yakster wrote:Andy's wife Nanelle is Director of Coffee at Swell Coffee down there, which has cafes in Mission Beach and Del Mar. You could also check out this website which covers the San Diego coffee community for possible leads: http://www.sdcoffeenetwork.com/zine/

Thanks, Chris. One looks close to our hotel. Once we land tomorrow, 1st order of business is to map out all the fine suggestions and get busy. Cortados coming up.

DB

I'd recommend Heartwork Coffee Bar in Mission Hills / Hillcrest.

Your advice was sound; my execution was less than sound.

We dutifully packed our GPS and the first night I mapped out my plan of attack. I laid the shops out in order, 1-5, and set the GPS. Woke up at 6.30a, showered, and off I went.

My wife doesn't accompany me on these ventures; she thinks I am a bit obsessed. Plugged in the GPS, minus the windshield stand (whoops, left that at home). Tried several balancing acts in the rental car. None worked. Gave up on that aspect and decided to push off and relied on audio cues alone. Mistake.

Entered the interstate. 7 lanes. What's up with that? We don't have these at home..."Boy, they move fast out here..." my mental notes say. Kicked it up to 70mph and I still was standing still compared to others. Soon I got my first audio clue:

"In 1/4 of a mile, exit...." and I was SOL. Right past the exit as there was no way on God's green earth I could get over during rush hour for that exit. "Recalibrating..." my dear co-pilot called out.

I will keep this long story short. This went on for 40 minutes of missed exits, wrong exits, and soon I thought I would be in Tijuana so I got off. Still no coffee! I set the GPS to 'city streets only,' and plugged in the hotel address.

Had to giggle. Within 6 six minutes, I was back at the hotel, right where I had started, after nearly 50 minutes of driving.

Oh, the hotel robusta/arabica blend was just marvy. Thanks all.

Haha...sweet home, San Diego. I hope you at least enjoyed our weather, people and many other things we have to offer during your visit

Next time you will be a pro.

Brodie wrote:Haha...sweet home, San Diego. I hope you at least enjoyed our weather, people and many other things we have to offer during your visit

We did. Loved Balboa Park, the seafood, the harbor, the heat, tempered by the gentle cool ocean breeze. Couldn't get over the traffic, little rain, number of Mexican food joints. Had to try tamales everywhere. Yours have more cornbread than ours do here. Local tradition based on where food migrated north. Got to dust off my Spanish.

Great visit. Unfortunately Padres were out of town so missed Petco Field. Did get to catch them last night of our visit but up at Dodger Stadium. No breeze up there; scorcher. Don't even get me started on the traffic up there. And the Olympics are coming in 2028? Mercy...

Last time the Olympics were in LA, the traffic actually got lighter, believe it or not, at least where I was. People must have left town anticipating the difficulties. Whatever it was, it was pretty pleasant. Traffic the last couple of years has gotten so bad there, though... way worse than it was even five years ago. LA is so big that I'm not so sure the Olympics would make things that much more hectic than whatever other week with lots of events in town.

Ha...reminds me of a couple years ago when they were doing serious construction on the 405 one weekend. "Carmageddon". The worst freeway (traffic-wise) in all of LA, and they were shutting down huge portions for construction, and it's allllllll we heard about on the news for months...warning everyone to add an hour or more to commute times, delays, etc. Well the warnings worked, and scared the hell out of everyone, and it was one of the lightest LA traffic weekends on record....you could go anywhere in the greater Los Angeles area in record time. Absolutely no one was on the roads.

It was great....even if just for one weekend

Boldjava wrote:Your advice was sound; my execution was less than sound.

We dutifully packed our GPS and the first night I mapped out my plan of attack. I laid the shops out in order, 1-5, and set the GPS. Woke up at 6.30a, showered, and off I went.

My wife doesn't accompany me on these ventures; she thinks I am a bit obsessed. Plugged in the GPS, minus the windshield stand (whoops, left that at home). Tried several balancing acts in the rental car. None worked. Gave up on that aspect and decided to push off and relied on audio cues alone. Mistake.

Entered the interstate. 7 lanes. What's up with that? We don't have these at home..."Boy, they move fast out here..." my mental notes say. Kicked it up to 70mph and I still was standing still compared to others. Soon I got my first audio clue:

"In 1/4 of a mile, exit...." and I was SOL. Right past the exit as there was no way on God's green earth I could get over during rush hour for that exit. "Recalibrating..." my dear co-pilot called out.

I will keep this long story short. This went on for 40 minutes of missed exits, wrong exits, and soon I thought I would be in Tijuana so I got off. Still no coffee! I set the GPS to 'city streets only,' and plugged in the hotel address.

Had to giggle. Within 6 six minutes, I was back at the hotel, right where I had started, after nearly 50 minutes of driving.

Oh, the hotel robusta/arabica blend was just marvy. Thanks all.

Some cities rely on taxis to a great degree.

When the taxidrivers strike, the air clears and the bicyclists have a great time.

Poor Dave, if his GPS skills had worked he would have had some great coffee.

I can remember many a misfired coffee safari that ended up with a lousy cup, but never one so entertaining to read about

Thanks for the recommendations to Boldjava, which I will follow this weekend. I've been to Modern Times for their beer: I strongly recommend Monsters Park.
Thanks
Joe

Just trying to clarify: for those that have been to any of the modern times locations - are there any cafes integrated into their locations? Or do they just sell bagged coffee?