Trip to California

[picachu211]

Next weekend I am kicking off my annual summer vacation.
I have never loved the West Coast much, but I think I will give it another try.
I know we have quite a few people from California here, so I am asking for tips, e.g. where to go, what to see, eat, etc.

I am flying to LA, and will drive to N. California first. Then depends on if I have enough time or not, maybe I will check out San Diego before I come back.

Thanks a lot!

[jayl0ve]

Well, California is an extremely large place. It's really difficult to recommend just a few things...you should check out Yosemite National Park, or Death Valley. Big Sur is very cool...if you're actually looking to go to far northern California, Redwood National Park in Crescent City (almost in Oregon) is pretty awesome.

The big cities (S.F and L.A) are boring and just like any other big cities anywhere else in the US....same ghetto neighborhoods, hipster neighborhoods, gay neighborhoods, blahblahblah etc etc

[picachu211]

I know, that's why I don't plan to stay in the cities too much.
When I say Northern California, I mean just SF and Sacramento, what does San Jose have?
I have to spend two days in Disneyland though...

[emate007]

San jose has smog and traffic... Google/Apple hq are nearby but not worth seeing, they're just buildings. SF is pretty awesome for a small city, i Especially like the botanical garden in golden gate park- used to blaze there all the time way back when. If you're in the bay, look up Indian Rock in berkeley- cool 'locals' spot with best panoramic view of the whole area.

Highly recommend Santa Barbara as well, I'd buy you a pitcher if I were still around. Great city- good but manageable/safe nightlife, tourist friendly, and the women are incredible. Franchesci park is the same kind of hidden gem as Indian rock. Let me know if you're stopping there, can give many more reccomendations. But beware going barefoot on the beach- lots of tar ar most of the touristy beaches.

For Cali overall- yosemite is awesome no matter what time of year, the whole coast (hwy 1) from pismo to mendocino is great but especially so between south of santa Cruz/ big sur area to north marin. Don't go too far north, most of the shit north of Chico is Oregon in disguise. M

[picachu211]

Thank you man! Both!
SF is small? I guess Sacramento does not worth checking out then?
I now realize I don't have enough time for all the gems in California this time.

[jayl0ve]

Sacramento= Ass

Don't bother to go there unless you wanted to visit a friend there, it is insanely lame.

SF is indeed a very small city in terms of square mileage, especially considering how many people are packed in there. SF is very fun for what it is (so are Berkeley and Oakland to a lesser extent), but me personally I would rather go quite a few places over SF

[picachu211]

Yeah, I wanted to check out Sacramento because of the TV show The Mentalist.
That's great info, now I will spend more time in SF now.
Clam chower, yummy!

[picachu211]

I have made my grand return and I had a great time in California.
SF is so beautiful, I love the weather so much!
I like the kind that you can wear shorts and hoodies at the same time.
Some might say the morning and night can be smoggy and chilly, but I like it!
Not to mention the chowder and sourdough to die for!
We went all the way up to the Twin Peaks before 8 one day, and the wind almost blew me off the mountain.
Too bad I heard the housing is so expensive there...And the f**king parking is so expensive too!

IMHO, LA is not as good as SF. Sure, the beach lifestyle is tempting, but it's generally drier and hotter. I did watch the best street performance in Venice Beach though.
Santa Barbara is a whole another story. It's tiny, but vibe was just so nice. Too bad we went there on a Sunday morning and all the parking spaces were long gone. LOL

The night we got there, you guys were playing Boston...I did not jinx you...

The only problem I had was that I cannot drive for sh*t on the highway!
The GPS was so damn annoying! So I kept on changing lanes and people gave me the finger.
I think the reason alone is enough to keep me on the East Coast.

All in all, I enjoyed my time there very much. Thank you guys for your tips.