Ep. 32 - San Diego, USA
Welcome to the Golden State. Episode 32 is an adventure to the sunny and temperate San Diego, yet another town with a unique story, great food, and tons of fun things to do! You won’t want to miss this 5 minute escape.
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Transcription:
*Intro music*
Hello and welcome to another episode of The Friday Take Five, the best five minute podcast for history and adventure lovers. I’m Mark Moran, the host of the show, and every episode, we discover a new destination and a new story. I do my best to help you relive awesome travel memories, or give you the inspiration to book your next trip. It’s time to adventure to another great city, so let’s discover… Destination 32.
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Numero 32 takes us to yet another awesome American city, San Diego, California. It’s been years since I’ve been, but the impending freezing winter of the Northern US has me itching to get back. As I record this episode, I feel the chill of the breeze sneaking in through an open window in my house. I have google flights open in another tab to see if we can make a fall getaway a possibility. I’m trying to do everything I can to get out of this northern US hellscape… I’m joking, but if you couldn’t tell already, I love me some warmth. San Diego, near the southern tip of California, is temperate year round, meaning temps in the 60s-70s F, or upper teens to mid 20s C. Significantly better than the -17 F or -27 C we had last year where I live.
Along with those great temps come some other great benefits. Take the beaches for example. Trip Advisor ranks San Diego’s Coronado Beach and La Jolla cove both within the top 10 best beaches in the US for 2023. Along with having a great beach, the La Jolla community is also a great spot to catch sea lions sunning themselves. I fondly remember La Jolla being the first place I saw a sea lion. I can vouch for the fact that they’re freaking adorable. While in San Diego, definitely get out to La Jolla.
Another worthwhile visit while in San Diego is a stop in Balboa Park. Balboa Park is a massive park celebrating history, culture, and everything in between. Made possible once again by the incredible weather of San Diego, the park contains: historic buildings, museums, theaters, vegetation, gardens, the San Diego Zoo, a botanical building, and more! It’s easy to say you could spend the whole day, or two, or three, in Balboa Park, which is exactly what we did the last time we were there.
More than just the beaches and attractions, San Diego also has incredible food. Being so close to Mexico, San Diego cuisine is often influenced by the great food of our neighbor to the South. I fondly recall awesome street tacos that years later still make my mouth water. San Diego has great street foods, sure, but it also has some of the fanciest of the fancy as well. Boasting 4 Michelin star restaurants of varying influences, this city has all kinds of food that can likely make anyone’s stomach happy.
Of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t touch on the unique history of this incredible city as well.
The first residents of the area were the people of the La Jolla Complex, a coastal community living up and down California and the Baja California to the south who resided in the area for roughly 9,000 years until the Kumeyaay people migrated into the area from the East.
A few hundred years later, the Spaniard Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo landed and told Spanish leaders what a great colony the place would make. They didn’t believe him and would wait another 170 or so years before making the decision to ultimately colonize the area.
Fast forward after colonization and before long, the Spanish were ousted in the war for Mexican Independence, only to have ownership of the area change again into the hands of the US with the conclusion of the Mexican American war.
The Americans, however, didn’t really have control of the area either. They tried levying a land tax on the Kumeyaay people of the area in USD, which is a currency they had never used before. And after threatening confiscation of land for unpaid taxes, the Kumeyaay people revolted. However, it wasn’t long before the rebellion was put down, and the Americans took complete control.
The Americans won, but for quite some time San Diego lived on as a defunct town. Poor investments led to its temporary disincorporation, but they ultimately recovered and took off by moving the heart of the town from its location miles inland, from what is now Old Town San Diego, closer to the Ocean. A real estate boom then took off, and the town began transforming.
Finally, throughout the 1900s, the city began growing into what it is today. Military installations, universities, and its location as a coastal city have led to San Diego becoming an increasingly multicultural melting pot and the 8th largest city in the US. It’s a hub for tourism and a fantastic destination for travel year round. San Diego is most definitely one of my top 10 US cities. Make sure if you haven’t already that you’re getting this fantastic destination on your travel bucket list.
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Hey there! Thanks for listening to another episode of The Friday Take Five. If you haven’t already, be sure to give us a 5 star rating on podcasting platforms, and share this episode with a friend. Have your own stories about San Diego, feedback or recommendations on places / stories for us to cover? We’d love to hear it so follow us and DM us on socials @FridayTakeFive or email us at thefridaytakefive@gmail.com. Stay curious, stay adventuring, and have a great weekend!
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