(Photo: The price of regular gas in Grapevine, California, on the road to San Diego.)

Like many, I've been tightening my proverbial belt due to economic uncertainty - even though I'm doing pretty well, considering. That has extended to my annual summer vacation with my teenaged daughter. In the past, we've visited New York city, flown to Hawaii and cruised the Mexican Riviera for ten days.

This year, she really wanted to return to NYC, but with the price of airfare, hotels and the general expense involved, the trip would have equaled an entire month's living expenses. I just couldn't justify that.

So, this year, we're sticking closer to home - driving from our home in the San Francisco Bay Area to San Diego.

In spite of high gas prices (as seen above, regular is $5 a gallon at some points on our trip), the trip is still economical for me. I drive a hybrid I purchased in 2004 (prescient, much?), and drove from SF to SD on a tank and a half. Total price for gas will be around $120, round trip.

We're investing some of the money saved in a great hotel - the Hard Rock Hotel downtown. We'll visit the San Diego Zoo and Wildlife parks, the museums in Balboa Park and Seaworld. We'll hang out on the beach, shop in downtown and enjoy shops and restaurants we don't have up north (Pinkberry, here I come!).

All in all, a great trip, for less than half what I would have paid to go to New York.

Update: The original post was a response to an iReport "assignment" asking people to document road trips - where they're going, what they're doing, why they made the choices they did, etc. Since several people have had questions, that's the background and context of this post...