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| Cil Quote | Reply | This message was updated on 2/12/2005 6:33:55 AM by Cil | SoCal Reunion--help please posted on: 2/11/2005 4:21:55 PM Okay, the reunion is a long ways away (late July '06) but I figure I'll start this thread now and periodically return to it as needed. I barely know the area and I have relatives out there but just sort of want to have a hand in the planning. My brothers and I want, landlocked as we are, to be in a place with a nice swim beach. 21 of us will be there, but more than half of us already live in California, either north, south or central. We are talking about renting a couple beach houses over a long weekend. But my experience with renting houses is that quite often it is only done from Saturday to Saturday. Anyway, these (in no particular order)are the spots we are looking at: San Diego area in general Encinitas La Jolla Coronado and something with Ocean in it: Oceanside, Ocean Beach? |
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¡Ño!
Wendylicious Quote | Reply | |
SoCal Reunion--help please
replied on: 2/11/2005 4:59:16 PM are you dead set on San Diego? I think Orange County beaches are much nicer. |
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Madchen
Quote | Reply | This message was updated on 2/11/2005 5:54:04 PM by Madchen |
SoCal Reunion--help please
replied on: 2/11/2005 5:01:23 PM San Diego is fly. Here's our City Guide on it: http://www.alaskaair.com/www2/Destinations/munged_qs/destination.asp(city+san) I'll look in my copy of Best Places San Diego and let you know if I find any good info on beach rentals. K, Best Places talks about these: * Glorietta Bay Inn (2 star) * www.hoteldel.com (3.5 star) * Loews Coronado Bay Resort (4 star) * Best Western Island Palms Hotel & Marina (6-person suites w/full kitchens; 1 star) * www.shelterpointe.com (3 stars) * Bahia Resort Hotel long Mission Bay (good for family reunions; 2 star) * Paradise Point Resort (www.paradisepoint.com; 2.5 stars--lots to do , right near beach) * San Diego Hilton Beach & Tennis Resort (2 star) more to come ... |
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drewmeister_sd
Quote | Reply | This message was updated on 2/11/2005 6:02:07 PM by drewmeister_sd |
SoCal Reunion--help please
replied on: 2/11/2005 5:36:43 PM LOL, I live on the edge of Ocean Beach. It is quite the counter-culture spot. The beach is just OK, though. Usually kind of dirty. Coronado, South Mission Beach, Mission Beach (north of the Crystal Pier, especially around Law St), Windansea Beach (and the LJ beaches around there, especially Marine Street), La Jolla Shores, Torrey Pines Beach, and all of the beaches north of Torrey Pines are nice. Windansea and Marine street look like beaches in Hawaii, but with cold water. You'd have to be more specific regarding the type of atmosphere you are interested in for me to really recommend an area. Criteria I'm thinking of- Do you want stay in a quiet residential, or more busy area? Close by, or within walking distance to nightlife? What kind of beach- nice gentle water or decent waves? Bear in mind that you are looking to book in the most busy time of the year. It would be awesome to stay right around windansea beach, but you'd probably have to spend a couple grand a week. Torrey Pines beach is among my favorites, but there aren't any hotels or houses close by, other than the Torrey Pines Hilton on the cliff above. Personally, when I take my kids to the beach I take them to La Jolla Shores (no booze, family oriented with usually small waves in the summer) or Coronado. Send me an Email by adding "atyahoo.com" to my name and I'd be happy to provide more feedback. Maybe you can do some research on VRBO.com to get more rental ideas. I couldn't resist and checked out VRBO. This pad on the bayside of Mission Bay would really be nice. It is much, much quieter on the bayside and the beach is just a quick walk. I ride my bike around this area all the time. The traffic does suck on the weekend, though, getting in or out. http://www.vrbo.com/16461 |
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Cil
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SoCal Reunion--help please
replied on: 2/12/2005 6:59:02 AM Thanks for the feedback and links guys! Mission Bay sounds really familiar, I think my brother took his family there once. Have heard good things about Coronado. I remember the cold water. Didn't use to bother me but I'm older now. My brothers usually like the waves but they're older now too. Bayside would probably be fine. In terms of what kind of atmosphere we need, that's kind of tough because assuming there are no new babies and my older kid can take part, the kids' ages will range from 11 to 23. Quiet/residential sounds preferable. There was plenty of in-house partying at the last reunion (Laguna Beach.) After a year in France, that might be enough for our kid. Yeah I realize it is high season--this can't be helped. (I notice that Mission Bay place is already booked for the second to last week in July '05.) We'll have to look and look and figure out what we are willing to pay and how nice a location we can get. We are an independent bunch but we have plenty of time to reach a consensus. Thanks again! |
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Cil
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SoCal Reunion--help please
replied on: 2/12/2005 7:35:21 AM Maddy I looked at Bahia and Paradise and both looked *really* nice. The Paradise site didn't work for rates, but the Bahia did, and it was in the neighborhood of $200 a night per room, which wouldn't be so bad for just spouse and me, but we'll (hopefully) have both the boys. It's worth looking into seeing if we could get a special reunion package. |
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drewmeister_sd
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SoCal Reunion--help please
replied on: 2/12/2005 2:49:31 PM For $200 per night I think you'd be bette off renting a condo or house. When I was a kid, the clan rented a condo on the ocean side of mission beach. I remember it well, including watching a couple of guys steal our beach chairs while my Dad chewed out one of my brothers. Good times! Everyone had an awesome time, despite that incident. The weekends are a bit sketchy though. There is a bad gang problem at the south mission beach parking lot on weekends, especially sunday afternoons. A lot of gang bangers and wannabees clog up the boardwalk from the roller coaster to south mission beach and generally cause problems. Gotta be careful down there. There are a lot of fights and occasional shootings. The parking lot south of the coaster should be avoided late at night. There are a lot of fights there, usually alcohol fueled. The bayside is much, much mellower. It is nice and quiet and you can crawl to a couple of bars (pennant and beach comber) and walk to one of my favorite nightclubs (Caines) that has live music nearly every night. Additionally, You would be close to The Coaster Saloon, rated by Maxim mag as one of the US's best dive bars. I agree with that! |
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Cil
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SoCal Reunion--help please
replied on: 2/12/2005 3:10:39 PM Yikes I like funky but I don't like gang action, wannabe or not. Regardless I agree that renting a condo or house would probably be more cost effective, but I wish it wasn't high season. My uncle just emailed with a caveat about the fact that the Del Mar Racetrack opens around July 20; he thinks that prices (and possibly availability) might be more worriesome than ever, at least from La Jolla to Carlsbad. He suggests Coronado. The further south we go, the more I wonder if the older kid will want to wander down to Mexico, then spend the night and wake up with a splitting headache and a tattoo.  |
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Cil
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SoCal Reunion--help please
replied on: 2/12/2005 3:17:29 PM quote: PCH We stayed in this area for the last reunion (Laguna Beach) and I guess everyone wanted a new spot this time. The beaches are really nice, I agree. |
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¡Ño!
Wendylicious Quote | Reply | This message was updated on 2/12/2005 5:26:59 PM by ¡Ño! |
SoCal Reunion--help please
replied on: 2/12/2005 4:18:46 PM quote: you say that like it's a bad thing |
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drewmeister_sd
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SoCal Reunion--help please
replied on: 2/12/2005 4:54:20 PM Your uncle is right. The Del Mar Fair ends on the 4th or 5th and the horse race season starts a couple of weeks after that. Everything nearby is more pricey than usual and in demand. The bayside is quite quiet. The gang bangers are usually only in the south mission beach parking lot Sat and Sun afternoons and strutting on the ocean side up to the coaster. Oh yeah- I wouldn't recommend Oceanside. It is kind of run down, and while there is usually good waves, I don't particularly care for the beach. I just stumbled across this website, which looks very useful: www.entersandiego.com |
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Cil
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SoCal Reunion--help please
replied on: 2/12/2005 7:05:21 PM thanks for the website, Drew. I bookmarked it. Will look into the bayside more. Is the coaster any good? It would be fun to go on a scary coaster. PCH--gee, thanks 
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drewmeister_sd
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SoCal Reunion--help please
replied on: 2/12/2005 7:18:18 PM That website has some good information, but some misleading stuff as well. A quick look at microbreweries included regular bars that aren't breweries. Ticky Tacky, but inaccurate nonetheless. The mexican restaurant list was OK. Try these out as well: signonsandiego.com and sandiegoreader.com Yes, that roller coaster is quite rickety and scary. It is almost 80 years old. http://www.giantdipper.com/history.html |
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Cil
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SoCal Reunion--help please
replied on: 4/17/2005 3:34:15 PM Hey Drew and whoever Am still plugging away. Two things: 1 All rentals that I can see are strictly Saturday to Saturday during high season, and nothing is below two grand. There are occasional last minute specials but we can't try to take advantage of that for a family reunion. We can't get the clan together for an entire week. There are already grumblings that certain people won't show up at all. So we are looking at three days. I would like to ditch the weekend idea and go in the middle of the week. That could save a few bucks. I am hoping that the people who already live out there will (harumph) see things my way.The Dana looks nice and the cheaper rooms aren't too expensive for that time of year. Does that location look okay? 2 Have barely discussed this with the husband, but I was thinking about some kind of side trip *before* the reunion--it's ridiculous to fly 3-4 people out to CA for 3 days. Was thinking about Mexico. Not sure about flying/driving arrangements. |
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drewmeister_sd
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SoCal Reunion--help please
replied on: 4/18/2005 10:55:52 PM Yep, the better rentals are all one week. The ones that are right on the boardwalk (on mission beach) usually rent out a year in advance. Those darn Zonies (people from Arizona) literally take over the place. Have you considered places around Windansea and Marine Street in La Jolla? These are awesome beaches. Kind of like Hawaii with very cold water. Although I haven't stayed at that hotel (nor know anyone who has ever stayed there), I'm quite familiar with it. I've ridden my bikes past, through, and around it about a 500 times. No kidding. It is on my preferred bike route. The place was expanded within the last year. There was a big labor dispute, and they had an armed security guard there 7/24 for the longest time sitting in the shade doing nothing. I clicked on the links, and I wasn't surprised that the map and attractions didn't include mileage. I'll be riding past in Wed (weather permitting) and I'll bet that it is at least a mile to the beach. Plus, the closest beach via West Mission Bay Drive gets a bit skanky. It does have the roller coaster and one of the best dive bars (Coaster Saloon) as rated by Maxim last year. You really shouldn't swim in the bay, and really can't anyway at that place. The pool area is nice. Other than renting kayaks, boats or wave runners, and going boating there really isn't much in the immediate area. What about the Hyatt (across W Mission Bay Drive) or the Bahia (much closer to the beach) or Better yet, the Catamaran? What about the Capri by the sea in PB? I think it is a condo complex, but it is on a bluff over a mellow beach (close by Law Street, an excellent beach). There is another place close by the Capri with a great pool, that I'll get the name of this week. It shouldn't cost too much to fly here on United! |
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Cil
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SoCal Reunion--help please
replied on: 4/19/2005 9:00:38 PM Thanks for the input Drew! Yeah I know we can't swim in the marina, we'd have to go a ways to the beach. But the pool looks so nice. Have read mixed reviews of Catamaran and Hyatt but nothing is for sure yet of course. We certainly have not ruled out La Jolla. quote:This is intriguing! |
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