Harrah's Rincon is only one of many casinos in that general area. Others include Pala, Pauma, Valley View, and Pechanga. All are within 15 minutes of each other. All of them except Pechanga are actually on the same general highway.
Pechanga is right off the 15 freeway so it's the easiest access, but they have much higher limits on their table games and most of their video slots are nickles or higher. It's one of the nicer casinos with many restaurants and a decent buffet. Their rooms are 4 diamond. They have a nice poker room.
Rincon is also nice and pretty much what you would expect from Harrah's.
Pala is also 4 diamonds i believe and they have plenty of penny slots and a great non-smoking section.
Valley View is on top of a hill closer to Escondido and they by far have the best buffet and plenty of penny slots.
Pauma is the smallest and probably the best for low-rollers as most of their slots are penny types. Don't eat there, lol. They are also the only ones with 97.4 and 98% payback slots.
Also, if you go on a weekend, expect an extremely crowded experience. You might have fun driving from casino to casino, but it's not like walking on the strip in vegas.
Also, these grouped casinos are actually in the most northern part of San Diego County and it might be longer than 25 minutes to San Diego. There are also 2 or 3 other casinos in the eastern part of San Diego as well.
And i agree, call the casinos and ask about the fires and highway closures if any.
Have a great time and good luck !!!!