I know a lot of people here are interested in photography, so I wanted to let you know about the San Diego DSLR Group. They get together once a month for group photo shoots, and seem to be a pretty good group of folks. At the shoot I attended earlier this month I noticed several instances of the more experienced photographers giving helpful advice and even tutoring to the less experienced. They generally meet someplace, take a group photo, everyone wanders off to take pics for a while, then they meet back up for lunch. Looking back at the monthly group photos it looks like they get a pretty good sized turn out each month.
They generally meet on the 2nd Saturday of the month, and I don't see any reason why someone from outside of San Diego could not attend. I plan to attend more of these, and may even try to set up some desert trips. There were a few people I spoke with who wanted to see the desert but did not have off road capable vehicles.
Here is the website.
http://www.sandiegodslr.com/