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San Diego For Free: City Farmers Nursery – Plant Paradise in City Heights

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A weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free! We have a great city and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.

City Farmers Nursery

Address: 4832 Home Avenue, City Heights CA 92105
Hours: Monday – Saturday 9 AM – 5 PM, Sunday 9 AM – 3 PM

Best For: Gardeners, do-it-yourselfers, fresh produce eaters, learners

Serving San Diego for over 40 years, City Farmers Nursery is a one-of-a-kind destination in the heart of San Diego. The nursery features a wide selection of plants including sections devoted to California native plants, butterfly gardens, fruit trees, garden selections, and many more. All of the plants in the nursery are raised organically and the staff is extremely helpful and knowledgeable. If you are buying a plant at City Farmers you can be confident it will grow in your yard – they test every product on-site and don’t sell plants unless they are proven to be well-suited for the San Diego climate.   [Read more…]

SD For Free: Lake Miramar – Great for Bicycling, Running, Rollerskating

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A weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free!  We have a great city and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.

  1. Directions: From Interstate 15 southbound: take Mira Mesa Boulevard east, turn right on Scripps Ranch Boulevard, then left on Scripps Lake Drive. The reservoir entrance will be on your left.  From Interstate 15 northbound: take Carroll Canyon Road east, turn left on Scripps Ranch Boulevard, then right on Scripps Lake Drive. The reservoir entrance will be on your left.
    1. Map link for directions
  2. Free Hours: 5:30 AM to 6:30 PM and beginning March 10th 5:30 AM to 8:00 PM
  3. Best For: Bicycling, walking, running, chatting with a friend, enjoying a cool breeze

Nestled comfortably below hillsides topped with the suburban dream, Lake Miramar (officially Miramar Reservoir) is a great place for getting some fresh air and exercise.   [Read more…]

San Diego For Free: Japanese Friendship Garden – 3rd Tuesday of Each Month

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A weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free! We have a great city and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.

Location: 2215 Pan American Road East, San Diego, CA 92101 (Balboa Park)

Free Hours: 3rd Tuesday each month, from 10 AM – 4 PM (free admission for San Diego County residents only)

Best For: Contemplation, relaxation, plant admiration, walking, breathing deeply

Website

Just south of the Plaza of the Neverending Debate (aka Plaza de Panama) in Balboa Park you can find the Japanese Friendship Garden (JFG).

From street level the entrance to the garden can be found by looking for the tea pavilion, just north of and next to the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. The garden is currently undergoing a large expansion (adding 9 acres to the existing 2.5 acres of walking paths and botanical beauty). It is also the start of cherry blossom season and a great time for a visit. I would guess that the weather will ideal regardless of when you may visit. This is San Diego after all.

The JFG is a symbol of friendship between San Diego and Japanese sister city Yokohama and was established in 1990.   [Read more…]

San Diego For Free: Padres FanFest – This Saturday, February 9th

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A weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free! We have a great city and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.

Location: Petco Park – 100 Park Boulevard, San Diego, CA 92101 (Downtown)

Free Hours: Saturday, February 9th from 10 AM – 4 PM

Best For: Baseball fans, the perenially optimistic, those with an affinity for brown and/or retro clothing, families

Website

The San Diego Padres had an eventful off-season and are gearing up for spring training and the home opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday, April 9th.   [Read more…]

San Diego For Free – Power-Pact-Duo in South Bay: U.S. Olympic Training Center and South Bay Power Plant Implosion

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A weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free! We have a great city and county and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.

US Olympic Training Center

Location: 2800 Olympic Parkway, Chula Vista, CA 91915-6000

Free Hours: Guided tour on Saturdays at 11 AM (walk-in only). Self-guided audio tour daily from 9 AM to 5 PM and the audio is provided through cell phone at 619-215-9070

Best For: Athletes, wannabe athletes, future Olympic hopefuls, armchair Olympians

Website here. Go here for tour info.   [Read more…]

SD For Free: Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines

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When: 11:10 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 28

Ever been to a professional golf tournament? Ever been to the Torrey Pines golf course?  The answer to both questions for me is no, but I intend to change this Monday.  Due to inclement weather over the weekend, specifically heavy fog, the tournament was delayed from finishing on Sunday and tournament organizers announced free admission for Monday’s conclusion.  Quite a discount from the $40 regular price for a daily pass to the event.

Additionally, parking will be free Monday at the Torrey Pines gliderport (Lot A) until the lot is full per the tournament twitter account .   [Read more…]

San Diego For Free: Get Lost in the Map & Atlas Museum of La Jolla

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A weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free! We have a great city and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.

Location: 7825 Fay Ave Suite LL-A, La Jolla, CA 92037 (Located in lower courtyard of building)

Free Hours: Wednesdays & Thursdays, 1st and 3rd Saturdays of each month. Also by appointment for groups – call 855-653-6277

Best For: Travelers, geography whizzes, explorers, navigators, the lost

Website: mamlj.org

As the first month of a new year comes to a close you may still be thinking about (or drafting) resolutions for 2013. If those resolutions include a goal to travel somewhere the Map & Atlas Museum of La Jolla may be a good resource for you to further ponder a destination. The museum has a wide variety of maps dating from the 15th through the 20th century and is sure to inspire even the biggest homebody to sail for distant seas.

I received a copy of Maphead by Ken Jennings (of Jeopardy fame) for Christmas in early December and had just finished the book when I saw an article about the Map & Atlas Museum in the San Diego Reader. I decided I had to go and visited later that month.
  [Read more…]

SD For Free: Brunch with Mayor Bob

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A weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free!  We have a great city and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.

  1. Location: City Hall Lobby – 202 C Street, San Diego, CA  92101 (Downtown)
  2. Free Hours: 1st Saturday of each month from 9:30 AM to Noon, starting February 2nd
  3. Best For: Pardon requests, autograph seekers, the politically active, pothole complaints
  4. Website: http://www.sandiego.gov/mayor/

In addition to many other items in his first State of the City address on January 15th, newly elected mayor of San Diego Bob Filner announced  that he will hold ‘open hours’ on the first Saturday of each month to be available to the public.  These open hours will take place in the lobby of San Diego City Hall and run from 9:30 AM to Noon.  Residents don’t need an appointment and are welcome to come and share whatever is on their mind.   [Read more…]

San Diego for Free: Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego

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A weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free! We have a great city and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.

Locations: 700 Prospect Street, San Diego, CA 92037 (La Jolla), and 1100 Kettner Boulevard, San Diego, CA 92101 (Downtown)

Free Hours: 3rd Thursday of each month from 5 to 7 PM. The museum is always free to those 25 and younger and to military and their families.

Best For: The curious, the bold, the beautiful, the pensive, the happy

Website – click here.

With a building on the coast in La Jolla and downtown San Diego the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) has prime locations to display their collection. The museum has a mission of serving “diverse audiences through the exhibition, interpretation, collection, and preservation of art created since 1950”.
  [Read more…]

The Children’s Pool in La Jolla – Visit the Harbor Seals

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San Diego For Free: Children’s Pool in La Jolla

A weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free! We have a great city and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.

Location: La Jolla, map here

Best For: Wave watchers, seal gazers, sandy feet aficionados, soul searchers

Near downtown La Jolla is the Children’s Pool, a small beach protected from ocean waves by a sea wall. The wall was built in 1931 to create a calm area of water for swimming. Today the Children’s Pool is the center of a battle between those wishing to see it refurbished and preserved as a swimming area and those that advocate for protection of the harbor seals that have established a home at the Children’s Pool in the past two decades.
  [Read more…]

San Diego For Free: Hike on Cowles Mountain for the Winter Solstice – December 21st

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San Diego for Free is a weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free! We have a great city and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.

Location: San Carlos, hike starts at the trailhead near the intersection of Golfcrest Drive and Navajo Road

Best For: Restless spirits, insomniacs, hikers, walkers, strollers

Date & Time: Friday, December 21, 6 – 7:30 AM

Website : Here.

This Friday, December 21st is the Winter Solstice – the shortest day of the year and a date held sacred and marked on calendars (both paper and stone) since time immemorial.

To celebrate the date the Canyoneers volunteer hiking group is leading a trek up Cowles Mountain in the pre-dawn stillness to view sunrise from a Kumeyaay solstice observatory about halfway up the mountain.   [Read more…]

SD For Free: 3 Sisters Falls Hike – Adventure in East County

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The Three Sisters Falls trail is a moderate to difficult hike located north-west of Descanso in east San Diego County. Although today is a rare day of heavy rain in San Diego and not advised for strenous hiking in the backcountry keep this hike in mind for sunnier days ahead, especially during the early spring when the falls are likely to be heavier due to more rain and melting snow-pack.   [Read more…]

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