Adobe Falls

Old Town to Downtown

Based on the TV show Amazing Race, this scavenger hunt is designed to put a little excitement and adventure into what might otherwise be your average tour of the town. Create a team of up to five people and purchase a “quest” for $49 (plus trolley fare). Then, through a series of clues and interesting facts beamed to your phone, embark on an engaging three-hour tour of San Diego, beginning in Old Town and taking you to Little Italy, the Maritime Museum, USS Midway, and, finally, the Bob Hope Memorial near Seaport Village. 805-603-5620. — Barbarella Fokos

San Diego Writers, Ink

Take a class offered by Writers, Ink and an experienced writer will guide you through exercises and approaches designed to pare down and/or spruce up your skills. Or join one of the organization’s many writing groups and workshop your prose, poetry, or dramatic writing with fellow students of the craft. Better yet, grab a $35 annual membership and get active — the writing community growing out of this literary hub has launched some entertaining events and nurtured some serious local talent. If you harbor any interest in taking your copy to the next level, here’s a place to start. 619-696-0363. — Ian Anderson

Suds and Science | Two Scientists Walk into a Bar

Brought to you by, but not at, the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center. Drink your way around San Diego and discuss science with real-life scientists. The bimonthly Suds and Science events take place at a local bar (revolving) and begin with a 15- to 20-minute science presentation on anything from genetic engineering to Hollywood forensics. Discussions and shenanigans ensue. During the Two Scientists Walk into a Bar events, 50 local scientists make themselves available for questions at 25 local bars on one night every quarter or so. Each bar features two scientists in a given field (ecology, genomics, oceanography, chemistry, etc) set up with a sign that reads: “We are scientists. Ask us anything!” 619-238-1233. — Elizabeth Salaam

Adobe Falls

5800 Adobe Falls Road, Mission Valley

San Diego’s only urban waterfall is situated at the eastern end of Mission Valley on property owned by SDSU. Decades ago, Adobe Falls served as a peaceful picnic spot for students and professors. With the passage of time, the falls have transformed. Today the boulders surrounding the falls are covered in graffiti. While less idyllic than it once was, the falls still serve as an interesting outdoor space. Getting to Adobe Falls is a quick seven-minute hike. The easiest way to get there is via a parking lot at the end of Adobe Falls Road. From there you will take a dirt road down to the creek. Follow the dirt road toward SDSU for about a quarter of a mile. Continue up the trail to the Adobe Falls rock formation, where you will come across the waterfalls. — Siobhan Braun

Cinema Under the Stars

Lay back in a zero-gravity recliner and settle in for classic and cult-favorite flicks under the stars. The Summer 2015 lineup includes Dirty Dancing (1987), Saboteur (1942), American Graffiti (1973), Dial M for Murder (1954), and more. Theater is open Thursday through Sunday in spring and summer, Thursday through Saturday in fall, and Friday and Saturday in winter. Doors open at 6:00 p.m., films begin at 8:00 p.m. Call (619-295-4221) or check the website, seating is limited. — Elizabeth Salaam

The Loma Club

Considered a San Diego landmark, the Loma Club has sat at the north entrance to (what’s now known as) Liberty Station since the early 1900s. Formerly the Sail Ho nine-hole golf course, the establishment got an upgrade in late 2014 to give it a modern look and a social feel. Besides the remodeling of the bar and grill in the clubhouse, a 3000-square-foot deck with an outdoor bar was added. With the course too small for golf carts to drive around, you can finish a round in less than two hours for $15–$17. A great course for beginners, it features views of downtown.. And, yes, you can bring drinks from the bar as you play. 619-222-4653. — Matthew Suárez

Colina Park Golf and Disc Golf Course

A well-maintained chip-and-putt 18-hole golf course, Colina Park Golf is the headquarters for Pro Kids — the First Tee of San Diego, a nonprofit organization that teaches kids life skills through golf. Thanks to the help of San Diego Aces Club, disc golf has been available at the park since January of this year. Regular golf goes for $13 on weekdays, $15 on weekends, while disc golf costs $7–$8. All profits go toward supporting the youth programs. Since the park is primarily for kids, there is a strict no drinking or smoking policy. — Matthew Suárez

25th Street Bridge Overpass Chime Rail

25th Street Bridge Overpass Chime Rail

Corner of F and 25th streets, Sherman Heights

The 25th Street span over the Martin Luther King freeway is actually a metallophone. Composer Joseph Waters thinks it may be the biggest of its kind in the world, a metallophone being a series of tuned metal bars that release their music only when struck. In 2003, he and an artist named Roman de Salvo were commissioned to make art of the bridge. The result is a 288-note composition that plays a melody called “Crab Carillon” in either direction. “What I recommend,” he says, “is you get a drum stick or a screwdriver and walk across as fast as you can and play each chime on its sweet spot, which is right above the rivet.” — Dave Good

Waterfront Park

Pack a towel and some extra clothes for the kiddos and head on down to the County Administration Building to check out the Waterfront Park, where fountain jets spray cooling bliss from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Kids will enjoy the wading pool, rock wall, swings, slides, jungle gym, and seesaw. Parents will enjoy the adjacent grass picnic area — no sand in the sandwiches. No need to worry about California’s drought, the park uses recycled water. No need to worry about money, either. It’s free. — Eve Kelly

Urban Safari

Groups like Urban Safari walk you through the main parts of town — the Gaslamp, East Village, Barrio Logan, Bankers Hill, Liberty Station, Ocean Beach, Mt. Hope Cemetery — describing all the stories behind these places we thought we knew. Urban Safari’s Saturday walkabouts are two to three miles long, last about two hours, and cost $10. And outta town? For, say, historic Escondido, check the city’s website. Or, for a walking tour of the daddy of them all, Escondido’s site of the 1846 Battle of San Pasqual, contact San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park. 619-944-9255. — Bill Manson

Museum of Contemporary Art

Current coastal location exhibit: featured artist Sarah Caine’s Blue in Your Body, Red When It Hits the Air canvas paintings, which “investigate painterly concerns such as color, form, and space, while imbuing them with bodily forces.” Current downtown exhibit: featured artist El Anatsui’s metal sculptures for floor and wall. Anatsui transforms discarded objects into “shimmering, pliable artwork of monumental beauty.” Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for seniors, and free for students 26 and under. Also, museum is free on the third Thursday of each month. Open 11 a.m.–5 p.m., closed Wednesdays. — Deirdre Lickona

City Running Tours

1711 Thomas Street (HQ), Balboa Park/Bankers Hill

Meet fellow jogging enthusiasts and see the city with daily running tours of downtown, Balboa Park, and Bankers Hill ($30/person). The run includes a bottle of water and is taken at a moderate pace. Personalized running tours are available at $60 for up to three miles, plus $5 for each additional mile per person. City Running Tours will pick up and drop off throughout the city and offers photography, T-shirts, and bonus bags. Ask about walking tours and beer runs, but be aware that “beer run” is being used rather loosely here, as beer is only provided after the run, one per person. — Chad Deal

Hash House Harriers

Speaking of beer runs, the tenacious will readily gravitate toward their friendly, neighborhood Hash House Harriers. This group is the off-color, kinda creepy kinda cool drunk uncle of the jogging world. The group takes several pub runs each week throughout the county with themes such as “Bathrobe Run,” “Humpin’ Hash,” and “Green Flash Hash.” What started in 1938 as an evening hangover remedy for British expats in Malaysia is now a multinational tipsy trot that debuted in San Diego in 1981. Most runs charge a few bucks. See website for calendar. — Chad Deal

Traveling Stories at Waypoint Public

On the first Tuesday of every month, Traveling Stories sets up a StoryTent inside Waypoint Public Restaurant. Adults can either volunteer to read with children or just eat and drink in peace while their kids read books for prizes with Traveling Stories volunteers. Other local weekly and monthly StoryTents at farmers’ markets in Santee, El Cajon, and City Heights provide more volunteer opportunities (minus the beer and pork belly). — Elizabeth Salaam

Social Cycle

403 13th Street, East Village. 619-846-9436

These 16-seater cycle-mobiles bring out the best in the ole bike & booze. Each rental comes with a driver, leaving riders free to imbibe liberally at bars along the way and at least pretend to pedal between stops. Social Cycle is partnered with about 50 bars throughout downtown, Uptown, and Pacific Beach, including La Puerta, Waterfront, Tiger! Tiger!, Fall Brewing Company, and 98 Bottles. Private rentals are available for parties of 6+, two-hour minimum. $185/hour, weekdays; $200/hour, weekends. See website for public tour schedule. Two hours, three bars, Thursdays through Sundays, $60 per person. — Chad Deal

Sanctified Jazz at First Presbyterian Church

The storied pianists who claim they invented jazz while gigging in the bordellos of New Orleans sometime during the mid-1800s may be rolling in their graves at the thought of this: live straight-ahead jazz music performed in a church. But, so be it. Over the past four years, First Presbyterian has become an exciting jazz venue via their Jazz Vespers, essentially a prayer service preceded by 30 minutes of live jazz performed by Archie Thompson with the ArchTones with an ever-rotating cast of guest pros including the likes of guitarist Bob Boss, flutist Holly Hofmann, trumpet maven Derek Cannon, and more. 4:30– 6:30 p.m., Saturdays only. 619-232-7513. — Dave Good