There is no shortage of articles that address this topic. A quick Google search of the title of this blog post will uncover lists aplenty about the great things that San Diego has to offer. The allure of this acclaimed vacation-destination city is easily confirmed by my first-hand experience. I came to San Diego in 2010 after not-so-begrudgingly accepting orders to relocate to the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. After four and a half years, the city is still delivering on its promise of endless delights.
First, let’s just address the 800 pound gorilla:
Does anything look strange about this picture? At first glance, I thought the powers that be were tampering with the evidence. It would appear that in June there was a malfunction in the weather station’s instrumentation because the high temperature varied by less than six degrees and hovered around a perfect 72 degrees. Six months later, in the cold season, the temperature looked eerily similar.
//Side-tangent. I just finished walking the dog, wearing a tank top, shorts and flip-flops in the dead heat of winter, and it was a little warm outside – close to 80 degrees. The pup needed some shade to cool off. It should be noted that San Diego is a top destination for pets. Canines love it – it was ranked as the top dog-friendly city in the U.S. by Rent.com. //End side-tangent
People outside of San Diego must get tired of hearing how great the weather is here, but strangely enough, even though we live in it every day, we talk about it endlessly. We relish in our complaints of “adverse weather” – two straight days of light rain – and the stand-still freeway phenomenon that occurs with the introduction of 0.5 inches of rain. We cower in the face of weather adversity – and we love it.
For the Rady community and San Diego at large, wide-ranging color palette sunsets may be inspirational. According to one Forbes contributor, San Diego was the best place to launch a startup in 2014. The budding startup scene is right in line with the Rady School’s ethos, which is fortified with the capstone Lab-to-Market series and Rady’s own accelerator, StartR. The enthusiasm and bright future outlooks that accompany entrepreneurs and startups are a perfect fit for San Diego, which ranks as leader in clean tech, life science companies, and is one of the happiest and healthiest cities in the country.
Indeed, one of the reasons for all the happiness in San Diego is the myriad of outdoor options to be active (not to mention the 350 day window of opportunity to take part in these activities). Water sports, running trails, athletic competitions, hiking, cycling… San Diego has it all, or is within a relatively short drive of where you can find it. Drive three hours to the northeast, for example, and enjoy a weekend of skiing in Big Bear.
My time in San Diego has been every bit as wonderful as travel brochures advertise. I look forward to more years of uncovering everything it has to offer.
Vance Lopez is a full-time Rady School MBA student and one of Rady School’s student MBA ambassadors. Learn more about Vance and all of our student MBA ambassadors or connect with them one-on-one here.Â