Best outdoor activity: Watersports on the Pacific less than an hour away from mountain biking and hiking in Cleveland National Forest

Best weekend getaway:
Baja California for El Cielo Valle de Guadalupe winery and Puerto Nuevo lobster

Best restaurant:
Common Theory Public House

Best coffee:
Dark Horse Coffee Roasters

Engineering marvel:
Mission Bay was originally named Bahia Falsa or False Bay in 1542 and remained a lagoon/tidal marsh until the late 1940s when dredging of 25 million cubic yards of sand and silt began to create what is today the largest man-made aquatic park in the country.