20 Signs You Grew Up In San Diego

From beaches to Mexican food, if you've ever lived, experienced or visited San Diego, you will hands down recognize these twenty San Diego signs.

Whether you live there now, left for college, or even live somewhere else now, you’ll totally get these twenty signs, even if you aren’t home in SD! San Diego is hailed as one of the most beautiful vacation spots in California and is home to a variety of things from beautiful beaches to a bustling city. Keep reading for 20 signs you grew up in San Diego!

1. Mexican Food takes up about 50% of your diet.

Whether it’s going out or staying home, Mexican food is a staple in all your meals. You also know you can’t eat Mexican food anywhere else other than San Diego because it’ll never taste as good.

2. The other 50% of your diet consists of Avocados.

Avocados on toast. Guacamole. Grilled. Avocado in salads. Any and every way it can make its way into your diet.

3. You know Roberto’s, Rigoberto’s, Alberto’s, and Cotijas are drastically different.

And you definitely have a favorite. There’s also the guarantee that the more of a dive the place is, the better their food will taste.

4. It’s not summer until you’ve gone to the Del Mar Fair.

Turns out the Del Mar fair is actually known by everyone and people actually travel from all over for it. Meanwhile, you’ve been getting in free with the summer reading list for as long as you could get away with it. Even though it’s a little gross and a little trashy, you love the overpriced fried food, the sketchy rides, and the rip off carnival games.

5. You pull out your coats and jeans as soon as it’s below 70 degrees.

Clouds? Jacket. Breeze? Jeans. As soon as the temperature drops into the 60’s, you know it’s time to break out the winter wardrobe and your boots.

6. You don’t have snow days. You have fire days.

And sometimes black out days. Since you’re in San Diego, you’ve never actually seen it snow outside but you do know August through November you’ll definitely be leaving school (and maybe your house) because of fires.

7. You know just how dangerous rain can be.

From everyone forgetting how to drive a car to the floods washing away 90% of San Diego, rain can be scary. There are more car crashes, trees start falling down, your parents probably texted you and told you to wait to drive home, and no one had the clothes or shoes to get them through our El Niño’s.

8. Tornadoes mean the end of the world, but you can sleep through earthquakes.

Let’s be honest, you’re pretty scared of the mid-west because they have tornadoes. They have GIANT SPINNING VORTEXES THAT TEAR DOWN ANYTHING IN THEIR WAY AND RIP YOU INTO THE SKY. THAT’S TERRIFYING! Earthquakes are nothing. You don’t even bother getting under the doorway or away from windows anymore.

9. You look forward to seeing the Cardiff kook but have never dressed him up.

Don’t lie. You love seeing him dressed up even if you have no clue what it’s for. You always said you’d dress him up before you left San Diego but the chances are you never did. But that’s okay. It’s still fun just to see him.

10. Day trips up the coast are a usual occurrence.

Whether it’s up to Carlsbad, Newport, or Laguna, anything is just a couple hours away from San Diego. Plus it’s totally normal to go up on a day trip to Long Beach or LA and you see everyone does the same. Even Disneyland is just an hour away!

11. You’ve probably explored more of LA than you have of San Diego.

It’s just that you’re always up in LA for concerts and day trips, making it easy for you to want to go everywhere and see everything. It’s a little adventure! Meanwhile, San Diego’s just your backyard and you tend to forget how great of a city it is.

12. Every freeway is the freeway.

The 5. The 15. The 805. You had no clue the rest of the world didn’t do this and now you’re questioning why they don’t.

13. A 30-minute drive in any direction gets you anywhere.

30 minutes: beach, city, mountains. Literally, everything is just a 30 minute drive away from Julian apple pies, to the airport, to an art museum, to Fletcher’s Cove. You can get anywhere.

14. Everyone has a crazy story from Sleep Train.

From J Cole to the 93.3 Summer kick off, you get some BIG names at Sleep Train and you and all your friends (and your entire school) were all out there. Remember that time Courtney got her stomach pumped? Or when Sam’s car broke down on the way there and you got a ride from some group in a limo? What about that time the lawn set on fire? Yeah, it’s pretty fun and even if you don’t remember the night, someone will remind you just how much fun you had.

15. You know where the surf meets the turf.

At DEL MAAARRRR. There’s a smile on each face and a winner in each race, where the surf meets the turf at Del Maaaarrrrr. You’ve had that song memorized since you were a kid and since then have heard them remix it every year trying to make it more modern, but the lyrics always stay the same.

16. You grew up having a pass to the Zoo, the Wild Animal Park, Legoland, or Seaworld.

You may not go anymore but when you were a kid, every day off and every weekend was spent there with your family running around feeding giraffes, petting rays, and playing with Legos.

17. You still call it the Wild Animal Park.

Let’s be real. None of us even knew that the Zoo owned the Wild Animal Park and the name “The Zoo Safari Park” just sounds dumb. It’s still always going to be the Wild Animal Park.

18. You know all of the right beaches in San Diego and the right back roads to get there.

You’ll never find parking in Del Mar. La Jolla always stinks from the seals. Fletcher’s Cove usually is filled with families. Moonlight’s good for bonfires and Solana is nice for surfers. You know them all like the back of your hand and all the short back roads to get you there.

19. You have a favorite beach, mall, farmers market, breakfast place, and even freeway.

There’s so much to do and you know each place has something different to offer so of course, you’ll end up having your favorites.

20. You know how lucky you are to live in San Diego.

San Diego is one of the top tourist destinations on the West Coast and sometimes you forget just how lucky you are. You’ve grown up with the best beaches, the best weather, the best people, and the best food. No matter where you go and how far you stray, San Diego will always be home.