When you're 100 feet above a canyon of eucalyptus trees with a half-dozen species of birds chattering away around you, it's easy to forget you're close to downtown in America's sixth largest city. Even the whoosh of a jetliner as it heads for a landing in nearby Lindbergh Field and the melancholy clang of an arriving Amtrak at downtown's historic Sante Fe Depot doesn't alter the sense of renewal this verdant setting inspires.

Here is a hint of what defines San Diego, breathtaking water and nature combined in an urban setting.

From there it's a short trip down Laurel Street and along Harbor Drive, along the "Scenic Route" to Catalina Boulevard and the slow climb past Navy installations and civilian research centers, to the tip of Point Loma and site of the Cabrillo National Monument, a favorite spot for San Diegans and tourists alike.

Besides the monument honoring the Portuguese explorer who was the first European to enter these waters, the area's 146 acres include a lighthouse that opened in 1850, the year after California entered the Union, a two-mile roundtrip bayside trail descending through native coastal sage scrub to a point just above the ocean, and an overlook for following the annual migration of gray whales from the Arctic Ocean to the lagoons of Baja California, Mexico.

"When I got here, they told me this was the third best harbor view in the world behind Rio and Hong Kong," says John Golda, a park ranger for the National Park Service®, which operates the site. "We've had a lot of visitors who say this is better than Hong Kong."

While this spot is one of the most visited monuments in the United States, the world famous San Diego Zoo remains the area's number one attraction. A 100-acre tropical garden with 3,900 animals representing 800 species, the zoo is noted for its rare and exotic species, including a pair of giant pandas on loan from China, and unique exhibits such as the Polar Bear Plunge, Gorilla Tropics, and Hippo Beach. The San Diego Zoological Society also operates San Diego Wild Animal Park, a sanctuary for exotic species of animals that roam freely in a 2,200-acre preserve thirty miles north of San Diego.

The area's other famous wild animal attraction is Sea World of San Diego, a 150-acre aquatic park featuring dozens of marine life exhibits, including its popular Penguin and Shark Encounters, and its most recent attraction, Manatee Rescue, a 215,000 gallon freshwater attraction and underwater gallery where the large, lumbering aquatic mammals can be viewed.

As much as water and nature define San Diego, climate is an obsession. According to local newspaper columnist Neil Morgan, 160 street names in the latest Thomas Brothers directory bear the word "sun," which makes watching the sun set over the Pacific very much a local pastime. And the best place to do that is aptly named Sunset Cliffs.

It takes a little meandering to get there the most picturesque way, but it's worth it. After taking Harbor Drive, away from downtown, turn left on Rosecrans Street, right on Talbot Street, make a short right on Chatsworth Boulevard for only a block and a half, then go left on to Hill Street, all the way to the ocean‹and be prepared for one of the more sweeping views of the Pacific as you reach the crest of the hill.

Fall is when San Diegans like Randy Strunk and brother Jeff enjoy their city best. The two operate the Aquarius Surf 'N Skate shop in Pacific Beach, supplying tourists with everything from surfboards and wet suits to bicycles and roller blades.

"The tourists that are here are in for a real treat because they get to experience San Diego as San Diegans experience it," says Strunk. "The boardwalk has just enough people scattered up and down. There's just enough ambiance and change in seasons. Skaters and bikers love it."

Surfers will tell you the waves are better, the days clearer, the mornings sharper, the skies bluer.

"The best time to come to San Diego is October," says Jane Wolf, who gives astrology readings in the middle of the week in the middle of Balboa Park. "This is when the sophisticated people come and stay longer. Everything is accessible. And there's a lot of good theater this time of year."

Theater and culture are not words one immediately associates with San Diego. Yet, the city has long been a leader in regional theater in having sent more than three dozen plays to Broadway and off-Broadway since the 1980s. This renaissance has been led by San Diego's two Tony Award-winning theaters, the Old Globe Theatre in Balboa Park, famous for its Shakespearean productions, and the La Jolla Playhouse, which claims such Broadway successes as "Big River," "The Who's Tommy," and "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying." The San Diego Repertory Theatre and Lamb's Players Theatre have also sparked the local theater scene.

In addition, San Diego County houses more than ninety museums; fourteen of them, including the San Diego Museum of Art, the San Diego Museum of Man, the Timken Museum of Art, with its collection of medieval religious paintings and icons, and the Mingei International Museum of World Folk Art, are in Balboa Park. The San Diego Symphony has been revived, the San Diego Opera sells out every season, and the Mainly Mozart and La Jolla Chamber Music festivals draw capacity crowds.

As cities go, San Diego is still relatively new. Yet, it does have a historic past.

Until the 1860s, the heart of San Diego was three miles north of downtown in Mission Valley, where in 1769 the Spanish priest Junipero Serra established California's first mission. The area, known today as Old Town, was largely abandoned, however, after a series of major fires in 1867. That's when a second San Diego was born‹at the foot of Fifth Avenue above the water. The new area, later known as the Gaslamp Quarter for its elegantly styled gas lamps of the period, went through several boom and bust periods, but it wasn't until the area was designated a National Historic District in 1980 that it really took off for good.

The revitalization of Gaslamp was followed by a surge in development that has changed the city's skyline, from Windham Emerald Plaza with its green hexagon-shaped towers to the forty-story white Hyatt Regency San Diego that looms over the bay like a giant bottle opener.

That period of development included the $165 million San Diego Convention Center, which opened in 1989 with its 254,000 square feet of space and is planning to expand. With its rooftop billowing like sails unfurled, it has become one of the waterfront's more visible landmarks.

Next door to the Convention Center is Seaport Village, a fourteen-acre Disneyesque collection of shops, galleries, boutiques, and restaurants in a setting designed to resemble a turn-of-the-century harbor town. Aircraft carriers docked across the bay in Coronado are also a reminder that the Navy is very much a part of life here as are the bays and beaches. So are the sailboats; so is the lone kayaker frantically keeping pace with a flock of seagulls above.

It's also a reminder that even if you live here, there's nothing wrong with playing tourist.