In the spirit of surprise, we’re committing to exploring more of San Diego. We invite you to take up the challenge by offering a few places to start: La Jolla, Alpine, City Heights, Poway, and Imperial Beach, the locales covered in this year’s neighborhood guide. We give you each neighborhood’s origin story and pull out our crystal ball to see what’s next for the area, and expert locals offer their top places in town.

While you explore, keep an eye out for public art. San Diego is full of brilliant muralists, including Mr B Baby, a San Ysidro local whose colorful piñata character Chucho frolics on walls all over the city (and the world). Other parts of this issue provide more ideas for wonderseeking. Food editor Troy Johnson wanders into Fleurette, the new spot in La Jolla from restauranteur Travis Swikard (the chef who gave us Callie). There, he’s whipping up a lighter take on French cooking. Craving the drama of a home game? As three of San Diego’s biggest names in pro sports—the Padres, the Wave, and SDFC—kick off their seasons, we spend time with their coaches to talk refreshed rosters and playoff prospects.

We dive into San Diego history, looking back at the “Jackass Mail” route—something that has nothing to do with Johnny Knoxville sticking leeches to his face and everything to do with using a bunch of mules to carry mail over 1,200 miles of undeveloped terrain. On a journey from San Antonio to SD, carriers fended off attacking warriors, drank out of puddles, and tended to sick mules, all while, unbeknownst to them, a sinking ship carried their paychecks to the bottom of the sea. Proof that there is such a thing as too much serendipity.