@OldTreeCreeper Well if you ever plan a trip to CA here is some advice.. fly into LA or SF spend a night or two there, unless big Cities are your thing then spend a few more nights there. Personally I don’t care about big cities, big cities are well big Cities... Sure they each have unique things but it’s always big city things.
1. Make sure you hit Yosemite, it’s by far the most beautiful of the parks. Spend maybe 2 nights there, you won’t see everything in 2 nights but you’ll see enough to experience it. Try and plan the trip for May or June. The waterfalls crest in late May or early June, but by August the waterfalls start to run dry.
2. Drive over to Sequoia spend two nights there. Make sure you get tickets to Crystal cave in advance.
3. Do a drive down the CA coast, try and hit Monterrey Bay and Pismo Beach.
I’m in the Central Valley of CA and Pismo is the beach town locals go to. It has decent surfing, the dunes and nice weather.
The trip would be a lot of driving. But you’ll get to see a lot of California.