Weekend Driver San Diego

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 [...]

Legendary is a label that applies to many roads, none more than the drive we’re taking this week, the route through the Santiago and Trabuco canyons in Orange County. Generations of bikers have left the beaten track in The OC for these twisty wonders; just minutes from the nearest master-planned community, yet so rural, so [...]

Hog heaven on Father’s Day at the legendary Cook’s Corner roadhouse in Trabuco Canyon.

It might even be a bit late in the year for this — the orange blossoms might be gone — but a cruise through the agricultural heartland of San Diego County is always worth the trip. Add to it some of the best, twisting roads anywhere, and it makes for a great day. It’s an [...]

Here’s an extended version of the newest Weekend Driver column from the San Diego Union-Tribune, There’s Always a Dirt Road Somewhere. Back in February, a new 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee was parked out front, there was only the weekend to do a drive and the mountains were having a near-blizzard. Where to go for some [...]

It’s hard to believe, but even in San Diego the weather can interfere with the best plans. With a 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee parked out front and a weekend plan to head up Nate Harrison Grade on Mount Palomar (and a Plan B to do some driving on rocks near Jacumba), our local dirt roads [...]

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 [...]

Over the years, I’ve made hundreds of trips to scenic Pine Valley. From the Pine Valley Boulevard off Interstate 8, we make the turn left into town. But the question always was, “What are all those trucks parked over there,” in the cul-de-sac to the right. The answer, discovered with the assistance of a ’10 [...]

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.

Out-of-towners, drivers enjoy trip to mountains From October 2009 2009 Chrysler 300 Heritage Edition Review Folks come to San Diego for a variety of reasons. My grandfather moved here about 90 years ago because he hated the cold but still wanted to be a fisherman. All these decades later, a young cousin from that Swedish [...]