Take Five With Tom Fenton
5 (Other) Things to Do in San Diego at KubeCon + NativeCon North America 2019
KubeCon + NativeCon North America 2019 will take place in at the San Diego Convention Center Nov. 18-21, 2019. I've already shared five things I'll be checking out at the show, but San Diego is a fantastic place with perhaps the best weather in the U.S., and if this will be your first time in San Diego, you'll want to set aside some of your free time to explore the city.
Of course, there are some well-known sites and activities that show up on most "must do in San Diego" lists, such as walking around the Gaslamp Quarter to eat, drink and shop in the Victorian-style buildings. San Diego is a port city and walking around the waterfront to watch the ships sail in and out is a must-do. But San Diego has so much more to offer, and in this column, I wanted to share with you five of the lesser-known places that I've enjoyed while visiting San Diego. Please note that I did not include location, visiting hours or admission fees, as they may change.
TAKE 1
San Diego Air & Space Museum and San Diego Automotive Museum. I love museums and I especially love museums that are based on technology or industry. The auto museum has a world-class selection of autos, as well as Harley Davidson and Indian motorcycles. The Air museum has everything from a replication of the Wright brothers Flyer to the Apollo 9 Command Module, but my favorite is the Lockheed A-12 Blackbird, which was used by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to fly operational missions from 1964 to 1999 and still holds the record for flying from New York to London at just under 2 hours. These two museums share a parking lot so you can catch them both on the same trip
TAKE 2
Torrey Pines Gliderport. Torrey Pines Gliderport has about 100 years of flying history. Charles Lindberg and other notable figures in aviation flew here. It is the birthplace of RC airplanes and hang gliding. If you are daring you can sign up for a tandem hang glider trip or if you have the time and desire you can even take lessons and learn how to fly your own hang glider.
TAKE 3
Food Cart Pods. I am not sure if food carts are strictly an American thing or not, but many of the more interesting towns in the U.S. tend to have pods -- a gathering place for food trucks. These food trucks offer a variety of different food choices ranging from traditional fish tacos to culinary delights such as currywurst frankfurters or homemade pierogis. The food trucks are mobile but a quick Google search will show you where they are on a given day.
TAKE 4
Beaches. If you go to San Diego and fail to hit one of the many beaches you are totally missing the vibe of the city. Across the bay is Coronado Beach park, a short drive away is Mission beach and little further north is the world famous La Jolla and Torrey Pines parks.
TAKE 5
The Spruce Street Suspension Bridge. This pedestrian suspension bridge is 375 feet long and spans a canyon that is 80 feet below. It was originally built over 100 years ago but has been rebuilt many times since. It is just one of those little weird things that make San Diego such a special place. It is fairly close to the Air and Auto museums mentioned above so you may want to stop by and see it on your way to or from the museums.
San Diego is fairly safe city and with just the normal precautions you shouldn't have any issues. Enjoy the sand, sun, food and museums and have a great time at KubeCon 2019!
About the Author
Tom Fenton has a wealth of hands-on IT experience gained over the past 30 years in a variety of technologies, with the past 20 years focusing on virtualization and storage. He currently works as a Technical Marketing Manager for ControlUp. He previously worked at VMware in Staff and Senior level positions. He has also worked as a Senior Validation Engineer with The Taneja Group, where he headed the Validation Service Lab and was instrumental in starting up its vSphere Virtual Volumes practice. He's on X @vDoppler.