The Siberian American: California Road Trip: Exploring Old Town San Diego

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

California Road Trip: Exploring Old Town San Diego

Our California road trip started like most of our vacations—at the crack of dawn. We always book early flights to get the most of out of our first day…and I always start my day cranky when I have to wake up at 3 a.m. This time it worked out really well because we were in San Diego by 8:30 a.m. and had the whole day to explore!

Where we ate:

Our hotel was right in Old Town, so we dropped off our bags and headed out to find a place to eat. We stopped at Café Coyote—we could eat Mexican food for every meal and had heard good things about this place, so it was an easy choice.


I knew the meal would be delicious as soon as I tried the queso with chorizo appetizer. It was so good, I could have made a meal out of it, but I also had rolled beef tacos, which were huge. We were all completely stuffed after our entrees, but we couldn’t leave without trying Café Coyote’s famous fried ice cream. It was a little too sweet for me, but that might have had a little to do with all the food I had eaten.


For dinner, we decided to try the Cosmopolitan Hotel and Restaurant, a former stagecoach hotel. The maître d’ told us the history of the place while we waited for our dinner. The interior of the hotel and restaurant was nearly identical to what you could expect to have seen when it was originally operating. We found out that at one point, the hotel had 22 rooms and one bathroom, but it now has 11 rooms to accommodate the extra bathrooms (thankfully!).

The menu features a mixture of Mexican food, American grill, and seafood. We tried the kung pao calamari, and I had the parmesan-crusted yellowtail. It was a fun experience, and the food was great.



What we did: 

Old Town San Diego is considered the “birthplace” of California, so one of my favorite things to do was to wander around and look at the old buildings. I also enjoyed shopping at the many beautiful craft stands in the area.


With only two days in San Diego, we wanted to see as much as possible, so we decided to do an Old Town Trolley tour. We did so much on the tour that it deserves a post of its own. Stay tuned for more from San Diego!

Catch up on our California Road Trip:


13 comments:

  1. All that food looks incredible! I really need to go back to san diego, I loved it so much! xo, Biana -BlovedBoston

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love San Diego and Old Town. So many good restaurants!! I love Mexican food too and eat it non stop when in SoCal! Glad you got to see a lot while there!

    ReplyDelete
  3. The food looks so amazing! Mexican food could definitely be every meal in our house too. Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ohhh I just LOVE Old Town SD!! Isn't the renovation of the Cosmo Hotel just gorgeous!? I felt like I'd stepped back in time when I wandered in! My favorite restaurant there is Casa de Reyes... enchiladas so good! Great... it's 10am and I'm craving Mexican food now haha!

    ReplyDelete
  5. All that food looks absolutely delicious!! Glad you guys had fun! We did the whole get up in the middle of the night to take the first flight out to a city in order to get a full day in. It's not fun to get a full night of sleep, but it's SO great to have the whole day once you arrive! :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Mmmm...that Mexican food looks so good!

    ReplyDelete
  7. oooh a trolley tour sounds fun! i would love to go to san diego one day. that fried ice cream looks amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  8. OMG, the food! Loved San Diego when we visisted!

    ~Ashley @ A Cute Angle
    acutelifestyle.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. I've never been to San Diego but heard great things...the food at dinner looks amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I haven't been to San Diego in a long time, but that Mexican food sure makes me want to go back! Sounds like a fun trip!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Such beautiful photos! I need to visit!!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Old San Diego is so gosh darn cute. I'm not much of a Southern California girl, but I have to admit that it does have a certain charm. Thanks so much for sharing all the mouth-watering food photos too - everything looks amazing! And kung pao calamari sounds delicious, haha.

    Cat
    http://oddlylovely.com

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for reading my blog! I love hearing from you and respond to every comment. :) If you're a no-reply blogger, I will respond below your comment.