
This year, inspired by our
"I Heart My City"
series on Intelligent Travel, we're reveling in the holiday season by
asking our readers to share their favorite ways to celebrate in their
cities. Today's city-lover is travel writer
Meaghan Clark, who gives us a glimpse of San Diego.

What to share the things that make your city special?
We've put together a festively-themed
fill-in-the-blank questionnaire, and we'd love to hear your responses. So cut and paste the
list, fill in your answers, and e-mail us your picks at
intelligenttravel@ngs.org.
(Please include links and photos if possible). We'll be featuring your
"My City Celebrates" posts through the New Year,
click here for a list of cities we've featured so far. Happy Holidays!
My City Celebrates: San Diego When I need a dose of holiday cheer, I head to
San Diego Bay Parade of Lights, where the quintessential features of San Diego are mixed with the holiday spirit; boats deck themselves with the colors of the season as they ride through the Embarcadero, Seaport Village, Harbor Island and Coronado.
The best place to grab a cup of cocoa is
Extraordinary Desserts, where the name says it all - just don't limit yourself to the cocoa, as specialty made cakes, brownies, cookies are excellent.
If you want to find great sledding you have to head up the mountain to
Julian. The small city isn't just famous for its apple pies; its snowy mountains are home to campsites in the summer and sled races (weather permitting) in the winter.
Strap on your skates in
Coronado's ocean ice rink and you enjoy the view of the Pacific just steps from iconic
Hotel Del Coronado.
For a classic holiday photo op, be sure to check out the
Balboa Park's December nights, where more than 30,000 tourists come from all over to enjoy the festive lights, sounds, and spirits of the holiday season. The
Spreckles Organ Pavilion teems with carolers and performance artists while the international houses feature country-specific treats, as Santa, his reindeer and all the Christmas lights fill up the 1,200 acres.
A great place to take the kids during the season is
The Old Globe Theater's production of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," an annual holiday event that doesn't frighten the little ones as it does make them hoot and holler for the green-faced creature that everyone has come to love.
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