Weekend Driver San Diego

Mt. Laguna is more than a mile high and about an hour east of San Diego. It’s rugged yet there’s enough rolling land that trails make it great for hiking and off-roading. Are you one of the millions with all-wheel-drive SUVs that never get dirty? Try this easy route with lots of choices around the [...]

After that big family Easter or Passover dinner, why not a drive around town? Here’s one from back in May 2004 that should fit the bill… close to home (maybe you even live on the route), great views, history and you might learn something about your hometown. It’s Streetcar Suburbs, a twisting drive through Mission [...]

Not everybody thinks of San Diego being a city of some pretty rugged hills. Truth is, the hills and valleys are what define neighborhoods and cities throughout the county. So are there San Francisco-like hills in San Diego? Ones that have straight up-and-down roads where Steve McQueen and crew could have shot the classic chase [...]

What are your top five twisty roads in San Diego County? On my list is the drive for this weekend, Highland Valley Road, the subject of High on Highland. Hairpins? It’s got ‘em. Blind curves? Danger? Steep grades? Narrow lanes? They’re all on Highland Valley Road between Rancho Bernardo and Ramona. Enjoy this trip that [...]

Back in January 2009, I took a Nissan Exterra on a wonderful drive through Grapevine Canyon in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. It was a freeform day… I had no idea where I was headed except to the desert. After a stop in the park’s visitor center, the suggestion was Grapevine Canyon, which runs from [...]

Hard to believe, but because of the shifting sands, the first permanent road across the eastern part of the Imperial Valley was made from planks. And on a breezy day a few years back, I went looking for it, then retraced its replacement, what became US 80, back across the desert. It’s a bit of [...]

It’s a bit out of town, but some folks have the Christmas weeks off and can fly out of town. This is my blog entry from the first day on the Natchez Trace, a 400-plus mile long National Park that winds from Nashville to Natchez, Miss. I took the drive a few years ago and [...]

The staff has been working overtime on the 13th floor of the Weekend Driver Center located on an abandoned spur of the never-built Chollas Freeway. They’ve just gone live on the new Freeform Traveler section of the new Weekend Driver website. You’ll see direct links to wonderful and obscure places such as Bonanzaville and the [...]

Here’s a golden oldie… the fourth Weekend Driver column ever, from way back in 2001, with an update in 2003. It’s Valley of Contrasts, the Tijuana River Estuary. It’s also one of the few chapters from my book, Weekend Driver San Diego, that have been posted online. It was a tease, if you will, to [...]

Welcome to the new Weekend Driver website! It’s more functional and less funky than the old site and easier to find where you want to go. Explore it and let me know what you think by clicking on the handy Contact button.