Been to Sacramento and SF. The latter is really nice for a tourist like me. Cold as t*** though, and pricey as hell. I'd still prefer Houston and Lin.
monterey is nice. Your point about the food is true though. South definitely has an up on the eats. California is nice and eating overall is not on par with view. btw if you are looking for nice view do recommend pacific edge restaurant at hyatt down the road in carmel.
Yeah, for me to poop on. I've lived in DC, Philly and NY... I for one, would take Houston over any of those (I think) and west coast over it all (I think again?).
Central Coast is incredible. Here's some shots I took a few months back. Bixby Bridge just outside of Big Sur Point Lobos State Park Carmel - Pebble Beach GC in the background
Just came back from a trip from Cali, drove up from San Diego to Lake Tahoe (Western border Through Nevada) and down from Sacramento back to San Diego. Some thoughts: Nevada Route: Kind of a mistake, places looked uninhabitable (100 miles from death valley)- But a beautiful isolated Desert I'll never forget. Lake Tahoe- One of the most scenic places I have ever seen. Water 99% from snow- looked like a fake blue water made from dye- refreshing to jump in the beach, Emerald Bay unreal..., Cabin we stayed in was next to pine forest and mountains. Funny thing about Lake Tahoe its divided into Nevada/ California- Casinos start on same street as soon as you cross the border- (Cool Story Bro)So we walked in at Harrahs, and there was a sudden surprise party thrown on stage by Charles Barkley, Micheal Phelps, Jerry Rice, and a bunch of other celebrities for a golf tournament. Charles had such a great personality presence as usual, handed out beers, and announced he was quiting TNT, even though he loved his job/boss. He had that buzzed look in his eye, and was just hilarious on the mike. I was in awe of lookin at Phelps (Who was tryin to rap every ryhme. (End of cool story bro) Drove back down through Sacramento to LA- Wow just endless rows of fruits (Miles), place looks like you can spit and something can grow, truly blessed land. Looked like that one area alone can feed America. San Diego is another story. But Yeah Home is home
Cali is expensive for a reason. People actually want to be there, as is the case for all the other expensive places in the world
It would drive me crazy to have all that water around me 24/7 365 and not go in because of how cold it was. Screw that noise. GIVE ME THE GULF COAST.
Love the central coast, and especially its white wines, but I like the beaches in SoCal a lot better.
Like other posters in this thread I've also had the opportunity to vacation in Cali ,and yes the coastline is beautiful. We were staying in San Francisco and decide to take a day trip to Carmel, at the time Clint Eastwood was Mayor and my curiosity about Dirty Harry's domain got the better of me! I have to say the drive was spectacular, we took the Pacific Highway (Hwy 1) form Cisco to Carmel and what should of been a 2/12hr drive ended up being closer to 4hrs. We kept stopping along the way to take pictures of the views plus driving alongside those cliffs was kind of nerve-racking! If you haven't been to that part of the country it definitely should be on your "Bucket List"! ....... ....... .......
I go out there at least once a year to visit my sister and the last time we went was really the first time we went to the beach and did normal beach stuff like you would do here, sans getting in the water of course. It rarely crosses my mind to do that.
I have that same experience near the ancestral home in France. There's a beach called Les Sables d'Olonne on the Atlantic coast south of Brittany which used to be where royalty would go for their beach excursions before the Revolution, and then was a big resort beach in the 19th century with casinos and whatnot. So, you'd think it'd be pretty awesome. But, it's freaking ice-water even in the middle of summer. I suppose going from Paris to Marseille by horse-drawn carriage was too much trouble.
