Located on southern California's Pacific Ocean coast, San Diego is one of the largest cities in the United States. It is home to numerous amusement parks and museums, and its proximity to the beach makes San Diego ideal for swimming, snorkeling, boating, and surfing. The city also boasts a lively nightlife and a growing art scene.
Since 1903, the Birch Aquarium at Scripps has been the public exploration center for the world-renowned Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California at San Diego in La Jolla. Overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the aquarium features more 60 habitats of the Pacific marine life, including fish and invertebrates. The aquarium encouraging learning through hands-on exhibits, including three outdoor living tide pools. The aquarium also showcases cutting-edge research discoveries and demonstrates how these discoveries are relevant to everyday life.
The Birch Aquarium
2300 Expedition Way
La Jolla, CA 92037
858-534-3474
aquarium.ucsd.edu
The San Diego Zoo is a modern, privately owned zoo featuring more than 4,000 animals and 800 species. It is one of the few zoos to house the giant panda. A pioneer in cageless exhibits, the zoo also is home to the San Diego Wild Animal Park and numerous botanical gardens. The San Diego Zoo also offers an on-site restaurant, which is located in a tree house and overlook a giant waterfall.
The San Diego Zoo
2920 Zoo Drive
San Diego, CA 92101
619-231-1515
sandiegozoo.org
LEGOLAND California is an exciting theme park experience for the whole family. With more than 50 LEGO-themed rides, the park includes Dino Island, where kids can dig for fossils and climb inside "Megga-Egga-Saurus," DUPLO Village, an African-themed adventure, and Pirate Shores, which features swashbuckling water attractions. The heart of LEGOLAND is Miniland, USA, where reproductions of seven U.S. regions have been constructed with 20 million LEGO bricks in 1:20 scale.
One LEGOLAND Drive
Carlsbad, CA 92008
760-918-5346
http://california.legoland.com/
Knott's Berry Farm is America's first theme park, originally opening its first themed area--Ghost Town--in 1940, to give visitors waiting for the location's popular restaurant something to do. The 16-acre park features nine roller coasters, four water slides and a resort hotel. Every fall, the park becomes Knott's Scary Farm Halloween Haunt, and in the winter, it becomes Knott's Merry Farm.
Knott's Berry Farm
8039 Beach Blvd.
Buena Park, CA 90620
714-220-5200
knotts.com/
Housed in the historic Ford Building, which Henry Ford donated to the city of San Diego following the California Pacific International Exposition of 1935-36, the San Diego Air and Space Museum celebrates aviation and space flight history. With regular special exhibits and valuable collections, the museum's aim is to "educate the public about the social and historical significance of aerospace technology and its promise for the future." The museum displays a model of the Montgolfier brothers' hot air balloon of 1783, the first recorded manned vehicle to defy gravity and lift humans, aircraft specimens from aerial combat in WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam and displays of space-age technology.
San Diego Air and Space Museum
2001 Pan American Plaza
San Diego, CA 92101
619-234-8291
sandiegoairandspace.org
mcasd.org
