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My Favorite Way to Spend a Day in Vista * Email your favorite day...
We invited area residents to enter our "My Favorite Way to Spend a Day in Vista" contest, and here are the entries. Even though the contest is over, you can still send us your favorite day. Please submit your entries in 300 words or less via email to info@vistachamber.org. Please include your name, address and phone number with your entry.
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By Joy Taylor Jaeger: What a hard choice. There are so many wonderful things to do in Vista. Oh, where to begin? It would be fun to start out at Sunrise Cafe on South Santa Fe Avenue, enjoy an excellent breakfast, then go for a long walk through beautiful Brengle Terrace Park. It's delightful to see the children at play there, having such a great time, while adults relax amid the rolling hills of greenery.
Strolling next through the new Vista Village Center and Krikorian Theatre complex with its numerous business ventures, then walking on Broadway to the downtown area, checking out the antique mall and shops there, is always interesting. There are wonderful restaurants, new and older in town, so lunch would be a must, possibly followed by a movie. Or, if not lunch, dinner locally, then back to Brengle Terrace for a Moonlight outdoor musical. The performances there are outstanding.
A drive back home, enjoying the lights from new and older hillside homes above Foothill Drive on a gorgeous evening would be a perfect end to a perfect day. After all, Vista is considered the climatic wonderland of the World. Who could ask for more?
PS: My husband Joe said I forgot to mention the Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum on North Santa Fe. It's one of his favorites to go through, especially when there's a special event there.
By Jeff Gearhart
The Krikorian has Obe Wan Kanobe,
Rancho Buena Vista has the old adobe.The Antique Museum has the old sawmill,
The Wave Waterpark boasts the aquatic hill.The Avo has the plays,
Alta Vista's Gardens do amaze.Downtown Main Street has the Howard clock,
RBV Little League has many a jock.Vista Village has tantalizing places to eat,
Yet picnicking at the Moonlight can't be beat.So I find it hard to say,
How to spend my favorite day!
"A PERFECT FAMILY DAY IN VISTA"
By Stephanie Gearhart: Driving past a beautifully painted utility box and the Downtown Main Street clock, we head as a family to begin our perfect summer day in Vista. We know we're near our breakfast destination, the Curbside Café, when we see the colorful Fire Department mural adorning a nearby wall. After a quick morning nosh, we head out for our day of fun!
First stop is the historic Rancho Buena Vista Adobe. The kids love the old west flavor at this birthplace of Vista. I enjoy seeing Carol Lee's "Going to Fiesta" sculpture and eyeing the hanging gourds.
Next we're off to the Antique Gas and Steam Engine Museum. We'll check out the blacksmith shop, sawmill, and horse drawn farm equipment. My husband will use this chance to remind my son about how fortunate he is to have a power mower for his Saturday lawn mowing chore! If we're lucky, there will be a Harvest or Bluegrass Festival going on when we visit the museum…or perhaps one of their great realistic civil war re-enactments.
To cool off, we'll head next to the Wave Waterpark for a couple hours of aquatic fun. This family center has the best slides and water tubing in the North County! Then, to wind down, we'll head to the Moonlight Amphitheater for a top notch production at this delightful outdoor venue. On our way, we'll stop by the local Farmer's Market and pick up some fresh produce and goodies for a picnic on the Brengle Terrace lawn.
As we drive home after the Moonlight production, we'll marvel at how Vista, so beautifully revitalized, and full of history, culture, and pleasant recreation, is the perfect place to spend a quality day with the family!
By Sarah Hoggan: My mornings start outside watching steam rise from my coffee and the marine layer burn off the city. Slowly the roof tops, palms, and eucalyptus trees materialize from the mist, my lungs fill with warm fresh air, and I plan my day's adventure.
Family birthdays are looming so gifts are necessary. The Old Toy Soldier Home is the best place for all boys. For fewer than twenty dollars my dad is transported back to his childhood. He will open a box to find the same soldiers he grew up playing with and lost fifty years ago. For fewer than ten dollars my nephew is recreating history to live vicariously through toy knights in armor. When I question Craig, the owner, about a knight I get an impassioned narrative about the quality, country of origin, and uniform representation of the piece. A genuine "thank you" is given to me with my receipt and I head down town.My sister is notoriously hard to buy for, but browsing the eclectic mix of antique stores, gift shops and restaurants in down town Vista I find a bracelet, an antique bowl, and some Italian candy our grandfather used to share with us on holidays. After a trip to Starbucks I go to Von's for groceries. I buy enough produce for a few days, and look forward to Saturday's Farmer's Market to stock up.
My husband comes home from playing golf and we walk, as a family, to Beaumont Elementary pick our son. As afternoon turns to evening we do homework, cook, eat, and get into the hot tub to look at the night sky. Warm air fills my lungs and Orion hangs over head framed by palm trees. What's a good day: sunshine, family and shopping. How could it be better?
Wouldn't Have Missed Ya' Vista!
Get to Brengle Terrace Park,
Before the fireworks start.Catch a play at the Avo,
Or tour a Hot Rod show.A great team of Little League,
A cool library to read!A great day won't have missed 'ya,
Living here in Vista.By Lisa Suarez
Vista Resident and First Grade Teacher
By Bret Schanzenbach: My favorite way to spend a day in Vista begins with my wife and I having breakfast at the Sunrise Café. Leaving our five kids behind, we love the home-town atmosphere as well as the great food and service there. After breakfast, and before we lose the tranquility of our time alone, we hit a couple of bookstores in town. At Crown Books we search for bargain books that missed their prime and now are extremely affordable. And at I Love Books we dig around for hidden treasures in their used books.
Then we head home, pick up the kids and hit their favorite spots: The Vista Entertainment Center for bowling and Boomers for miniature golf. To celebrate the many holes-in-one and strikes that were accomplished, we hit our favorite lunch spot: Vista Ice Box. Their California Split with turkey, on squaw bread, is the best sandwich in North County! I'm salivating as I write this. After lunch the kids hit the Wave Waterpark for a couple of hours of fun in the sun. There is no better way for the kids to cool off and burn energy at the same time than testing their skills on the Flowrider!
The afternoon is not complete without a stop at Peppertree for some timeless soft-serve ice cream. Then it is off to the Moonlight Amphitheatre at Brengle Terrace Park for a picnic dinner on the grass and a phenomenal musical. Hello Dolly and Fiddler on the Roof were my two favorite plays ever done at Moonlight. But every play is amazing, and the recent Three Broadway Divas with the San Diego Symphony was off the chart!
By Donna Lugo: What is my favorite way to spend the day in Vista? Well, I have lived here over 30 years and raised 4 children in Vista, 3 of them are still in the area. At this stage of my life, a normal day such as tomorrow will consist of going to my aerobics class in Vista and doing an hour of aerobic exercise through Vista Parks and Recreation. A group of us then head over to the Vista Ice Box on East Vista Way for coffee or a yogurt and some good conversation. Sarah, the owner, is great and makes some wonderful sandwiches. I sometimes get one to go and take it to work for lunch. I work in the Vista Business Park at Hi Tech Swiss Machining, Inc. Tomorrow night I will be attending the Moonlight Theater with some friends and seeing another wonderful production of "Pirates of Penzance." We always buy dinner from Feliccia's Deli before the show starts.
That is what my Friday will be like here in Vista. Everything I plan to do is right here in the City of Vista. From buying my gas at Costco, stopping for a delicious burger at In-N-Out, having coffee every Saturday morning at Panera Bread, heading for our local Farmer's Market next to the library, then to the Rancho Buena Vista Adobe where I am a docent. Our daughter is going to be married at the Adobe in July. We attend church in Vista, as well. Whether it is food for the tummy or food for the soul, everything we need is right here in our own town, Vista.
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City of Vista * Vista Chamber of Commerce * Vista Village Business AssociationFor further information on Shop Vista , contact Jim Baumann of the Vista Chamber at (760) 726-1122, Janet Puckett of the VVBA at (760) 414-9391, or Kevin Ham of the City of Vista at (760) 639-6165.