San-dy Diego

Good people of San Diego, I come to rate your beaches and taste your beer. And maybe some other stuff... Basically, I'm supposed to come up with a list of the best beaches in the U.S., and I got tired of reading top 10 lists, where each list has 10 totally different beaches, and so I decided to decide for myself. Or I conned my editor into allowing me to do that. Something like that, anyway. I'm pretty sure the travel expense account with a stay at one of the best hotels in San Diego had something to do with it, but to make a long story short, I'll be in San Diego for a few days - Moving from beach to beach in my professional capacity as a beach bum.

First, it saddens me no end that San Diego has banned alcohol on beaches. While that adds points for family friendliness, its a bit difficult to scoot off to a bar when you're not in the mood to wriggle a toe, let alone getting up and walking out and back. Now from what my preliminary research shows, I'll likely be spending a lot of time on Coronado Island, Imperial Beach and Silver Strand Beach.

I've been looking at the photos, and Coronado Central Beach looks like a mighty popular palce, but to my expert beach scanning eye, Imperial Beach looked ethereally beautiful. I might also spend some time on Black's Beach, but exploring Torrey Pines in a birthday suit is not something that's on my wish list - Maybe a few years back, but not now, with midlife crisis just around the bend. But a job's a job. You gotta do what you gotta do. You know, immerse yourself into the culture - Do as the Romans do - Take off your clothes on Black's Beach... Course, all this is just a plan, and as we all know, plans are made to be cast away at the first sign of other, more attractive options - Such as a wild swing in the hedonistic lecherousness of the Gaslamp Quarter.

Which, btw, is where I'll be spending most of the nights. I've been told by my jaded friends that I won't be missing Vegas any time soon. End of the day, though, this is about checking out the beaches, and I plan to continue the exploration to the very ends of the earth. Well... Maybe not, but the East Coast is like, the end of the earth.