What a time it is at the Del Mar Racetrack! The best memories come from betting and drinking with…read moreyour friends rooting for your favorite horse. Del Mar Racetrack is a must when visiting San Diego and is such a fun experience. My friends and I usually take the Amtrak train from Orange County to Del Mar station, they have shuttles to take you from the train to the venue for free which is nice. Dress to impress as well, they have a dress code but not too many people follow it. Some people go all out with suits, dresses and fancy dress wear. Tickets are affordable and they have a variety of ticket packages to choose from, we usually sit in GA area. As for the venue itself, its beautiful from the outside and the track is well maintained. If you look from the balcony, you can see the ocean! It's pretty confusing in my opinion to navigate each floor and where to find food concessions. They need to upgrade the building and rennovate the interior. The food here isn't too good but Tanner's Prime Burgers is a must. Betting is also confusing so I would recommend looking up a Youtube vid or ask some people around the stadium on how to do it. When in doubt, hammer Fresu, Rispoli, Berrios or Hernandez!

Del Mar is always a delightful venue for races, food, and wine events. It's beautifully surrounded…read moreby greenery as well as fabulous people. Never a dull moment! One of the great things as well is that you're minutes away from Downtown Del Mar which is a must for dining, cocktails, and entertainment! Highly recommend!

Worth the price of admission…read more Located towards the rear of the San Diego Fair it's ideal for families. They offer smaller scale rides that are cheaper to get into. More space and space dining tables to sit and relax. Mini ferris wheels and a bible class!

Decided to sign up for this race vs. the SGK Race for the Cure for 2011. I had done the SGK for…read moreseveral years and needed a change. I have heard of the IG from several friends so wanted to check out the girl power. Traffic was crazy exiting off the 5 freeway and Via de la Valle to get to the Del Mar Fairgrounds. However, parking was a breeze. Parking was free and tons of spaces. There was a 5k and 10k, and this time I opted for a 5k since I had just done the LA RnR Half a week prior and I was going to run the Silver Strand Half the following weekend. The 10k started about 15 mins before the 5k. If you're wanting a PR, you're in the wrong race. There are no corrals, and everyone starts at the same time. Also consider there are a lot of mother/daughter teams and lots of kids and strollers. Perhaps I should have started right at the front since we were in the middle of the pack and got stuck behind some walkers and some pretty slow pacers. I didn't care so much for the route. The first mile was just too crowded and there were too many people you were running into. It wasn't until mile 2 was when you're on the open road and you were able to spread out. Mile 2 was uphill, which sucked. Mile 3 was downhill and you finish back at the fairgrounds track. The race was an experience. It's a good way to run/walk with your mom/daughter or to empower your girl spirit. I considered this my combo recovery run post-half and training run for the upcoming half... ================================================ Stats: Overall 88/944 Division 11/156 Gun 29:34 Chip 28:51 Pace 9:19

Hey ! Hey ! Hey ! It's another one !…read more The fifth annual 'Athleta Iron Girl' was at the Del Mar Fairgrounds this year ! The course started and finished on the fairgrounds. It was one of the easier runs for me since it was mostly a flat course with a slight incline towards the end. Great for newbies and experienced runners. I only participated in the 5K since I'm slowly incorporating short runs in between my training for my next BIG race in January: Disney's Tinkerbell WOOOT !!! I enjoyed seeing the mother/daughter teams and even little girls running while they held hands with their mamas. Uber cute ! Although, I think they should have had a separate wave for the young daughters and mama teams just to avoid any mishaps or collisions. Perks: post-race breakfast goodie bag, giveaways, performance tech t-shirts (so femme), professional timing, personalized race bibs, and love the custom finisher medal ! Proceeds go towards the Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF) to help find a cure for all children with cancer. WIN ! Not so perky: When a little girl can run just as fast as me towards the finish line. Yup yup. Little rugrat was as tall as my knee. haha. She almost bruised my ego by nearly beating me. ooh wee it was close ! (note: still recovering from a knee injury)...not that I'm making excuses or anything. Overall, it was a fairly organized event and their website has more than enough information for participants. Great job Iron Girl ! I would LOVE to make this an annual run and hopefully get my mom involved. We both can go all out with matchy-matchy pink outfits to support breast cancer awareness and hold hands while we sing along and run ! OH JOY !

I arrived about an hour before opening because I knew parking and traffic would be crazy. There was…read morealready a line forming but I was still able to find parking easily and got in right at opening. There were lots of food and drink options to choose from. My friends and I shared most of the items so we could try as much as possible. Almost everything was very expensive, especially on top of paying for admission and parking. I was disappointed with the egg salad sandwich, but I enjoyed everything else we tried, including the lumpia, ube mochi, mango sticky rice, tanghulu, and watermelon slushie. It was a fun experience with friends and a good way to try a variety of foods and desserts.

Fun day out with all kinds of food. More Asian food than anything else…read more Food is expensive and there's no place to get a soda. Lots of different booths with almost the same foods. The weather wasn't too hot so it was tolerable to walk around and enjoy looking. It was very crowded. It's just a once a year thing. I'll probably be back next year.

Always a good time to visit the county fair. Come for the food, drink and exhibits. I enjoy the art…read morework, projects and u pique collections of various items (e.g. matchbooks, Starbucks glasses, comics, stuffed animals). The animals are also a nice walk through to see award winning chickens, roosters, hogs and rabbits. They also have all the rides if you want to take the risk.

Obsessed with the Fair! We go at least once every year, and it's become something my family really…read morelooks forward to once school's out and summer rolls around. All the foods, rides, the blazing sun (yes, I'm even sentimental about the weather!), and general buzz gives all those nostalgic good feelings. It's pricey, but there's a couple deals here and there to shave off some of the price tag. Either way, be mentally prepared to spend. Even still, the value is there! The food is legit delicious and my kids have an absolute blast. Pro tip - check the daily event schedule to help map out your day.

Saturday, 4-25-2026: We came for the 2026 San Diego Spring Home & Garden Show held in O' Brien…read moreHall. I was able to get a discounted parking ticket online at $4.00 off coming to a total of only $16.00. I was able to conveniently upload the ticket in my "wallet" on my phone. There were a lot of vendors present that were geared toward home improvement then there were the other ones who were very pushy hawking skin care. That's not what we came for. We were looking into a water system for our home & hoped to see the folks selling Murphy beds this year. They had an outdoor area with garden items and plants. There were 3 food trucks out there. We shared a delicious cappuccino. We spoke to Life Source Water Systems for a bit & with Verizon. We had switched to T-Mobile and regret it. We may switch back to Verizon. With Life Source we submitted for financing, got approved but changed our minds about the system when we found out they don't eliminate hard water. So, why go with this system and at a $8,000 price tag? It was nice to visit and for it to be in this location in Del Mar. it's a very pretty area. It was odd to see the actual buildings because we usually come here for the fair and the buildings are obscured by tents and kiosks. At any rate the fairgrounds are well maintained & always offer a nice, clean, and spacious venue.

Amazing exhibit with a huge collection of Banksy pieces, including statues, prints, CDs, and more…read more Some of the works look like replicas of current installations, but it still feels like a very complete and immersive showcase of his art and style. One thing I really liked is that the exhibit lets you move at your own pace. You can take your time with each piece, and there's a lot to look at. There are also several video displays that highlight different locations, events, and specific works, which adds a lot of context to the experience. There's plenty here to keep you busy -- you could easily spend close to two hours if you really want to read everything and take in every detail. The exhibit is located at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, which makes it really convenient to visit. There's plenty of parking and it's easy to get in and out without any hassle. Definitely worth checking out if you're a Banksy fan or just enjoy street art.

Who would have known that this one of America's oldest half marathon? I sure did not…read more This race starts and ends at San Dieguito County Park.This is one of Kathy Loper's event so expect the price to be very reasonable if you register early. You run your race and you eat tons of chili. I am not a beer drinker but from what I was told, you can drink all the beer you want. What a way to build an appetite running through rolling hills. To avoid potential traffic problems we were asked to park at the Del Mar Fairgrounds and we were shuttle to the start of the race and you get shuttled back. This worked out well, if you are early enough you can actually drive yourself to San Dieguito and park by the streets. It is highly discouraged due to the limited parking. What can I say, it was a great experience and I am looking forward next year's run.

I am a supportive active friend. A good friend of mine who happens to be a stay at home mom wanted…read moreto do this race. We had quasi trained for and ran the Carlsbad Half marathon three weeks earlier and she had decided that the weather was good enough to try this race. There were signups at Roadrunner the day before the race. The sign-ups were from 1-4 and I show up around 3:00 and my friend calls and tells me to run in because there were only 5 spots left. Of course this increases my sense of urgency and I dont even have time to try and talk myself out of it! oh CRAP! no preparation and a birthday party the night before. Some how I made it without dying. Unfortunately, I will continue to push the envelope to see what I can get away with! This race is actually not a bad race but there are several areas for improvement. Lets start off with the good. It is sponsored by the Hash House Harriers! they describe themselves as 'alcoholics with a running problem'. There is beer on the course, at mile one which is too early, but I had some at mile 12 just because I could. The scenery is nice, it did not feel like I was in San Diego rather in the country. And it is hilly but I like the rolling hills. Beer garden at the end!!! I had Stone IPA, but I saw Ballast point and Green flash. Most people in this race were runners and were friendly to talk to. Negatives: Parking. stinks. No. Chip. timing. Walking UPHILL after the race to the beer garden. the 1.5 mile walk back to my car. Starting the race 5 minutes after everyone else. no mile markers at every mile. Waiting on the freeway exit for 30 minutes trying to get off on Loma Santa Fe. They gave out the same medal from 2 previous years.

I've been coming to this event every year since it started and it's my favorite event of the year…read more This year I went both days and had another wonderful time. The food, the vendors, the weather, the location, the libations, and the people who put it all together really make it special. Every year I have a favorite thing that I ate. The first year I had VIP so I won't count the fantastic things I ate in there, but outside it was probably Tanner's and all the Brandt beef. The second year was either an enoki mushroom taco or hamachi crudo. This year it was Matsu's yellowtail flown in from Japan the night before. I look forward to this event every year and every year has been a bit different but I never leave disappointed. Looking forward to 2026

The third annual Del Mar Wine + Food Festival was held last month at the Surf Sports Park on Via De…read moreLa Valle. The venue was the soccer practice fields of the local women's professional club, the San Diego Wave. Having also attended the previous versions, this year's Grand Tasting weekend was even larger with over 300 vendors and close to 10,000 attendees over the two days. I have volunteered each time to help with different aspects of the festival including some of the ancillary events earlier in the week. One of the benefits of setting up on these grounds was that there was plenty of open space. The walk to reach some of the displays was quite far, and I felt bad at how isolated those vendors were. The VIP tent was placed in the back unlike the inaugural year when it was closer to the main entrance. Another aspect that I appreciated was the nearby on-site parking. The charge was $20 per vehicle, but the proximity was worth the price. They may want to improve the dirt road leading to the lot as it was filled with potholes. An area of needed enhancement was a closer drop-off/pick-up zone for attendees using a ride share service. I witnessed many people being dropped off where the toll booths were located. That meant a walk of over half a mile to reach the festival entrance which was not a good situation for those who were nattily dressed for the occasion. Perhaps a dedicated section located near the vendor entrance on the west end of the fields would be a solution. Upon checking in, we each received a bracelet that permitted in-and-out privileges and a complimentary wine glass commemorating the event. There were several spots that had sofas, chairs, stools, high top tables, etc where you could relax and enjoy the food and beverages. I still think more seating and shade were needed given the amount of unused space that was available. A kiosk near the entrance displayed a map of the grounds with all of the participating vendors listed. The different zones were also shown on the map. What was missing was the identification of which vendors were in each zone. That linkage would have been useful to guide attendees of where to find their favorite businesses. More such kiosks would have been beneficial too. My observation was that the Saturday spread was better than the one on Sunday. The diversity of offerings was also not as impressive this time. For example, we noticed that there were minimal dessert samples offered. Other than Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams, where were the sweet treats like cookies, donuts, and pastries? I was also looking for a greater variety of seafood items. I didn't find any vendors using lobster or scallop and yet, caviar was used by a couple of places. The Brandt Beef zone was popular as different meat cuts provided by the purveyor were utilized to showcase the creations of the restaurants. The weather cooperated nicely on each day. A strong breeze kicked up occasionally which made objects (e.g. business cards and pamphlets) that were not secured a risk of becoming a flying hazard at the booths. Several more health and wellness vendors participated including one where you could receive a complimentary stretching session. A live demonstration stage was also added where you could watch chefs show off their skills like carving up a bluefin tuna. Overall, the DMWFF was a nice outdoor exhibition of the local culinary scene that will continue to grow and improve.

On February 17, 2023 I was involved in a hit and run accident in Houston TX in NRG Park…read more My car was hit by a Forklift that was operated by an employee of Ray Cammack's RCSFUN Company. I spoke to Joe Lucas Safety Director-exchanged information and was assured that I would be "taken care of". After many promises and many months -NOTHING. I finally turned my case into my insurance and they tried to contact this company-so far no response. I just wonder about the safety of the rides under the supervision of this company.

About Buzzybooths - Me and my boyfriend always take photo…read morebooth pics whenever we can but they can get pricey, it was so cool to see a free picture stand that not only does stand still photos .. but our favorite, BOOMERANGS! Such a cute idea to have around the fair. we also got some attractions in the background which made it more memorable. We will definitely be taking more !! :) #RCSFUN #MIDWAYGOURMET #POPGOESTHEFAIR ## #buzzybooth