San Diego's Weekend Driver

I’ve been hearing about the Feather River Canyon my entire life. When I finally visited, I found it to be everything advertised… and shockingly quiet in the middle of the summer.

From Reader Gary: Great website, gents.  I’m working my way through the weekend drives, but I’m not that familiar with the area.  Have any suggestions for what/where someone from out of town could find a nice weekend trip? I’m from the rural East Coast and I think it’d be great to spend two days bombing [...]

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 [...]

Hyundai Genesis Coupe enjoys the back roads but watch the head room.

Mercury might be gone, but for awhile it sold an upscale version of the hybrid Ford Escape, the Mariner. Back in 2006, I took one on the rugged mountains separating the coast from southern Riverside County. Clean Climbing takes drivers on a ridge with spectacular views east and west, down some twisting, rocky and rutty [...]

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.

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 clan also wanted to get out of the cold for awhile.