KPRI Private Listener Concerts

KPRI is a locally owned and operated San Diego radio station. They play a variety of current and classic rock music. One of the coolest things about the station is what they call `Private Listener Concerts`. These are small venue concerts with artists that are on their way up. These are not necessarily new artists. But they are normally artists with a current hit. Past venues have been- Bernardo Winery, Rancho Bernardo Inn, Lexus Escondido and everyone`s favorite Hornblower Yachts. The Hornblower Yachts are a fleet of yachts on San Diego Bay. Hornblower does sightseeing cruises for whale watching, brunch, weddings and other special events. San Diego Bay has lots to see and the music on these cruises has been stellar. On Sunday June 26, 2011 the band was `Burlap to Cashmere` and as always they were great. You`ll need to sign up on KPRI`s website to get an invitation. Enjoy!
For more information see http://www.kprifm.com/ http://www.hornblower.com/ and http://www.burlaptocashmere.com/

San Diego County Fair 2011

The San Diego County Fair is held each year at the Del Mar Fair Grounds. The fair runs from early June through Independence Day weekend (June 10 to July 4, 2011). There are always the typical county fair displays with animals, gems, arts and crafts and various retail sales booths. In addition, the fair has some awesome musical acts throughout the fairgrounds.The main stage normally has a top act each day. This continues to be such a great annual event. Enjoy!
For more information see http://www.sdfair.com/

La Jolla Festival of the Arts

The La Jolla Festival of the Arts was held on June 18 and 19, 2011. This was the 25th year for this event. It was held at the Warren Field East Campus of UCSD in beautiful La Jolla. It was of course outside on the grass. This is a fantastic venue for something like this. It is a large field and the booths and stages are spread out so there is lots of room to wander. The booths had ceramics, paintings, photography, sculpture and jewelry. There was a main stage with music by a variety of groups including KUSI`s own weekend weather guy Dave Scott. The music, weather and overall atmosphere are something that only a La Jolla event can provide. This continues to be one of the best San Diego events for a relaxing day. Enjoy!
For more information see http://www.lajollaartfestival.org/

Old House Fair

Saturday June 18, 2011 was the Old House Fair in South Park. This was the 13th year for this event. There was a street fair with music, vendor booths and of course tours of the homes in the area. Besides a walking tour, there was a trolley tour and even the opportunity to go inside some of the old houses. Many of the homes in the area are around 100 years old and most have been remodeled. This has become a great neighborhood to take a walk in. There was a time not too long ago that you would not have wanted to walk around here, but that has all changed. There are some great restaurants and unique businesses to visit. Take an afternoon and visit South Park. You won`t regret it. Enjoy!
For more information visit www.theoldhousefair.weebly.com

Ocean Beach AKA `OB`

Ocean Beach is a great `funky` beach town in San Diego. The area boasts one of the best hamburger joints anywhere called Hodad`s. Hodad`s has fantastic food in a `OB` typical atmosphere. Once you wait in line to get in, you may have the opportunity to eat in a converted surfer van. Either way Hodad`s is always a fun place. Just up Newport from Hodad`s is the International Hostel. Here you will definitely hear several languages being spoken by some folks hanging out on the front porch watching the crowd coming up and down Newport.
At the foot of Newport there is a pier. The Ocean Beach Pier is the longest concrete pier on the west coast and has a bait shop and restaurant.
One of the most interesting things about the history of OB is that it once had an amusement park called Wonderland. Wonderland was opened April 4, 1913 on the sand at the north end of OB. Wonderland had a roller coaster, dance pavilion, roller skating rink and a merry-go-round. In addition there were 22,000 lights outlining the buildings. The park was washed away in 1916 with high tides. This must have been an amazing place in it`s day. PBS TV in San Diego has a television show call Wonderland about places around San Diego. Enjoy!
For more information visit www.wonderlandsd.com or www.oceanbeach.com

Palomar Mountain

Palomar Mountain is located in the northern part of San Diego County. The mountain is about 5500 feet high and is the home of Palomar Mountain State Park and the Palomar Observatory. Palomar Mountain State Park has several camp grounds, hiking trails and Doane Pond for fishing. The observatory is home to the Hale Telescope and is open to the public. The Hale Telescope is a 200 inch telescope and was the worlds largest from 1949 to 1992. The drive up Palomar Mountain is on a very winding road with some spectacular views along the way. This road is popular with motorcycle riders for obvious reasons. There is a store and restaurant at the top of the hill. For more information see www.astro.caltech.edu/palomar and www.palomarsummit.com Enjoy!

Oceanside Harbor

Oceanside Harbor is a small harbor in the north part of San Diego County. To the north of Oceanside Harbor is Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base. The harbor was opened in June 1963 and currently has just under 1000 boat slips. The harbor has lots of restaurants, shops and accommodations for tourists and locals alike. There is even RV camping allowed in a paved parking lot with the harbor on one side and the ocean on the other. This is a great place to visit for an hour, a day or a week. You may want to go fishing, kayaking or just stroll the walkways. Enjoy!  For more information try www.sandiegocoastlife.com/attractions/san-diego-coast/harbor-oceanside.html

Little Italy and Mercato

I know! Little Italy again? Yes, we love Little Italy. I think that our remembrances of Old Italy keep us going back to Little Italy. Anyway we had some friends that wanted to `tourist` around San Diego with us and Little Italy was our first choice. It was Saturday so the Mercato was going. Each of us picked up a few items at the Mercato then headed for lunch at Filippi`s on India. As always the meatball sandwich with bell peppers was our choice. After lunch we decided to get some food for dinner that night. We went to Pete`s Quality Meat across the street for sausage. This is probably the best sausage in San Diego. If you are lucky you can watch it being made on their 100 year old manual sausage machine. Next off to Assentis Pasta for some fresh pasta and Mona Lisa for bread. One thing that seems so cool to me is that we have to go to three or four stores for one dinner instead of the normal supermarket. This is how it is done in Europe. Each small store specializes in a few great products and you would not think of buying these items elsewhere. It was a great day and a great meal that night. Enjoy!

For more information go to http://www.assentispasta.com/  http://www.monalisalittleitaly.com/  www.littleitalysd.com/mercato/ and for Filippi`s http://www.realcheesepizza.com/