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Show ‘The Salt Lake Tribune ADVENTURE H4 Sunday, October 12,2003 I've been to San Diego manytimes, butthis time I got to knowit e neglect what we have in our own back yards. i hit San Diego, Calif., for family excursions Thanksgiving, Passover, birthdays. SD (as thelocals say) was always “the place my parents live.” But for this trip I chose to see the seventh largest city in the United States for the first time The mild climate, clean air and teaches make SD an idea) year-round destination. But fly there. Parking and traffic hassles abound and the tickets aren't cheap. Rental cars and decent mass transit get you mobileif you need to hit one of the 17 incorpo hangouts, The16.5 blocks craw! with friendly, goodlooking 30-somethings eager to recommend hot spots like Henry's, the Onyx Room and Martini Ranch, You canfind pool halls, theaters and dance clubs, but there’s nostripping downtown unless you're doing a strip steak at The GaslampStrip Club. Eddy had a beer in one hand and tongs in the other as he stood around the communal do-it-yourself grill. He invited me backto his table (of four guys) and we shared further roasting tales. After dinner, the old-fashioned gas lamps glowed along the walk- rated cities in SD County in fact, it was worth the $21 hotel ways illuminating more than 70 sidegarage fee to avoid another $40 park walk cafes, bars and restaurants.| ing ticket. The urban contemporary turned in early, however. A 9 a.m. styleof the Hilton San Diego Gaslamp surf lesson with the San Diego SurfQuarter Hotel eased the tension. The Jit ADLER ing Academy had my nameonit. spacious room camewithall the TRAVELING SMART | met Pat Weberat his amenities and maid servicethat motorhome/office at San Elijo State folded myclothes back into my bags! Plus, down Beach. The 40-year-old formersurf pro had just town is within walking distance. wrapped his last four-day surf campof the sumThe Hilton is the cornerstone of a downtown mer. The two soccer moms had canceled today's renaissance. In June2000, it was the first hotel lesson; that left only Brian, 28, from Massachubuilt in nearly a century. Local organizations res setts. We donned wetsuits and| felt a tingleasI urrected the whole neighborhood through urban checkedout the boy in rubber, development, a convention center expansion and | experienceda fleeting moment oftrue surfing the new Padres baseball stadium. The Gaslamp in the 68-degree, murky, two-foot waves. Then I Quarter is now one of San Diego's most popular if you go dumped; every way possible. On the other hand, Pat called Brian “a natural.” Grrr. I let Brian buy me lunchat a roadside taco stand to make up for smoking me and weclicked. Back downtown,I cruised to the rear bar at the swanky W Hotel. Strangers mingled freely and dined counterstyle. Moving to “The Living Room,” W’s lobby bar, I planted myself at a tablesize stone chessboard. The martinis were as strong as Brian’s tanned arms. Much better than fortune cookies or mints, we fingered a large cloud of cotton candy that arrived with the bill for our tandoori shrimp and halibut. We climbed the stairs to the rooftop beach bar with its firepits, heated sand floors and jazzy tunes, Brian’s cab and gentle kiss returned me to the Hilton.I promised to join him after the Sea @ Hilton San Diego Gaslamp Quarter, ittp://wew.hitton.com: 619-231-4040, @ The Grande Colonial Hotei & NINE-TEN, hittp://werw.thegrandecolonial.com, 888-530-5766. @ San Diego Surfing Academy, http://www.surfsdsa.com, 160-230-1474 @ Hike, Bike, Kayak San Diego, http://www.hbksandiego.com, 858-551-9510. It’s a must on any tourist's list. Plus,it's quiet in the fall. We watched Shamuand the otters play like happy puppies . . . and I got to hold hands with Brian. Wedid the late-dinner thing at NINE-TEN restaurantin the Colonial. Though others caught my eye, Brian’s smile seduced. Our experienced waiter steered us toward a succulent California Sangiovese wine and I can’t tell which was more decadent — the half-baked chocolate cake or our gaze. At trip’s end, Brian promised to ski Park City. One final stop on the San Diego tour — the folks’ house. On those occasions when you revisit a too-familiar haunt, look aroundlike it’s your first time there. It just mightbe. Caves. The next morning, with my downtown segment over, I checked into La Jolla’s Grand Colonial Hotel for the beach scene. I had heard tons about the La Jolla Sea Caves so I booked a tour with Amy and Nadine from Hike, Bike, Kayak San Diego. We navigated sit-on-top kayaks toward giantcliffs with cavernous holes in them like the front teeth of a goldminer. My heart pounded from adrenaline as I doveoff the boat and snorkeled inside one cave. Jill Adler is afreelance writer who lives in Park City, I needed a nap. Later, | met Brian for SeaWorld. He insisted. e r o h s h t u o s s ’ u h a O r e v inds of change blow o W improving itself in hopes of in- By Rosemary McCune creasing visitors. “We needed to Los Angeles Tunes change the perception of Waikiki as a mature, aging resort area,” said Rick Egged, president of the Waikiki Im HONOLULU — Theeditorial cartoon pictures two tourists be ing ejected from Hanauma Bay State Beach Park, one of Ha waii's most beautiful strips of sea and sand. One tourist dejectedly tells the other, “I didn't know about thetest.” The illustration plays off a year-old get-tough policy that re quires all visitors to watch a nine-minute educational film be fore they are allowed on the beach. There isn’t actually a test, but woe to the tourist who ig nores the film and feeds the fish, drops cigarette butts on the beach or walks on the delicate reef “This is a nature preserve,” park manager Alan Hong said when I visited in August. “People who are looking for a beach where they can play Frisbee are going to find this isn’t it.” ‘There’s change afoot on Oahu, from the stunning reefs of Ha naumaBay to the strip of tourist hotels lining Waikiki Beach, where, it’s hoped, an infusion of $1 billion will revitalize an area provement Association. “There’s Top 10 Knicut Ripper News Service The top internationalresort hideaways, from Andrew Harp er’s Hideaway Report's 22nd sur vey: 1. Singita, South Africa 2. Blanket Bay, New Zealand 3. Kauri Cliffs, New Zealand denying the product was slipping. Everybody knew it, but no one did anything about it. Honolulu was a cash cow. All the business community had to do was manage the cash registers. There were decades of neglect.” The bubble burst when the Japanese economy crashed in the 1990s. “We were being heldafloat by Japanese tourism,” Egged said. “People realized we needed to do something so we wouldn’t be so dependent.” A revitalization project, which got under wayin the late ‘90s, gained momentum after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Nearly a half-billion dollars has been pumped into Waikiki. Another half-billion has been committed to future projects. The investment shows. As we walked along Kalakaua Avenue, Waikiki’s main thoroughfare, we saw that the street had been narrowed to create wide, inviting pedestrian walkways. Sidewalks were newly tiled, flowers showing its age. The mandatory film is one of several measures to protect Ha nauma Bay about 10 miles southeast of Waikiki and often listed as one of America’s top 10 beaches from visitors lovingit to death. Tour buses no longer can enter; they're allowed to stop on a bluff overlooking the park 80 passengers can take a quick look from afar. And only 300 cars are allowed into the parking lot each morning, so if you don’t ar rive before8 or 8:30 a.m. on busy summer days, you may beout of luck. If you do find a place to park, you'll be charged$5to visit the beach. (Kids and residents are admittedfree.) I hadn't been to Hanauma for a dozen years or more. On my last visit, people were parked helter-skelter, but this time, Los Angeles Times photographer Gail Fisher and | arrived at 8:10 a.m. and parked in an orderly fashion in one of thelast spaces in the lot. The gate closed shortly thereafter no Gat. Pisnen/Los Angeles Timea The Hilton Hawaiian Village Resort, at the west end of Waikiki, has 3,386 rooms, 90 shops, and 22 bars and restaurants on its 22 acres. “We used to get 3 million vis itors a year on the beach,” Hong told us. “We've reducedthat to 1 million. People look at it as very poor customerservice, but we do what we have to do to protect this resource.” We watched the film which explains that the reef is afragile, living thing and saw beautiful footage of the creatures we would encounter if we went snorkeling: yellow tangs, black and-white Moorish idols, bright green sea turtles. “Look but don't touch,” the film cautioned viewers, Cleared as beachgoers, we wereallowed to ride a tram down to the crescent-shaped bay in the crater of a long-extinct volcano. The water was a bril liant turquoise, with a labyrirth 6. Malliouhana, Anguilla 7. Maroma, Mexico 8. Wharekauhau, New Zeal and 9. La Casa Que Canta, Mexico 10. Ellerman House, South Africa of coral fingers stretching from the reef almost to the shoreline. Visitors could rent snorkel gear for $6, but there were no food stands on the beach. “Cuts down on trash,” Hong said. “It’s in keeping with the way a nature preserve should look.” While Hanauma Bay is im proving its appearanceby limiting visitors, Waikiki is art can be seen throughout the district, from murals and paintings to bronzes. The revitaliza- tion of Waikiki has involved government and private sectors, with about 71 percent of the cost being borne by the region’s hoteliers. That doesn’t mean everything is shiny and new. There are still unsightly, aging high-rises in the district. But change is visible almost everywhere. After touring the many hotels undergoing to just completing renova- tions and upgrades, we needed a salty jolt of the Pacific. We found it in front of the Moana Surfrider, where three large catamarans were pulled up onshore. Weskimmed across turquoise water until we reached the edge of the ocean shelf, where darker waters signaled a deepening of the sea. The wind was picking up, and whitecaps ruffled the water. Spray pelted the boat as we bounded up and down. Cheap thrills. Cheap booze, too, with maitais priced at $1. We tacked and came about, the familiar Waikiki skyline and towering Koolau Mountains now in front of us. Your $1 will buy... Rates paid in the United States for each dollar c , Currency exchange rates c’ daily and these figures are intended only as 4 guide. Rates may be more favorable abroad. 2.09 1.46 Australia (dollar) Brazil(real) Canada (dollar) 287 1.34 650.7 Chile (peso) China (yuan) 8.28 Czech Rep. (koruna) Egypt (pound) | 2728 Netherlands, Portugat, Spain Great Britain (pound) | Hong Kong (doflar} Hungary (forint) india (rupee) Indonesia (rupiah) 0.60 mM 216.8 46.46 | 8,381.9 israel (shwkel) 4AM Japan (yen) Malaysia (ringgit) Mexico (peso) 110.8 3.60 11.21 New Zealand (dofar) Norway (krone) 168 Philippines(peo) | =| 64.08 6.96 Poland (zioty) | 3.90 Singapore (dollar) South Africa (rand) South Korea (won} Sweden (krona) Switzerland (franc) Taiwan (dollar) Thailand (baht) spilled out of lamppost baskets and waterfalls splashed. Members of the Aloha Patrol, a security and information service, were standing watch and answering tourists’ questions. ‘ Am £0) Denes |S)GA ie Fe = BUFFET EVERYDAYAND MIGHT WSU OVERNIGHT are LAUGHLIN MESQUITE MESQUITE EXPRE We 6 amet} AR nb At Kalakaua Avenue and Kalaimoku Street, we saw a graceful new three-story shop- ping complex, 2100 Kalakaua, housing Tiffany, Gueci, Chanel and other top-end retailers. 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