Spring brings about the most beautiful natural wonders, and San Diego has been receiving an abundance of them this year! All over San Diego, natural beauties can be seen, making for a more unique side of San Diego!
The Flower Fields, located in Carlsbad, California, just 30 mins away from downtown San Diego, are the perfect location for an afternoon stroll. The flowers seen blooming here are ranunculus, specifically buttercup ranunculus. Colors from white, pink, orange, yellow, and mixed varieties can be seen blooming from mid-March, all the way to Mother’s Day weekend in May. The weekends are filled with local venders serving refreshing beverages and snacks, along with tractor rides through the gardens. The Flower Fields are open seven days a week, being the perfect location for photos!
Located in the town of Escondido, San Diego, 30 mins from downtown, the San Diego Safari Park, sisters to the San Diego Zoo (link zoo post here), features their butterfly display from March 11-April 23. Visitors can walk into a butterfly sanctuary filled with these colorful friends. The brighter the color clothing you wear, the better chance a butterfly will land on you. Have your cameras ready, these fast little creatures will buzz around in a moment’s notice. Butterfly food, which is watermelon soaked in nectar, is sold in the park to increase the chances of butterflies landing on you!
While at the park, be sure to check out the Lorikeet Landing, a live aviary filled with colorful birds that you can feed, along with the Cheetah Run, watching the cheetahs run in seconds across a grass field!
With the increased amount of rain Southern California has received this past winter, there is a ‘Super Bloom’ of wild flowers in the desert! An hour and a half day trip from downtown San Diego, these bright wildflowers can be seen covering this small desert town. While here, be sure to stop in Coyote Canyon to see the flowers, along with the flowers on Henderson Canyon Road. Environmentalists have been discussing how this ‘Super Bloom’ could be once in a lifetime, with record breaking blooms!
If you don’t want to drive roundtrip in one day, La Casa del Zorro, a small resort and spa I stumbled upon while day tripping, is the perfect location to stay at, or camping is also an option.
*Photos were taken in late March.
Located one hour from downtown, the Temecula Blueberry Farm opens up to visitors in May, where you can enjoy picking your own fresh berries. The blueberries are grown on a large open farm, in the hills of Temecula, a neighboring town of San Diego. This is the perfect trip for families, and a picnic can even be taken up here! If you are here without kids, I recommend pairing this trip with Wilson Creek Winery, to taste some local almond champagne!
With the weather being enjoyable and warm, spring is the perfect time of the year to wine taste. With over 115 wineries just in San Diego, it is time to start taking advantage of all the local wine! I enjoy going to Orfila Winery, which is near the Safari Park in Escondido. The property is stunning, the tastings are open to the public, and there are so many photo ops!
With the superbloom of flowers, wild flowers can be seen literally everywhere, even on the side of the road, like the photos above. Located off Poinsettia and PCH in Carlsbad, there are countless fields of these yellow wild flowers, with a ton of buds that haven’t even opened yet! Chasing this superbloom is one of the best spring time activities to do, because it may be awhile before we get this again!