something just a bit closer to Mission Bay!

That may save you some grief. Will you have time to hit some of the local nurseries? That's usually real big on my agenda. If you have time to drive down rather than fly, you could load up on the way home.......just a thought, hmmm?

I am driving because I'm bringing my dog with me, so of course I am going to try and hit a few nurseries! Although I'll have to restrain myself because my car is pretty small and the dog and my luggage will already be taking up most of the room! Let me know if there are any places I should make sure not to miss!

ecrane3,
Well, if you're going home via I-15 to the 210 to miss L.A.'s worst traffic, you could stop at Buena Creek Gardens (my favorite),it's about 4-5 miles off the 15, then hit Tropic World and Plant World, they straddle the 15 across from each other (just where you come back to the 15 from Buena Creek Gardens) These are north of Escondido. You've got Cedros Gardens on Cedros in Solana Beach, Anderson's on La Costa if you're going back up Coast Hwy or I-5. Some nice shops on Cedros in Solana Beach to poke through also. Then on up Coast Hwy, or I-5, to San Juan Capristano to Plant Depot. Our usual way in and out of L.A. anymore is usually (coming down), the 5 to the 210 east to the 15 south. If I'm coming or going at 3 in the a.m., then I'll cut up (or down) I-5. More and more I do leave about that time in the a.m. if I'm cutting through L.A. Buena Creek has wonderful grounds, huge old trees, neat new hummer-butterfly garden full of salvias and other goodies ( you *know* you can squeeze some in!) Hope you have a good trip.
Sherry
Bummer! edited to say that I just checked Buena Creek's website and they're going to close Nov 27-Jan 4. Now that I've told you it's the greatest place in the world to go!!

This message was edited Nov 6, 2006 1:40 PM

There's a place in Old Town San Diego called The Plant Man (2615 Congress Street, San Diego, CA 92110 (619) 297-0077). Other than that, most of the best places for me are up in the Solana Beach/Oceanside/Vista area:

Armstrong Garden Centers, SD Area - http://www.armstronggarden.com/
Bird Rock Tropicals, Encinitas - http://www.birdrocktropicals.com/default.htm
Cactus King, Encinitas - http://www.cactuskingandsucculents.com/index.htm
Grigsby Cactus Gardens (LOTS more than cactus!), Vista - http://www.cactus-mall.com/grigsby/index.html
Kartuz Greenhouses - http://www.kartuz.com
Solana Succulents, Solana Beach - http://www.solanasucculents.com/pages1/succulentpg1.html

Here are a couple of places of botanical interest:

Balboa Park, San Diego - http://www.balboapark.org/
Quail Botanical Garden, Encinitas - http://www.qbgardens.org/

I know there are probably many more, including Tropic World Nursery in Escondido (which is a little far). Hopefully those who live in the area will have other recommendations.

You have to take your furkid to Dog Beach! Here's the link: http://www.dogbeachsandiego.org/ Here are a few others if you need them: http://www.ecoanimal.com/dogfun/ca/south.html#sd

Have fun while you're there!

Marilyn

This message was edited Nov 6, 2006 1:59 PM

ecrane3,
yes! You'd like Quail and it's just up Coast Hwy from Solana!

Thanks everyone! I'll have to see how many of these I can get to before I fill up every available inch of my car with plants! And I'll definitely check out the dog beach too!

Sorry I'm coming in late to this conversation...I just found the California board today! I've been hanging out on the Succulents and Hibiscus boards.

If it's succulents you're looking for and you're in the Central San Diego area, here's one of my favorite little nurseries -- Exotic Gardens. Great assortment and great prices too. Here's his website:

http://www.exoticgardens.biz/l1.html

The place is located not far from Mission Valley/I-8, just up Texas Street.


kim

PS: And I definitely recommend staying closer to Mission Bay rather than do the I-5 traffic during rush hour. You'll get stuck at the 5/805 merge forever.

Thanks! I do like succulents, but I'll probably be hitting mostly general-interest nurseries to see what I can find that I don't find at nurseries up here--because of things going on up here I'm not going to be able to stay as long as I'd hoped, I'm only going to have a day to shop after the conference is over so I have to make efficient use of my time!

I ended up finding a place in La Jolla to rent--I'm day boarding my dog at a place in LJ the days I'm at the conference, so I'd have to drive up there anyway and figured that I might as well stay there too! Hopefully traffic from there won't be too bad, but even if it is it's not the end of the world if I'm a half hour late or something.

LJ to Mission Bay should be fine. Definately a better choice to stay than Solana for traffic.

If you have time, you might want to try treating your dog to "Dog Beach", along Pacific Hwy west of the Del Mar racetrack.

Just to update everyone on my trip...the house I stayed at in La Jolla was great, it was up on a hill above the Village and had a great panoramic view of the ocean. Very relaxing! Too bad I mostly was only there at night! My dog enjoyed his stay at the Petsmart Pet Hotel the days I was at the conference--he even appeared to sort of enjoy the group playtime which surprised me because he usually won't play with other dogs. And of course we checked out the Dog Beach in SD, as well as one in Del Mar. He didn't have quite as much fun at the beaches, but I love the beach so I'm going to pretend he had fun too! And we strolled around La Jolla Cove every night for our evening walk (after 4 PM of course because dogs aren't allowed in the park area there before that) And of course I hit a couple of nurseries...went to Tropical World and Plant World in Escondido. Drooled over the GORGEOUS Cassia splendida at Trop. World, but unfortunately all they had were huge tall plants which were no way going to fit in my car, especially with the dog and the luggage! So I'm going to have to keep my eye out for this one! Picked up a gorgeous Grevillea thelemanniana at Plant World. Then of course I made a trip to Kartuz since they're one of my favorite mail order places, and got a great bunch of plants from there (and since they're all in small pots, they fit in the car no problem!) And I stopped by a place called Bentley Tropicals in Fallbrook--I had been looking for Cassia leptophylla and their website said they had it so I made the trip up there just for that. The prices there are super--I paid $2.00 for the Cassia in a 1 gal pot!!! I would have bought more, except for the issue of not having room in the car, plus things weren't really labelled (I think it's more of a wholesale place that happens to be open to the public), so I would have had to drag the owner around with me to confirm what everything was and I felt bad doing that since I would have really only been able to fit one or two more things in the car anyway (but she was really nice, so I'm sure she would have been happy to help me if I'd asked)!