Christine Daguio:

When most people think of San Diego, they think of the sun, the beach and the fish tacos. But did you know that San Diego is also home to California’s largest municipally-owned park and the 6th largest in the nation? At over 5,800 acres, Mission Trails has a lot of exploring and hiking opportunities.

Mission Trails was established in 1974 and has grown to one of the largest parks in the US. you can hike over 40 miles of its trails, camp at Kumeyaay Lake and boat on Lake Murray. Only 8 miles northeast of downtown, Mission Trails can get you away from urban life and it has something for everyone.

This Saturday, May 18, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. is the 11th annual Explore Mission Trails Day. There will be free guided nature walks, talks and programs. A family-friendly affair, there will be different activities and programs at the Visitor & Interpretive Center, the Equestrian Staging Area and the Kumeyaay Lake Campground such as free pony rides, a climbing wall, crafts and exhibits.

http://www.mtrp.org/EMTday.asp

-Christine Daguio

I’ve received a lot of questions about this scrumptiously mouthwatering restaurant crawl, like: “Which restaurants can I try?” and “What kind of delectable morsels can I feast my hungry taste buds into?!”

Well the details have trickled in, and I have good news. We all know La Jolla is home to some of the most excellent restaurants in the U.S., but I’m only allowed to leak a few hints about each of them, because there are ONLY 7 TICKETS LEFT! And guess what? I can get you a discounted price! I’ll tell you how in a second.

Our First stop is a bistro which was recently featured on “Good Morning San Diego” KUSI news, and “San Diego Home and Garden” magazine. It’s iron gate entrance welcomes you into a quaint European like courtyard where you’ll be served squash blossom soup with truffle oil, ahi poke won-ton with avocado creme, napa slaw, and topped with teryaki drizzle, and a lamb lollipop in blueberry chipotle glaze. I’m anxious to try that last one!

Next we’ll take a trip to a popular Northern Italian city (hint), where a very experienced chef is known for making his own breads, pastas, and desserts, every single day! Here we’ll enjoy mozzarella caprese, calamari arrabbiata, and tortellin romano! My mouth is watering right now!

Is it cool if we stick with the Italian thing for another round? Because third, we’re stopping by a place for “friends” (hint) and grabbing a taste of their chicken Caesar, some wings, and I’m really stoked about this eggplant pizza.

We’ll finish the adventure at a popular cozy cafe, that I can personally attest to having excellent desserts and coffee. Here, we’ll enjoy some Tres Leches and chocolate cake.

Wow! Okay, now about that discount: Be one of the first SEVEN people to Send your name and contact info to david@365ThingsToDoInSanDiego.com and I’ll send you the promo code!
This is a highly anticipated event and tickets are almost sold out, so if you want to experience the incredible delicacies of La Jolla’s finest, get your tickets now!

From Christine Daguio
They see me rollin’… they hatin’… Did you know that May is Bike Month in San Diego?
National Bike To Work Day is on the third Friday of May each year. This year, this day lands on May 17. While most people drive to work, there is a growing awareness of the benefits of biking to work. It helps the environment. It helps you get fit. It’s free!
But what if you live in Spring Valley and work in San Marcos? If you’re going to bike to work on May 17, you have my undying respect. Myself, if I’m going to bike 25 miles, I would bike one of the bike paths and trails here in San Diego.
The Bayshore Bikeway is a 25-mile ride next to the San Diego Bay. Most of the Bikeway has bike lanes or paths. The best part about the Bikeway is that you can start just about anywhere. The Bikeway starts at the Embarcadero and heads south to National City and Chula Vista. Follow it into Imperial Beach and then come up the Silver Strand. Once you reach Coronado, you could turn right around and go back the way you came. Myself, I’d carry my bike onto the Coronado Ferry and cross the Bay back into downtown.
Summer is almost here and biking is a great way to be outdoors, see the sights and get some physical activity in. Watch out for cars and pedestrians and wear a helmet!
-Christine Daguio

This is for the woman who practices her russian accent in the car on her way to work. This is for the man who imagines he’s Jackie Chan, while drop kicking children’s toys into the toy chest. For the open mic comic. For the girl who asked for a video camera for her birthday, instead of a new pair of shoes. For the make-up artist. For the writer. For the film-maker.

It’s an incredible culmination of local talent, and my favorite weekend of the year: The San Diego 48 Hour Film Project.

The 48 hour film project is a two day filmmaking competition. The festival takes place in hundreds of cities across the globe. Film-makers, writers, and actors form a team and register. Then on Friday, July 12th at 6pm, team leaders are allotted: a random genre, a required character, a required prop, and a required line of dialogue. And they’re off! The team has 48 hours to write, organize, direct, shoot, and edit a film with the required criteria above. Camera batteries will die. Computers and hard drives will crash. Actors will forget lines. People will laugh, cry, and even argue in the name of independent crime dramas, super hero thrillers, animations, mysteries, comedies, westerns, and even musicals. Sunday night, a team representative must be physically present at the drop off location, with the maniacally manufactured masterpiece by 7:30pm to be eligible for any awards.

The next three weeks we all bite our nails hoping to win something good. The best part however, in my opinion, is dressing up for the red carpet and inviting friends to watch our movies screened at a real movie theatre, usually to a full house!

BTW, San Diego is the only city this year showing the local films in digital HD projection!

I’ve done this 5 years in a row now, and I can attest that there are so many talented people in this incredible city. It’s always a blast working together on an incredibly fun project and being able to share the results with other talented film makers.

Registration starts tonight at 12:00 am. GOPRO cameras has loaned a few cameras to a few lucky teams who sign up first. Here’s where you go to register: http://www.48hourfilm.com/en/sandiego/ (click register)

We want to beat Paris this year, and have the most teams registered!

Christine Daguio writes about our last chance of the season for such a beautiful sight:

You’re in a pinch. Mother’s Day is almost here and your mother is a bit miffed with your gift from last year. Flowers by themselves won’t cut it. But what about if you spend the day with your
mother at the Flower Fields in Carlsbad? This year’s season of the annual bloom is coming to end on Mother’s Day. What better way to close out the season with your mother?

The Flower Fields consists of over 50 acres that are dedicated to raising the flowering plant ranunculus. If you want to get technical, it’s the Tecolote® Giant Ranunculus. Native to Asia Minor, this flower is a member of the buttercup family. The ranch does raise other specialty flowers on an additional 5 acres.

An English horticulturist, Luther Gage, immigrated to San Diego and found that its climate was perfect for growing ranunculus flowers. His ranunculus ranch employed several people, including a
family headed by Frank Frazee, who took what they learned and opened their own ranunculus farm.

The Frazee family’s business bloomed every year and they expanded their operations in 1958 to the present location of the Fields. The Fields were visible from the freeway and each Spring, people on the road were treated to an explosion of color who stopped on the side of the road to see the flowers. Gradually, people made the trek every year to see the blooms. The Frazee family passed ownership to the current owners Ecke Family in 1975. Unofficially, the area was called the “flower fields” by the locals and the Fields officially became The Flower Fields in 1993. The Flower Fields continues to operate as a working ranch and allows visitors to walk the fields to experience the flowers up-close.

Now, more than 150,000 people visit the Fields each season, and countless people make their annual visit a tradition. Become part of the tradition. Take a lovely stroll through the Fields, have a light picnic at the tables that are available, ride the wagon and enjoy the weather. Afterwards, have a sumptuous meal at the nearby Grand Pacific Palisades Resort & Hotel. And don’t forget to tell your mother you love her.

The Spring and Summer month’s have so much going on!   I’m lucky to have found some amazing talent to help spread the word about all the incredible events taking place in America’s Finest City.  Here’s a guest post by San Diego native Christine Daguio, and she’s going to tell us about this cool festival starting on Friday:
 

The Gator by the Bay Music Festival is an annual 3 day festival of food, music and dancing that
brings Louisiana culture to the San Diego Bay. The Gator kicks off on Friday, May 10, at the Spanish
Landing Park on North Harbor Drive.

Everything Louisiana is celebrated, from the food to the music to the dancing to the culture,
including a Mardi Gras-style parade. The musical line up this year is crammed with talent ranging from
local bands such as the San Diego Cajun Playboys to the national legend Johnny Vernazza with Elvin
Bishop and exhibits the musical styles of Zydeco, Blues and Rockabilly.

After you’ve worked up an appetite dancing to the music, eat your heart out with the crawfish.
If crawfish isn’t up your alley, other culinary delights such as etouffee, jambalaya and other Southern
specialties will be served. Not only can you eat the food, chefs from the San Diego Mesa College
Culinary Arts Department will be holding classes on how to prepare these dishes.

The Gator is family-friendly with activities created for the kids with face painting, crafts, and
they’ll love the daily parade. There’s also a marketplace to peruse and buy some wares with Louisiana
flare!

Tickets start at $25 (purchase ahead online for a discount) and multi-day passes are available.

Why wait for Mardi Gras at the French Quarter to experience Louisiana-style fun? Have some at
the Gator!

-Christine Daguio

I grew up skateboarding. I learned a bunch of styles from street tricks, to ramps, and my friends and I even built a 6 foot half pipe in the backyard. It was an awesome outlet for a teenager. It was physical activity. It kept us out of trouble. And when you’re practicing a trick, it showed us the true blend between sports and art. It was a lot of fun, but when the seasons changed, and snow began to fall, my friends and I would be quarantined to parking garages and basements. We’d tell stories of this faraway land where it was warm all year round. Where kids could not only ride the pavement, but they put boards on waves, and rode them all year round…

I tried surfing for the first time about 5 years ago, and… it was a lot of work, and the water was freezing. So for now, I stick to skating the boardwalk. When I get up for my morning walk or skate here in PB, I certainly have mounds of respect for the guys and gals out there in the surf. Some of them I’ve seen at five in the morning, their heads poking out of the water like turtles, awaiting that perfect wave.

The San Diego Surf Film Festival is taking place this week May 8th through May 12th at Bird’s Surf Shed in Bay Park. 35 International and local surf films will be presented over the next 4 days. There will be local musical acts, parties, demos, awards ceremonies and live art shows.

Visit the site here to buy general admission or all access passes: http://www.sandiegosurffilmfestival.com/

Cinco De Mayo, often confused with Mexican Independence Day (September 16th) is the celebration of the day a group of 4,500 poorly equipped Mexican Soldiers defeated an invasion of over 8,000 Frenchmen, near the Pueblan forts of Loreto and Guadalupe. Some have identified these Mexican Soldiers as Mestizo and Zapotec native central americans. Historian Justo Sierra and others believe that the French had designs on marching through Mexico to the U.S. to support the American South, since this was during the early stages of the American Civl War. Many believe the United States would have turned out very differently if the Mexicans did not hold back the French on Cinco De Mayo and other battles.

Today, Cinco De Mayo is primarily celebrated in the United States as an observance of Mexican pride and heritage. The largest Cinco De Mayo celebration in the U.S. is right here in Old Town San Diego.

Old Town is considered the birthplace of California, and this year is the 30th Annual Cinco De Mayo Old Town fiesta. Stop by and experience incredible dancing, music, food, antiques, architecture, beer, tequila, and of course the people.

Today, the plaza stage will be showcasing ballet, latin jazz, as well as mariachi and contemporary latin music. Here’s a link to the line-up: http://www.oldtownsandiegoguide.com/cincoimages/events.html and there are also children’s events featuring magic acts, face painting, drawing and much more: http://www.oldtownsandiegoguide.com/cincoimages/children.html

Today the event runs from 11am to 5pm.

Room Service Sd just rolled out their new ordering system, making it super easy to get some awesome grub, right to your door.  I can order with Facebook and my mobile app, and have incredible, 5 star food brought to my door without ever getting out of bed.  Check out the new re-vamped site.  http://www.roomservice-sd.com

During a hike, I remember stumbling onto some beautiful and exciting scenery a couple years ago in Ramona. I also remember getting lost in the dark somewhere along Wildcat Canyon, and snacking on some super cheap avocados I bought on the side of the road earlier, although they may have been grown in Poway. Regardless, Ramona is home to some incredibly interesting landscapes, agriculture animals and people. Did you know it basically has it’s own wine country? There are also like a million horses, and some Ramona locals are even raising buffalo, camels, and llamas!

With that said, we’re bound to encounter some interesting things at the Ramona Bluegrass & Old West Fest this weekend. Actually, for 9 days leading up to the fest, there has been live music in Ramona every night. Here’s how to find whats up each night: http://ramonabluegrassfest.com/info/nine-days-and-nights-of-music-in-ramona/

The grand finale Ramona Bluegrass & Old West Fest is May 4th and 5th, and it features some role playing presentations of different Old West Historical camps. There will be Cowboys, saloons, Civil War camps, and even Mountain Men. This will be an exciting look at how life was waged back in the 1700s. And of course a ton of bluegrass bands will be performing, and even doing workshops on banjo, guitar and harmonica performance.

Everything starts at 10am so check out this link for more details: http://ramonabluegrassfest.com/info/