FOR ACTIVISTS ENJOY THE 35 MILES OF CYCLING AND WALKING TRAILS OF THE SAN DIEGUITO RIVER VALLEY PARK, ON LAKE HODGES WIND SURF FISH OR KAYAK. REMARKABLE BIRD SPOTTING IN THIS NEWLY DESIGNATED “GLOBALLY IMPORTANT BIRD AREA.” VISIT THE WORLD FAMOUS WILD ANIMAL PARK JUST TWENTY MINUTES AWAY, OR SAN DIEGO’S JEWELS INCLUDING THE SAN DIEGO ZOO. PLUS: MANY NEARBY GOLF COURSES, AND SOME OF THE BEST BEACHES AND SURFING SPOTS IN THE WORLD. GREAT RESTRAUNTS IN THE AREA.

(Links open to a separate window)

Conveniently located in Southwest Escondido, nestled within the San Dieguito River Park overlooking Lake Hodges with its quiet beauty, water activities including windsurfing, kayaking, canoeing and sailing at the Lake Hodges Aquatic Center and fishing (the best bass fishing in southern California - we're told), from Lake Hodges RomanticAdventure you are only 10 minutes from the new California Center for the Arts, San Diego's Wild Animal Park (where the animals enjoy almost natural freedom), more than 50 golf courses, five superb fishing lakes including Lake Hodges, birdwatching, excellent hiking around the lake, or more vigorous hiking in the Elfin Forest Recreational Reserve, great cycling and mountain biking such as Elfin Forest, Daley ranch and Lake Hodges (photos from a cycle tour of Lake Hodges), local wineries, quiet parks and a pleasant outdoorHeritage Walk Museum. These are just a few of the many attractions you'll find only minutes from Lake Hodges RomanticAdventure.

(since San Diego is famous for its zoo - we hope you'll find zoonet an interesting website. Or ... if you're more interested in flora than fauna, you can find out about the Rare Plants of San Diego County, and see pictures of California's wildflowers)

From Lake Hodges RomanticAdventure, you are only 30 minutes from downtown San Diego with its Seaport Village, the Maritime Museum (where you can download a movie of the Star of India under sail; The Source page also provides detailed information and you can take Virtual Reality tours of both the Star of India and of Seaport Village at The Source's page), Mission Bay Park - home of Sea World and Belmont Park, the Gas Lamp District with it's fine dining - like Croce's, Old Town State Historic Park (where you'll find the Bazaar del Mundo), many theaters - both indoor and open air, numerous museums like the Firehouse Museum & other attractions. Shoppers and non-shoppers of either gender (trust me on that) and any age will delight in the not-to-be-missed Horton Plaza - you'll neither forget the experience nor ever adequately be able to describe it.

Perhaps the main downtown attraction is the best urban park in all the Americas, Balboa Park where you'll find the world famous San Diego Zoo, theaters (such as the Old Globe Theatre) and several museums (such as the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center, Aerospace Museum, Museum of Man, Model Railroad Museum (or if you prefer the real thing - a bit more of a drive takes you to the Museum Railroad, the San Diego Natural History Museum, Museum of Art, and many others) all within easy walking distance from each other. Among the many attractions of the park, you'll find the Japanese Friendship Garden, a wonderful variety of ferns. You might also enjoy, as I do, old postcards of the park as it was at the 1915 Panama-California Exposition (which was the true origin of Balboa park as we see it today) and a detailed history of the Exposition by local historian Richard Amero.

Before leaving downtown, we can't leave out the soul of San Diego: its water. San Diego has always been a sailing town, as you can tell from the number of Yacht Clubs we have. You'll see plenty of Navy ships at home here, and if you want to get out on the Bay yourself, consider a cruise, a paddle wheeler out of the Bahia Hotel on Mission Bay, or any of several dinner cruise boats you can find leaving from Coronado (you can take a water taxi over to the island). Or ... you might prefer to take a look under the surface.

By now, you've probably figured out that San Diego is definitely an outdoors kind of place. You should really make some time to hike or bike and take in some of our beautiful scenery up-close. A relaxed way to do so is to take a horse drawn historical tour.

Since Lindbergh Field Airport and the convention center are both also located downtown, Lake Hodges RomanticAdventure is a convenient drive from both.

In other directions, also within 30 minutes, are San Diego's beaches and ocean activities (where you might try your luck catching a grunion run), the world renown Del Mar Race Track and fairgrounds, La Jolla and other beach communities, hot air balloon ports, the Wave Water Park, Mount Palomar Observatory, Temecula Wine Country (with the fifteen different wineries, the Quail Botanical Gardens, and other parks, Scripps Aquarium (official name is the Stephen Birch Aquarium - Museum), the California Surfing Museum, the Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum, old Spanish Missions such as Mission San Luis Rey in nearby Oceanside, a Computer Museum where you might figure out how we got into this condition and numerous other attractions. If you're pressed for time, you might even want to see San Diego from an open cockpit Biplane (or even try your hand at dogfighting in military style aircraft).

In less than an hour, you can be in the historic mountain mining town of Julian - famous for its apple pies. From there you can continue another 20 minutes east and be in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and take a jeep tour with "Borrego Paul" (or at least a virtual photo tour), or south into the Laguna Mountains (where you can tour the Mount Laguna Observatory) and Cleveland National Forest along the Sunrise Highway, ascending to over 6000' (peek at a relief map of the San Diego area to get an idea of this fascinating region of the country). If you're a serious hiker, you'll not want to miss the Pacific Crest Trail in this area (check with the PCT Association for hiking details). With our weather and beautiful terrain, you've probably figured out that San Diego is an outdoors kind of place full of places to hike, bike, and otherwise enjoy the natural beauty of the area. But at night, you might also want to visit one of the casinos (the Barona, Lake Elsinore, Sycuan and Viejas) in the area. While here, you might want to take a side trip down to Tijuana and Mexico's Baja California during your stay in San Diego. If you do intend to head south - take a look at the California Baja Rent-a-Car site - they provide both useful information about Baja and a useful service since you probably won't be allowed to take your US rental car down there. (Infolink also provides a page of useful links to Mexico)

the Thornton winery in Temecula

Getting around the San Diego area is fun. Even if you have a car, you might prefer getting around by rail. There is the Coaster which operates between Oceanside and downtown, and the Trolley within San Diego, east to El Cajon and south to the Mexican border just above Tijuana.

If you want to sample some of San Diego's Art during your stay, you might take in

• the California Center for the Arts
• the San Diego Opera,
• the San Diego Symphony Orchestra,
• the Old Globe Theatre
• the La Jolla Playhouse
• the San Diego Museum of Art
• the Timken Museum
• the San Diego Young Artists Symphony Orchestra

Lean More About The Cabin.

Reserve The Cabin Now!