You may live an additional 24 hours this February due to the leap year, but will you live it up? What you would do if you only had one more day left?
There are all the usual things – the San Diego Zoo, Balboa Park, Gaslamp, et cetera – that you could do. But what about being a little more adventurous during your extra 24 hours this Monday? • Pet a gray whale. Every winter, gray whales migrate from Alaska to Baja to breed. At nearly 50 feet long (babies are 16 feet!), these graceful creatures are a sight to behold. In Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur, panga boats bring guests right to the gray whales and their calves in the lagoons. If you’re lucky, the whales will allow you to pet them and pose for photos as they swim around the boats. • Visit the amazing sculptures at Borrego Springs in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. There are more than 130 steel-welded sculptures created by ‘Perris Jurassic Park’ owner/artist/welder Ricardo Breceda in Borrego Springs, including a serpent, scorpion and T. rex. • Ride a glider at the Torrey Pines Gliderport. Take in a view of the Pacific from a totally different vantage point as you paraglide above Black’s Beach. Feeling a little phobic? The view as a spectator can be just as breathtaking. • And while you’re at Black’s Beach, why not go au naturel at the clothing-optional beach. • Hike to Potato Chip Rock. If you don’t have your Instagram or Facebook post posing on the Potato Chip Rock, you may lose your San Diego membership card. The steep trail on Mount Woodson above Poway Lake leads to the iconic Potato Chip Rock, a thin slab of granite over the canyon. Bring plenty of water, a lunch (eat potato chips while waiting your turn on the rock), and a camera. Actually, your smartphone will probably do the trick. • Eat a fish taco and drink a cold Corona at the original Rubio’s on Mission Bay Drive in Pacific Beach. Thanks to Ralph Rubio, who reportedly brought the dish up from San Felipe, we enjoy fish tacos aplenty today. Pay respect to this treat with a visit to his first restaurant, which opened in 1983. • Or head just south of Rosarito, Baja California, to the fishing village of Popotla (look for the arch after the former movie studio), where you can drive onto the beach, pick a fish just plucked out of the sea and have an authentic Baja-style fish taco prepared in front of you. Served with fresh salsa, limes and a cold Pacifico, along with ocean breezes, it doesn’t get any fresher than that. • Ride in a hot air balloon. 2016 may see the end of San Diego ballooning as we know it. Because of land development and the outlawing of balloons in public parks, launch and landing sites are dwindling fast. Only a few companies, like Panorama Balloon Tours and Sky’s the Limit, are still in operation. Up, up and away! • Go skydiving in Oceanside. Tsunami Skydivers, located at Oceanside Municipal Airport, offers thrilling jumps from 13,000 feet out of a colorful, fast-climbing PAC 750XL jump plane that was designed for skydiving. • Visit 5,000- to 8,000- year-old cave drawings in Cataviña, Baja California. It’s about a six hour drive south of Tijuana but a short 20 minute walk in the desert and then up ancient granite boulders to a rock shelter where you can get up close and personal with prehistoric art. • Ride the Giant Dipper at Belmont Park. It may not seem too thrilling, but if you have not tried it, Mission Beach’s wooden roller coaster is a bit of a wild ride. The coaster has been around for more than 90 years, but this to-do only takes a minute and 45 seconds to complete. • Make a splash at the Marine Room’s High Tide Breakfast. On select dates, the water explodes against the La Jolla restaurant’s windows. It’s just enough to momentarily distract a person from their Grand Marnier Chocolate Brioche french toast. $38 per person. • Sports betting at Caliente in Tijuana. The sports book across the border offers wagering on a wide range of American sports — even on special events like the Oscars, set for Sunday, Feb. 28. • Explore the tide pools at low tide. Not only do we have marine life in our backyard, we’ve got world-renowned scientists to illuminate it for us. Take a guided tour with Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. • Check out the “Sin Ship” on South Coronado Beach. Violent storms from El Niño recently revealed the rusted remains of SS Monte Carlo, which was an entertainment ship parked three miles from Coronado that was ripped from its moorings by an El Niño-induced storm in 1936 and then washed up on the beach. • Eat apples and pie in Julian. Walk around the charming downtown and stop for a slice of Dutch apple pie at the Julian Pie Company. If you visit in the winter, you might even see snow. • Kayak La Jolla Cove. Companies like Bike and Kayak Tours and Everyday California will take you through several caves in La Jolla, where you’ll see leopard sharks and more. • Walk the trails of Sunset Cliffs. You’ve seen images of Point Loma’s Sunset Cliffs Natural Park in movies about surfing and California too many times to count. Now it’s time to get out and enjoy them before the sun sets, although, do stick around for that spectacular sunset. • Fish off the Ocean Beach Pier. It’s the longest concrete pier on the West Coast and standing at the end feels like being in the middle of the ocean. You may end up catching your dinner. • Do yoga overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Although the free yoga classes at Palisades Park above the Law Street beach in PB are only on weekend mornings (and leap day is on Monday), you could spread out your yoga mat at sunset on Feb. 29 and align your chakras to be grateful for an extra 24 hours of life.