"I'm
from Cleveland," says Patricia Heaton. "But I know San Diego
because I have four kids. You can basically deal with four
kids in San Diego for weeks and weeks and never run out of
things to do." As Debra Barone in the hit CBS comedy
Everybody Loves Raymond, Heaton tends to Raymond and their
extended, idiosyncratic family.
In real life, however, the 44-year-old actress and her actor
husband, David Hunt, have an even bigger brood to handle:
four boys, ages 4 to 9, all of whom are ever-eager to take
the two-hour weekend jaunt to San Diego. "They'd go there
every weekend if they could," she says. A struggling New
York stage actress for almost 10 years, Heaton first headed
to California to appear in theater, before landing a role on
the series Thirtysomething and eventually being cast in
Raymond in 1996. In her spare time, Heaton and her husband
are working on producing local plays in Los Angeles. But the
couple's most recurring role is that of parent. Here's a
child-friendly weekend with Patricia Heaton and her brood at
the endless attractions of the California playground of San
Diego.
FRIDAY
Lodging
"We stay right outside of San Diego in Carlsbad at the Four
Seasons Aviara. It's beautiful. They have suites with
kitchens that you can stay in, which is great for families.
Often with kids, room service takes a long time and they
don't really have what the kids normally eat. So in the
suites, you can bring groceries with you. Also, Carlsbad is
the center for the golf equipment industry, so there are
lots of golf courses for dad. If you want to stay in San
Diego, it's the Hotel del Coronado. My husband and I stayed
there before we had kids. It's quite romantic. It opened in
1888, and you can stay in the old part, in these wonderful
old rooms. It's right on the beach. It's also where they
filmed Some Like it Hot."
DINNER
"Because we have kids, we always have to find places that
are amenable for kids. But if my husband and I are going out
alone, we'd go to Pacifica del Mar. Great food and a really
lively atmosphere. For something quieter, Delicias in Rancho
Santa Fe is wonderful. California cuisine. The best lamb and
steaks."
NIGHTLIFE
"They have the Old Globe Theatre there, an exterior replica
of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in England. They do both
Shakespearean and contemporary plays, all great. There's
also the La Jolla Playhouse. Plays originate there and move
to Broadway. My husband did a couple of shows there, and
that's how we got to know La Jolla and that whole area."
SATURDAY
SIGHTS
"This is the great thing about San Diego. It's just
limitless. It's anything from natural physical beauty to
museums and historical sites. Obviously, Balboa Park alone,
you could spend days there. I'm always stunned at the beauty
of it. The park has the San Diego Zoo, which is one of the
best in the country. It also has the Automotive Museum, and
my boys love cars. It has beautifully restored cars and
motorcycles, so it's fun for parents, too. Then they have
the Natural History Museum, which has everything from
dinosaurs to Eskimos. And the Museum of Man, which shows the
whole history of man through the ages."
BEACHES
"There are a lot of beaches in San Diego and La Jolla, but
we love La Jolla Cove. It's very rocky and quite gorgeous
and great for wading or snorkeling. You'll see the sea lions
on the rocks. You can feed them, and it's just fantastic.
The kids go crazy."
ATTRACTION
"My boys know San Diego as Legoland. First of all, I think
Legoland is the greatest amusement park for kids 12 and
under. It's not huge, just the right size. And, of course,
everything is built out of Legos. There's just something
gentle about it. It's not a place that hawks gifts at every
single turn. They've added a couple of roller coasters, and
there's a new 20-minute 4-D movie. Plus they have a really
good restaurant with fresh, healthy food."
LUNCH
"If you don't eat at Legoland, Seaport Village, with its
ships and shops and restaurants, is a nice place to have
lunch. We don't do fast food. We try to do family friendly.
I hate to say it, but it's mostly Subway sandwiches. It's
good food, and fairly healthy. And they're on every corner.
Otherwise, whatever park we're at, we eat there. If you want
something more elegant, go to George's Ocean Terrace in La
Jolla. You can eat outside and the terrace has a view of the
entire cove."
SHOPPING
"La Jolla has a lot of art galleries and high-end jewelry
and clothing stores. Old Town San Diego has Bazaar del Mundo,
which has great restaurants and mariachis playing and
Mexican and South American crafts. What's also nice about
San Diego is there's a lot of outlet malls. There's one in
Carlsbad called Carlsbad Company Stores. It has housewares,
shoe stores, and a Barney's outlet."
CULTURE
"San Diego has a lot of museums. There's a Maritime Museum
with ships and models for ships. My kids are really into
airplanes, so they love the Aerospace Museum. They have
simulators the kids can ride in, and a bunch of the stuff is
hands-on that you can climb in. The planes are huge. To see
them close-up is exciting."
HORSE RACING
"We love the Del Mar racetrack. It's sort of like Las Vegas:
It's become more family friendly. The kids love to watch the
horses and pick out the ones they want to bet on. The Del
Mar has places for the kids to play, and there's lots of
food to keep the kids entertained and fed. It's a fun day
out for everybody."
DINNER
"My husband is up for San Diego as long as he and I can have
a dinner together. They have Vivace, a great Italian
restaurant at the Four Seasons Aviara. You can always count
on the food there. For Mexican, you can either go fancy at
Candelas, which has good Mexican-style seafood dishes, or
more traditional at Casa De Bandini, located in a historic
building in the Old Town section."
SUNDAY
LUNCH
"California Cuisine is one of San Diego's best contemporary
restaurants. It's casual, locals love it, and it has great
food."
ATTRACTION
"The Wild Animal Park is exactly that. The animals are just
running free. It's a little bit of a drive, but it's really
great because you get to see all the animals in their
natural habitat. There are lions and gorillas and things
like that. You can either take these open-air trucks or an
individual jeep for a private tour. And you can get pretty
close. If you want more of a beach day, go to Mission Bay,
which is endless beaches and boating. SeaWorld is in Mission
Bay. They have the shows with the dolphins and all the
aquariums with the animals. There's also a huge water park
in the middle of it, where the kids have a great time."
EXCURSION
"Up and down the coast, there's a chain of 21 beautiful
missions. But the first one is in San Diego, called Mission
San Diego de Alcala. You probably only need to stop at a
couple. After a while, they start to look the same. But
they're really great."
ONE GREAT DAY IN SAN DIEGO
"Okay, so we're at the Four Seasons family pool. It's a very
high-end hotel. And my youngest one has a little accident
under one of the palm trees, right? We didn't have a
swimming diaper on him. I look around for something to wipe
up with, but there's nothing. So I run into the bathroom,
trying to clean everything up before anybody sees. At the
Four Seasons, there are no paper towels. There are only
cloth towels. Even out at the pool bathroom. I don't want to
clean up with their linen towels. So I take those tissues
that they put around the toilet seat. I have to take like 50
of them, so I have this armload of tissues, trying to do
this so no one sees. I wipe up and have it in this big ball
of tissue paper. Well, there are no garbage cans around the
Four Seasons pool. They always have people who come and
whisk your garbage away, and they don't want cans of garbage
around the pool, because this is the Four Seasons! Finally,
I was able to find one. That's the only downfall of staying
at a very high-class hotel with four little boys."
PATRICIA HEATON'S SAN DIEGO ESSENTIALS
LODGING
Four Seasons Resort Aviara - Very expensive
(760) 603-6800
Hotel del Coronado - Very expensive
(619) 435-6611
DINING
California Cuisine Californian - Moderate
(858) 543-0790
Candelas Mexican - Moderate
(619) 702-4455
Casa De Bandini Mexican - Moderate
(619) 297-8211
Delicias Californian - Expensive
(858) 756-8000
George's Ocean Terrace Californian - Expensive
(858) 454-4244
Pacifica del Mar Seafood; - Moderate
(858) 792-0476
Seaport Village Food court - Inexpensive
(619) 235-4014
Vivace Italian;- Moderate
(760) 603-6800
SIGHTS
Balboa Park, (619) 239-0512
Legoland California, (760) 918-5340
Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, (858) 755-1141
Maritime Museum of San Diego, (619) 234-9153
San Diego Aerospace Museum, (619) 234-8291
San Diego Automotive Museum, (619) 231-2886
San Diego Museum of Man, (619) 239-2001
San Diego Natural History Museum, (619) 232-3821
San Diego Zoo, (619) 231-1515
San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park, (760) 747-8702
SeaWorld San Diego, (619) 222-6363
SHOPPING
Bazaar del Mundo, (619) 296-3161
Carlsbad Company Stores, (760) 804-9000
