After a narrated tour through the scenic backcountry, visit a commercial grower and see how they produce a million plants under cover, including the exotic and brilliantly colored bromeliad. Then it’s off to lunch at Café des Artistes, a local favorite that sits within the Art Center at Fallbrook. The center exhibits the works of many Western U.S. artists, and tours will be scheduled to coincide with the center’s events. [Christmas is especially fun; the gallery features beautiful works of art that double as gifts.]  After lunch, enjoy a brief guided tour of historic downtown and its galleries, then explore the unique shops  on your own. You’ll love the day’s final stop – a nursery known locally as a “Disneyland for gardeners” – a colorful repository of growing things, garden sculptures and more. Even if you don’t have a green thumb, you’ll delight in the whimsical art, flower displays and wares in the nursery’s gift shop, which features gourmet foods as well as garden-related gifts. BEST IN FALL, WINTER AND SPRING.

Your group will travel to Fallbrook in San Diego’s pastoral North County, where the village will be decked out for the holidays. Visit the Fallbrook Historical Society’s prized Victorian home, on the museum grounds. The home will be festooned in its holiday finery. Then enjoy a farm-fresh lunch at Café des Artistes, adjacent to the Fallbrook Arts Center, which hosts a special holiday exhibit featuring one-of-a-kind gifts created by celebrated regional artists. Your final stop of the day is the area’s most popular nursery, known as “Disneyland for Gardeners.” You’ll have a brief tour of the grounds, which reflect the joys and beauty of the holidays. Even if you don’t have a green thumb, you’ll love the singular gifts offered at the nursery boutique, and the whimsical garden art found throughout the lush, bloom-bedecked property.  AFTER THANKSGIVING.

Meander among the flower and herbal gardens nestled in scenic hill country of East County San Diego, just a half hour from downtown. Bring your camera for this one – the explosion of springtime color provides photo ops galore. Garden owners give demonstrations on dried flower arranging. This field trip is especially fun during the Christmas season when the gardens and shops are dressed in their holiday finest. Then for a change of pace, learn the secrets of xeriscape gardening at a unique, educational garden in South County. Picnic lunches can be arranged. Either of these destinations can be combined with a guided tour of the nearby, little-known jewel-of-a-museum which houses some amazing anthropological and archeological treasures. BEST IN FALL, WINTER AND SPRING.

Stroll with docents who take you through trails that meander among 30 scenic acres overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The 24 gardens are dedicated to the conservation of rare and endangered plants from across the globe, and represent several distinct climatic areas: desert; tropical; subtropical; and Mediterranean. You’ll see the largest bamboo collection in the United States, roses, perennials, grasses, flowers and an herb garden that features medicinal and culinary herbs. The gift shop offers unique garden-related and handmade items. Catered picnics at the site or a trip to nearby Encinitas for shopping and lunch can follow. The paths are wheelchair accessible.

Come explore the world of the protea, an exotic flower of 150 varieties that is native to subtropical South Africa. This agricultural ranch sits on a 100 beautiful hilltop acres nestled in the hills of northern San Diego County. Visitors who travel up the winding road to the top of the mountain are rewarded with stunning panoramic views of the San Luis Rey River and scenic Pauma Valley. The slopes also support the cultivation of Australian field flowers, wax flowers of many hues, and various other exotic foliage. The ranch’s owner-expert will relate the story of the protea and demonstrate flower arranging and other uses of this other-worldly plant, which is shipped nationwide from this location. Lunch is at the quaint Lazy H Ranch in nearby picturesque Pauma Valley. NOTE: Tour LIMTIED to 25 people. The ranch is NOT wheelchair accessible. BEST IN OCTOBER/NOVEMBER and JANUARY-MARCH.

Your day in San Diego’s backcountry includes a fascinating tour of a gourd farm that grows thousands of these unusual, hard-shelled fruits. Learn how and why they are used and what it takes to cultivate the crop. Lunch is a picnic affair on the farm. You’ll also visit the Fallbrook Historical Society’s museum, where a docent will tell the story of the area’s by-gone days and how it has evolved from a completely agricultural area to the artists enclave of today. A third stop is the area’s favorite nursery, known locally as a “Disneyland for gardeners.” It is a colorful repository of growing things, garden sculptures and more. Even if you don’t have a green thumb, you’ll delight in the whimsical art, flower displays and wares in the nursery’s boutique, which features gourmet foods as well as garden-related gifts.
TOUR MAY BE MODIFIED TO INCLUDE THE GOURD ART EXHIBIT AT THE FALLBROOK ARTS CENTER DURING THE FIRST THREE WEEKS OF JUNE.

Forget everything you think you know about camels and get reacquainted with these curious, people-loving “ships of the desert.” You’ll get up-close-and-personal with adults Clyde, Jamelia, Leala and youngsters Valentine, Jasmine, Princess Knuckles and the other dozen camels at the dairy near Ramona. Owners/trainers Gil and Nancy will entertain with tales of their adventures and experiences of acquiring and birthing the camels. The 34-acre ranch also is home to racing turkeys, exotic birds, a pot-bellied pig and more. [These tours are available only to groups on a pre-arranged basis.] Then it’s a 10-minute drive to Ramona for a hardy, homemade lunch at the landmark Ramona Café. After lunch, step across Main Street to the Ramona Historical Society Museum. Docents tell the story of the town’s past as you tour historic farm buildings and a fully furnished Victorian home. Have fun discovering the collection of hundreds of home appliances, kitchen utensils, farm tools, artifacts and vintage clothing from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. BEST IN FALL, WINTER AND SPRING.

If you thought San Diego is all about Hispanic heritage – think again! This guided walking tour is led by an animated, knowledgeable historian/documentary film maker who knows the secrets of the neighborhood and its current characters. He’ll unfold history as you walk slowly past original homes, historic buildings, traditional Italian restaurants. You’ll enter the neighborhood’s centerpiece, the beautiful church with its stunning murals created by a famous Italian artist. There are few churches in the Southwest that compare. Learn how the neighborhood evolved over the last century, how Italians and Sicilians built a world-renowned fishing fleet, and the shady happenings during Prohibition. You’ll enjoy lunch at one of Little Italy’s landmark restaurants, and delight in shopping the unique boutiques. Themed tours also are available [i.e. for chocolate lovers; shoppers; bocce ball enthusiasts and more]. Tours can be customized to suit group mobility and preferences for dining and entertainment. [Walking route covers about three blocks in approximately 60-90 minutes.] Suitable for riding on the Coaster if your departure point is coastal North County. EVERY DAY EXCEPT SUNDAY.

Surf City USA welcomes you to its beaches and historic downtown with its funky shops, unusual homes, upscale boutiques, bistros and restaurants. Take a guided walk to learn the history of this Highway 101 town and see the signature Boat Houses, one of the first theaters to show “talkies,” the 120-year-old schoolhouse, and the cool, quiet gardens overlooking the Pacific at the Self-Realization Fellowship. Each participant will get a map of downtown. You may do lunch on your own in Encinitas, or the tour can include a drive up the coast to the iconic 101 Café in Oceanside, carefully restored to reflect its heyday in the 1950s. Options available for the afternoon include shopping in the Cedros Design District of Solana Beach or a visit to the Oceanside Harbor shops and restaurants. We’ll design the tour to fit your desires!

Your guided bus tour through interesting San Diego neighborhoods and across the bridge to Coronado Island takes you to an amazing array of public artworks. Destinations vary according to additions and removal of art projects. May include a guided tour through the City of Coronado’s library, with its beautiful architecture, glasswork and murals; the 30 bigger-than-life sculptures known as the Urban Trees which line the San Diego Harbor; the new Bob Hope Memorial next to the USS Midway; the new annex of the Museum of Contemporary Art, located in the renovated Santa Fe Railroad Station; the collection of the largest Hispanic murals in the country in Chicano Park; the new sculpture garden in Barrio Logan; various neighborhood murals and other wall art. We’ll lunch at Rebecca’s Restaurant, a funky favorite spot of South Park locals. You’ll be greeted by Rebecca, who serves up a bountiful buffet that includes hearty homemade soups, garden-fresh salads, fresh lemon tea and her award-winning brownies and scones.  

The Escondido area has several wineries, including the oldest and longest-operating one in the state, Bernardo Winery. Its beautifully landscaped grounds showcase many 100-year-old wine-making tools and equipment. The environment will transport you to back Old California. Come on a Friday and shop the farmer’s market and craft fair. At Belle Marie Winery in northern Escondido, you’ll sample award-winning wines that are sold only here, and taste from the barrels, a rare treat offered by few wineries. Orfila Winery in southern Escondido also produces award-winning wines in the spectacular setting of the pastoral San Pasqual Valley.

Come explore early California with behind-the-scenes tours of these beautiful missions in San Diego and Orange counties. (A day’s tour can include one or two of the missions, depending on allotted time.) Walking through the gardens and colonnades transports you to the every day life of the Spanish friars and California’s Native Americans. See how the missions were completely self-sufficient and grew and made everything they used or consumed. Learn how the first seeds of agriculture were planted here; how early irrigation systems worked; how adobe bricks were made; and how historians have the ability to identify the crops that were grown at particular sites.

This is the first of California’s 21 missions, founded by Junipero Serra in 1769. Today it is a lovely, quiet oasis amid commercial Mission Valley, its mission buildings beautifully preserved.

Called the King of the Missions because of its size, the church, grounds, retreat center, museum, gardens and historic cemetery are a welcome respite for many visitors. The mission’s chief friar is a botanist who will relate the history of San Luis Rey through a fascinating horticultural tour. You’ll see the first and oldest Peruvian pepper tree in the state. Lunch from the sustainable garden is an option.

Located about 30 miles north of Oceanside, San Juan Capistrano may be the most famous of the state’s 21 missions because of the legendary Return of the Swallows each spring. The spectacular gardens delight visitors, and historic re-creations illustrate how people lived and worked on these missions in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Discover the secrets in the basement of the landmark San Diego Air & Space Museum, located in beautiful Balboa Park. This expansive underground work space shelters vintage airplanes and other memorabilia which are lovingly restored by dedicated volunteers. In the afternoon, tour the museum’s main floor, where you’ll follow the history of flight from the first hot air balloon in 1783 to the present. Lunch choices: a picnic; casual dining in the sculpture garden at the San Diego Museum of Art; or lunch on your own.

Take a guided tour of this historic home in San Clemente, built by the town’s founder and developer, Ole Hanson, atop a bluff that affords a spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean and historic San Clemente pier. The elegant Mission-style estate contains many photographs of early Southern California and Orange County. Schedule your trip to coincide with one of the many exhibitions. Then enjoy lunch in a cozy restaurant in downtown San Clemente that once served as Ole Hanson’s office. You may also schedule time to explore the eclectic shops of Avenida Del Mar.

Balboa Park is rich with history and beauty. We offer three tours that provide different perspectives of San Diego’s “jewel.” Choose one of the following options for lunch: a picnic; casual dining in the sculpture garden at the San Diego Museum of Art; or lunch on your own.  

An architectural historian will walk with you down The Prado (pedestrian-only promenade) and relate the story of the park’s unique collection of iconic  buildings – how and why they were built, who built them, their “personalities” and what the future might hold. 

Did you know that one of the park’s gardens was once a nudist colony and the most popular “exhibit” at one the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition? Find out which garden and lots more with this leisurely walk in the park that will take you to several lovely gardens, including the historic Botanical Building, built for the 1915-16 California-Panama Exhibition.

Docents at the San Diego Historical Society and Museum will take you back to the early days of San Diego through lecture, a short walking tour, archivist presentation of rare photos, clothing and other artifacts, and a tour through the George Marston historic home on the edge of Balboa Park. Built in 1905 for Marston, a prominent San Diego philanthropist and founder of the San Diego Historical Society, the home has five acres of landscaped grounds that offer a picturesque blend of English Romantic themes with California influences. Lunch choices: a picnic or casual dining in the sculpture garden at the San Diego Museum of Art.

Take the path-less-traveled in La Jolla and see the treasures of the area that most tourists don’t. Start your day with an architectural tour of Salk Institute, situated on a bluff overlooking the beautiful Pacific. Then enjoy a delicious deli picnic lunch while watching the daredevils step into nothingness to fly their hang gliders off the Torrey Pines bluffs. In the afternoon, join a naturalist who will guide you down and around the paths of some startlingly beautiful coastal bluffs in Torrey Pines Reserve, one of only two places in the world where the trees grow. You’ll learn about the flora and fauna of the bluffs and have time to take advantage of the many photo ops.
OPTIONAL SUBSTITUTIONS: A trip to the top of Mount Soledad, a military memorial almost 600 feet above La Jolla with a 360-degree view; shopping in La Jolla’s Prospect Street area.

Take a full-day or half-day trip down California’s scenic and historic Highway 101. Trace the route of the surfers and the stars as it winds along the coast of San Diego County. Choose from a variety of stops along the way, depending on your time schedule: Oceanside harbor; the 101 Café [restored to its early 1950s condition; still serving great burgers, fries and real shakes… as well as sandwiches and entrée salads]; picturesque Carlsbad Village; beaches; historic Downtown Encinitas; the gardens of the bluff-top Self Realization Fellowship; downtown Del Mar; and lovely La Jolla. Tour can begin at either the north or south end. WEEKDAYS ONLY.

The future of Southern California’s water resources is making headlines, but when you turn on the tap, do you know where the water comes from and how it gets there? It’s a fascinating story of geography, geology, history, archeology and paleontology, and you can hear and see it on a guided tour of the Diamond Valley Reservoir [near Hemet]. Start with a ride to the top of the Southern Riverside County foothills for a spectacular view of the valley. Then traverse the dam in your motorcoach for more than a mile each way while you get a bird’s-eye view of the reservoir below. [This tour is not available to the general public.] Listen to the entertaining guide as she describes the fascinating and Herculean effort it took to build the dam and reservoir. The tour continues with a visit to the new, interactive, 23,000-square-foot Center for Water Education and – just across the patio – the 33,000-square-foot Western Center of Archeology and Paleontology. There you’ll meet Max, the largest mastodon discovered in the Western United States; Xena, a 10,000-year-old mammoth; and a 7-foot tall giant ground sloth that that roamed Southern California millenniums ago. You also can enjoy two movie shorts on a 270-degree movie screen. The theatre rumbles and shakes when the Ice Age mammals walk and the giant bulldozers roll. If your tour originates south of Temecula, you’ll have a late lunch on your own in Old Town Temecula. If your tour originates in the north, an alternative for lunch will be announced. Because of the late lunch, a mid-morning snack will be provided. TOUR AVAILABLE THURDAY THROUGH SUNDAY ONLY.

The most-fun class you’ll ever take! Dr. Phil Pryde, a San Diego State University professor, teaches and entertains you with all he knows about the human and natural history of Anza Borrego Desert State Park and San Diego’s East County. Dr. Phil will lead an optional leisurely walk in the gardens at the park’s visitors center. Then enjoy lunch at the beautiful Borrego Springs Resort, with a view to the golf course and the mountains. If time, schedule and conditions permit, we’ll make a shop-stop in Julian, and/or Dr. Phil, former president of the Audubon Society, will take the group to see the nesting eagles near Lake Henshaw.  If your tour is scheduled for Thursday through Sunday, we’ll stop at Dudley’s Bakery in Santa Ysabel. One of our most popular springtime tours. (FEBRUARY – APRIL ONLY)