Had previously replied to Tamas offlist, but Chris's list of San Diego attractions reminded me of a couple more that "us geeks" might be intereste= d in. I also wanted to say that the Midway is amazing. Say hi to the S3 and SH-60 on deck for me. VS-41 and HSL-49 (Det 2 "WeeBee's") In addition to the attractions Chris listed, you might also want to visit the Wild Animal Park (Open air subset of the San Diego Zoo) in Escondido, and the science, aerospace and automotive museums in Balboa Park. If you visit Balboa park, there is a "secret" parking lot down the hill on the north side of the drive that goes to the automotive museum from Park Blvd. It's just east of the obvious parking lot on that side, down a twisty little road. And you have quite a climb UP out of that lot to the park proper, but when all other spaces are taken, few people know about or use that lot and it's much closer than the regular overflow lots. And it's righ= t next to the mounted police stable, so it should be pretty darn safe. For train nuts, there is a very nice railroad park (steam, trolleys, etc...= ) about 2 hours north outside Murrieta (OERM.org) and a rather sad one a few hours east in Campo (sdrm.org). My favorite is much more local: The little live steam train in Old Poway Midland Park (powaymidlandrr.org). The small museum in Escondido probably isn't worth seeing. I hear the same about the one in National City, although I haven't been. Balboa park also has an indoor model train layout and club. And there is a live steam model club in Chula Vista. For "real" train service, the S.D. Trolley system is pretty darn nice, as are the Sprinter and Coaster. If you enjoy old machines / history / farming, the Antique Gas and Steam Engine museum in Vista (agsem.com) is worth seeing, especially during the duel Harvest Festivals. Steam tractors, calliopes, farm equipment, jacquard looms, rope weavers, etc... If you like boats, the Maritime Museum with the Star of India is well worth a visit. They have a number of interesting craft, including one of the tall ships from "Master and Commander", a steam launch, a huge ferry that ran on cooking oil, and a Russian submarine. I dream of going out on the Star... I very much recommend going sailing. Or better yet, take a short sailing class. I don't think there is a better place to do that than San Diego. I had a blast and a half at SeaForth rentals many years back. Learned to sail a small boat, and rented from them a couple times since then. Great fun, no= t terribly expensive, good way to meet women. And to find out if you get sea sick easily... If you can afford it, flying is also good in SoCal. Spirit of St. Louis was built here you know? And PSA 182 happened here... :ahem: moving on... Lot's of places offer small plane flights and lessons. There is a (very) rustic glider port way north east which I don't generally recommend. My favorite place to eat is the Mexican restaurant at Montgomery field. You can see blimps, helicopters, private jets, and lots of other aircraft take off and land during your meal. The food is just ok, but the view... :sigh: someday I'll have the $$$ to take lessons there. Big airshow once a year at Miramar. Not worth the heatstroke unless you are really into military aircraft. The parking / walking is... insane. One of these years I have got to go for a balloon ride in Temecula. K1 Speed is the local go-kart place. Indoor, all electric. Hell of a rush. Real racing in Lakeside at Barona Speedway. The Upstart Crow in Seaport Village is the best coffee shop / bookstore. It's expensive, but /far/ better than Starbucks or Boarders / Barns and Noble. I don't think we have /any/ good technical book places, and Frys is the only electronics store worth visiting as far as I know. The newly opened MakerPlace.com is the mecca for makers. Only one in S.D. Really nice... I can't afford it. fablabsd.org also offers classes there. The Del Mar fair is... a fair... meh. The horse races are... eh... The San Diego symphony is... whatever. Casinos on all the Indian reservations... yuck. Food: Aside from the obvious, well reported options, there are: - yellowdeli.com (great little cult / sandwich place), - casamachadorestaurant.com (at the air field), - sipz.com (vegetarian / vegan / organic), - stonebrew.com (stunningly expensive, unbelievably over booked, and in ?Escondido? WTH?). Fast food: - in-n-out.com (Good Christian burgers, and they have a "grilled" cheese vegetarian option), - chipotle.com (split a burrito, they are huge), - rubios.com (fish tacos) Wow... that was more than I intended to write. Got a bit caught up in it. Anyway, if anyone is in SoCal, drop me a line. I always enjoy meeting new people. -- James Newton 1-970-462-7764 -----Original Message----- From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu [mailto:piclist-bounces@mit.edu] On Behalf Of Chris Pearson Sent: Friday, May 25, 2012 10:20 To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public. Subject: Re: [OT] Anyone from San Diego, CA? Hi Tamas, I=92m actually relatively new to the San Diego area myself so I was going t= o see if we had any native San Diegans who wanted to comment before me but I see not. So I=92ll take a crack at it. I moved to North County from MN abou= t two and a half years ago. The company I work for is based out of Vista. I briefly lived just north of San Diego County when I moved here; I've been in Oceanside now for almost 2 years, and am currently looking for places in the San Marcos area. My sister recently moved from LA to the South Park neighborhood of SD. I=92m about 45 minutes =96 1 hour north of her and she= =92s pretty darn close to the heart of SD. The best electronics component shop I=92ve found by far is Fry=92s Electron= ics. I=92m a regular at the one in San Marcos; there is one in SD proper as well= .. For tools beyond Fry=92s scope there is Harbor Freight, Sears, a few independent shops and Matco/Snap-On/Mac, etc tool trucks all over. Here=92s the =93standard=94 list of places to see (in no particular order): =B7 Old Town =B7 Sea World =B7 Gaslamp Quarter =B7 Coronado Island =B7 San Diego Zoo =B7 USS Midway =B7 La Jolla =B7 Beaches =96 Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach, Mission Beach =B7 Legoland (preferably if you=92ve got kids) =B7 Torrey Pines if you=92re into golf Surfing is obviously a very popular thing to do; there are more beaches than I could list. If you like Mexican food you will probably be in heaven. Fish tacos are amazing! If you=92re looking for a good intro to the fish ta= co I would recommend Rubio=92s, several locations. Often you find the best foo= d at little stands during street fairs (oh there=92s a lot of those too). Dis= c golfing is also popular, courses abound. The Chargers are the dominant sports team, the Padres are popular as well. Since there is no local professional basketball team the Lakers are mostly the adopted team although college basketball if important here too. If you=92re a hockey fan like me, well good luck to you! The Spanish language influence is big. Having a good understanding of it can only improve the quality of your stay. It is absolutely not necessary however; this isn=92t Montreal or anything like that. Everyone speaks Engli= sh but you will find yourself picking up some Espa=F1ol without even trying. Most people will strongly encourage you to NOT go to Tijuana these days. There was also the recent South Park television show episode which culminated in one of the characters making a brief trip to SD. Please don= =92t think the activities detailed therein are indicative of normal San Diegans. The show did a great job of nailing all the main SD attractions though. http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/82452372/ Enjoy the weather! :) - cp On Tue, May 22, 2012 at 10:22 PM, Tamas Rudnai wrote: > Hi List, > > Is anyone from San Diego by any chance? I am just settling down here, and > was wondering if there are any good tool and component shops over here or > nearby? > > Also any kind of information would be much appreciated which is not > necessarily related to electronics (things to see, places to avoid, good > restaurants etc) > > Many thanks, > Tamas > -- > int main() { char *a,*s,*q; printf(s=3D"int main() { char *a,*s,*q; > printf(s=3D%s%s%s, q=3D%s%s%s%s,s,q,q,a=3D%s%s%s%s,q,q,q,a,a,q); }", > q=3D"\"",s,q,q,a=3D"\\",q,q,q,a,a,q); } > -- > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .