You Can't Have Halloween Without Pumpkins

Haul yourself out to Valley Center and go to Bates Nut Farm. I promise that you will feel much better about not only your entire Halloween season, but yourself as a person. Do not pick up your annual carving pumpkin at Vons, or Ralph's, or God forbid, CVS. Oh, no. Make an afternoon of it, grab a wheel barrel and wander around a virtual, day-glo orange field to find that perfect pumpkin.

While your pumpkin will cost you a little bit, and the gigantic, decorative pumpkins that they also sell will cost you a bit more, wandering around the festive lot is free. There's a corn maze, face painting, craft and art vendors peddling their wares, blow-up slides, a store with literally every kind of candy, dried fruit or knick-knack imaginable and so much more.

It really is the perfect way to begin your fall/spooky season (my personal favorite) and then you know that your pumpkin is special, lovingly and painstakingly singled out by your discerning eye. The pumpkin patch opens for business on Sept. 27, from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., every weekday through Oct. 31. Bates Nut Farm is located at 15954 Woods Valley Road Valley Center. Their phone number is (760)749-3333, and for more information on the special events they hold visit batesnutfarm.biz.

Goin' 'Round the Velodrome

The San Diego Velodrome has been this crazy enigma for me for some time now. I've heard tales of where it is, though I had never previously caught a glimpse of it. So with a friend coming to visit, I thought I'd hunt this mysterious beast down. The beauty of it is that it is completely free. Free parking, free to sit on the outdoor bleachers and watch and you're allowed to bring in your own food and drink. We showed up at 6:30 p.m., when I heard the signing up and practicing before the actual races began. As time went on, more people showed up but the bleachers still remained fairly sparse. The track is pretty terrifying, sloping down at a crazy angle. The races were fast and fun to watch, and during practice time the ringleader rode a motorcycle, clipping the cyclists' heels in a motivational, "go faster" type exercise. The track is located at 2221 Morley Field Dr. It's a small driveway, surrounded by San Diego County vehicles and a tiny sign that says "Velodrome" with an arrow. Just keep driving straight until you see a park. Leave your car there and head for the giant flood lights.

Enter: Balboa Park

For me, the quintessential free activity in San Diego has always been going to Balboa Park. In fact I used to have birthday parties there when I was little. This public space can offer you whatever your heart may desire: free concerts, free museums, picnic spaces, IMAX movies, wildlife, culture, plants, flowers and lavish restaurants.

The park is always good for an impromptu picnic (my favorite location is on the grass near the lily pond, right in front of the arboretum). When you're done eating you can look for the koi fish and baby turtles in the pond or walk through the gorgeous, free, arboretum with its offerings of every plant imaginable.

Right across from the arboretum is the Timken Museum of Art. This is a smaller gallery, with only a couple of rooms, but admission is always free. They will even have special exhibits that are also free.

Balboa Park offers a handful of other museums too, including the Museum of Man, the Air & Space Museum, the Museum of Photographic Arts and the Natural History Museum. If you happen to be a Southern California resident, different rotating museums are always free on Tuesdays. All you have to do is check out the schedule on the park's website.

And if a picnic isn't quite up your alley, The Prado has a beautiful outdoor patio, a diverse menu and nice atmosphere. If you're aiming to enjoy a mostly free day, you can order happy hour (Tues.-Thurs. from 4 to 6 p.m., and 8 to 10 p.m., Fri. from 4 to 6 p.m. and 8 to 11 p.m., and Sat. from 8 to 11 p.m.) appetizers in the bar and get all of the luxury on the cheap.

Yet another (not really cheap but so worth it) option would be to leave the park through the main bridge on Quince Dr., cross Sixth Ave. and head to Extraordinary Desserts at 2929 Fifth Ave. The cake is amazing, artfully arranged on your plate and a whole meal all in itself.

The coffee is really good and the restaurant itself is small, with a twinkle light decorated outdoor patio to eat on. But, if substantial food is what you're in the mood for, cruise down Fifth Ave. a couple of blocks to 3172 Fifth Ave. and try Jimmy Carter's. Very tasty carnitas.

All in all, Balboa Park has a lot of personality and endless activities. It's the home of The Old Globe, there are free Organ Pavilion concerts during the summer, you can visit the International Houses, watch a puppet show, and oh so much more. It's worth at least a quick stroll. I will never get tired of visiting my favorite place in the entire city.

Cool Breezes, Tasty Waves and Some Invigorating Hiking

The Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve, at 12600 North Torrey Pines Road, is one of the most interesting State Parks in the area. Torrey Pines is fairly easy to get to from almost any direction and not only does it have a really nice beach, but it has a myriad of hiking trails. You can either try and find parking on the streets around the beach and walk up the road to park headquarters at the top of the cliff, pay to park in the lot at the base, or do what those of us who are truly cheap and lazy (me) and park at the Torrey Pines Golf Course off of North Torrey Pines Rd. Here you can park in a nice parking lot, with no fussy parallel parking or fees of any kind. You're also adding a mile and half walk on an sneaky back road into the reserve, which if you're looking for exercise is always nice.

There are several different trails you can choose from, all of which run along the cliffs and offer up gorgeous views of the orange, mottled Torrey Pines cliffs. Most of the trails will lead you down to the beach on a set of scary, steep, sandy stairs, at which point you can either choose to explore the beach and head back the way you came, or you can do the loop by walking up the main road to the reserve.

The best part is, after you've spent all afternoon hiking getting disgusting and sweaty, you can always spend the rest of the day relaxing on the beach and enjoying the delightfully ice cold water.

On a recent hike, I discovered a great way to get lunch after all my hard work. I had heard about the God Save the Cuisine food truck from Ed Bedford's column, Tin Fork in The Reader, and I really wanted to try it out. The morning of this particular I hike I heard via their Twitter account, @GSTCuisine, that they would be in the business park right across from the golf course on Torreyana Road that afternoon. It was fate. So instead of stopping at the car my mom, brother and I walked up a couple of blocks, turned into the business park and had a delightful lunch. There were four trucks parked in front of a grassy hill, littered with shade producing trees where everyone was enjoying their lunch breaks.

I was not disappointed. My mom and I ordered the Fish and Chips Taco, which far surpassed most of the fish and chips I had eaten while in London. Delicious.

My brother chose to go with the Italian option at MangiaMangia Mobile (@MangiaTruck for their schedule). He ordered the Lobster Ravioli, which he claimed was one of the best lobster raviolis he's ever had. And he's tried a lot, with quite a discerning palate for a thirteen year old.

4 O' Clock Friday Redeems Itself

I ragged on the new changes to the concerts after the Del Mar races. And I stand by what I said because the new rules are truly ridiculous. I also found out that the Saturday concerts are now 18 and older...which makes absolutely no sense and would have completely enraged my high school self.

With Jimmy Cliff (who brought Club Paradise, one of my all-time favorite movies, to life) playing last night, I decided to give the concerts another shot and went with my mom and my sixteen-year-old sister.

Based on the tragedy of the Cake concert, we planned to leave at 5 p.m. instead of 6:30 p.m. Luck was on our side because we were able to park in the nice, main lot for $10. Not free, but a lot more reasonable than $20. We then learned from a security guard that we didn't even need to buy the $10 race ticket to get in. All we had to do was walk down to the main gate and it would be $6. Amazing. We arrived so early that we were even able to watch the last couple of races and secure an incredible second row position in front of the stage.

Jimmy Cliff is incredible on stage. He was wearing a bedazzled headband, an all-leather black and red suit a la Eddie Murphey, and a red, green and yellow scarf. The music itself was so much fun to dance to. It was upbeat, positive and beautifully crafted. He is by far the most adorable man I have ever seen. He was flailing his arms, moving all across the stage, high kicking, doing faux tai chi moves and genuinely enjoying himself the whole time. His joy and happiness was truly infectious.

4 o'clock Friday, you better write Jimmy Cliff a really nice letter. I forgive you.

Black Mountain Part 2

I stand corrected. I saw my first rattlesnake on the trail yesterday. It wasn't so much raining as it was heavily misting, which actually made for a very enjoyable hiking atmosphere. No blistering heat from the sun, although it was a little humid and we were all covered in a heavy sheen of mist. For this hike we parked at Hilltop Park right up the street from Black Mountain Middle School on Oviedo Way. From this park you can take the Nighthawk Trail as opposed to the Miner's Loop Trail on the other side of the mountain. I think I prefer coming from the Nighthawk side better. It's just as long of a hike to the top of the mountain but the trail is a little wider and doesn't have as many surprise rocks jutting out in the middle of the trail. You are also parking in a paved lot as opposed to the dirt lot on the other side which is nicer on your car. As me, my mom and my uncle set out, a group of hikers on their way down warned us about a tiny, coiled-up rattlesnake in the middle of the trail. We thanked them, and then my uncle quickly dismissed the warning, saying that by the time we reached that part of the trail the snake would have fled. So we kept hiking, and saw no sign of any snake, which is usually the case when I receive a heads up from other hikers. As a side note, as we made our way back down the mountain we ran into a group of women on their way up. I was running down the hill, which is dangerous considering the amount of loose rocks and dirt. Not only did these three women take up the entire trail, but not one of them felt like moving over for me as I barreled into them. They also had three dogs off-leash, one of which ran straight under my legs, and seeing as how it would have been very hard for me to stop myself, I very nearly went head-over-heels down the mountain. It has nothing to do with the snake, but when you're out hiking there's a level of politeness and etiquette that should be observed so you don't cause your fellow hikers severe injury. After this debacle, another set of hikers warned us about the rogue snake in the trail. We thanked them, but continued to see no sign of any snake. Towards the end of the hike I was running ahead of my uncle and my mom, so I was the first one to finally spot it. Luckily I was running on the outside of the trail, otherwise I would have stepped on it. Even then, I barely saw it, and had to double back. It seemed like it had been there the whole time, snug up against a rock with a little pocket dug in the dirt to get warm in. We must have straight up passed it on the way out.

After warily taking the picture of the baby snake, keeping a safe distance, my uncle grabbed a shrub branch and very gently nudged the snake off the trail. The whole time he cooed to it, "Come on buddy, trust me, you'll be safer in the bushed."

Iron Mountain or Pride & Prejudice?

Iron Mountain sits on highway 67 as Poway begins to disappear into Ramona. It's a rocky dusty hike, taking roughly an hour to the top and then an hour back down (if you're really hustling). Seven miles round trip. There's a very nice parking lot equipped with bathrooms and strategically placed benches at the trail head in the shade for some relief as you reach the end (or, as my mother witnessed once, to serve as a place for women to sit while strange men you met on the trail massage your dirty, sweaty feet). There's very little shade as you hike up the mountain, scrambling over protruding rocks and gradually moving up over evenly spaced switchbacks. And out in Poway, away from any sort of coastal breeze, this can be a very hot hike if done in the afternoon. The best time to begin your trek is as early as you dare wake up. My favorite time is 5:30 am. I know that sounds scary, and completely unnecessary, but it's well worth it. As you begin to move into the tight trails snaking up the mountain you first walk through an open field. This early in the morning the field is filled with mist, resembling the dreamlike, dreary countryside of Mr. Darcy and "Pride and Prejudice."

You do have to watch out for the occasional rattlesnake, whose tube-like tracks can be seen crisscrossing the trail, but I've still never come across anything more menacing than a stink bug or a giant ant. Once you make it to the top, you're greeted with a picnic bench, lots of big rocks to sit on and an incredible view. The top of the mountain sits above the foggy cloud cover and you feel incredibly accomplished.