San Diego was the second destination I visited in the United States. San Diego is one of the most beautiful cities in California and USA. San Diego is very modern with some shiny buildings (like the Marriott Hotel) and a lovely waterfront (Embarcadero and seaport village). There are also many historic places of interest, particularly the Gaslamp Quarter, the Hotel Del Coronado and the Balboa Park. My hostel was centrally located in the historic Gaslamp Quarter, making exploration of San Diego pretty convenient. The Balboa Park is full of exquisite Spanish revival architecture from the Panama-California Exposition. Another memorable visit was the San Diego zoo – it was the first time I saw a panda and a koala. I visited during November and was surprised at how early the sunset was in San Diego – around 5:00 pm. It was almost the same as Alberta and it really restricted my sightseeing here in San Diego. During this visit, the Canadian dollar was at an all time low against the US dollar, making this trip very expensive. I also visited Tijuana during this trip. Please note all San Diego photos are scanned photos. The shiny curved building on left of the photo is the Marriott Hotel.