San Diego's Weekend Driver

Head on up to Julian, using this great loop east through Ramona and west through Cuyamaca. And don’t forget the carload of Swedish ladies.

Ramona is one of the special places in San Diego county. Not just because the low-mountain scenery provides great vistas around every corner, but its bucolic roots and surrounding terrain make for great road and wonderful day trip. Our route this time takes us over the county’s newest and technologically advanced freeways and some of [...]

I’ve had a couple of comments from readers that they couldn’t read the map link in today’s paper (mine was a bit smudged as well). Here it is. And if you want to type it in by hand, http://g.co/maps/p82hg Hope you enjoy your trip!

Well, the brand and the car are gone, but the roads live on as they may have for centuries. One of my favorite twisty roads anywhere is Mesa Grande Road, near Santa Ysabel in northern San Diego County. Back in 2007, I had a Saturn Sky roadster, a slick traffic-builder for what was then GM’s [...]

Here’s one of my favorite trips of all time and one I always recommend that folks visiting San Diego try to make. It’s the ride up to Julian, the old gold mining town about 4,200 feet up in the mountains east of San Diego. The drive is challenging and this loop will take you both [...]

Today we’re in search of lakes — north, south and east. I assume you can find the big lake to the west. For a region known for its beaches, San Diego county has too many lakes to count. The City of San Diego alone operates 10 lakes, reservoirs for our drinking water; water districts generally [...]

Distance About 8 miles. Turnoff is about 31 miles from central San Diego. Difficulty Moderate to Challenging. All-wheel-drive or four-wheel-drive needed for Borrego Mountain section. Up and back to Hawk Canyon is a stable dirt road with a few ruts. Challenging leg is through Borrego Mountain, along Blowsand Canyon. Route to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park [...]

It’s been a wet winter, which means our local desert is ready for a show. And for all of you with all-wheel-drive SUVs, its time to exercise those transfer cases. Spring in the desert, especially in rainy years such as this one, means the usual grays and reds of the sand and hills are accented [...]

The very common question came from a reader at the recent San Diego International Auto Show. “How long does it you take to research your drives? How do you find those roads?” The answer? The road’s just up ahead, around the corner. Get behind the wheel and drive.

Take a cruise to Julian in the latest Weekend Driver feature, Swedes to Julian. It’s an afternoon with four blondes, cruising around in the ultimate cruiser, a Chrysler 300. A tough job, but somebody’s got to do it. Now online.