Summer Trip - Need Advice

Here's some older posts: San Francisco to Los Angles Area and Half Moon Bay & San Francisco & BART which can be found in this old post: :C Clicky

We enjoyed the sights & sites along the 101. If you haven't gone to see "Hearst Castle". "Hearst San Simeon State Historical Monument" is a must see. And San Simeon State Park is just south of the Monument.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey is really great. North of Monterey at Moss Landing is a great sea food place over by the docks, called Phil's Fish Market & Eatery.

Santa Barbara is a neat area to see. We used Carppinteria State Park as a base to see the area.

For viewing the Pacific Coast via the highway, Northbound is better (do not have to cross traffic to pull off at sites, or recross getting back on). But we have done it both ways, northbound & southbound.

Sights & Sites I-10 South & I-40 North AZ & NM & I-10 in Texas.

Here's a link (someone going from Houston to Los Angles: My info is the same, but it has other Comments & Suggestions.

Some Really neat things in AZ & NM, IMHO. But most are off the Interstates somewhat, not all. Same in Texas.

Bypassing San Diego? Nice zoo.
We stayed overnight on the Queen Mary in Long Beach. The luxurious way to cross the oceans before TWA.
Take a look at the itinerary at www.caravan.com for their California Coast Wine Country and Yosemite tour for some more ideas.

This posting may get better answers in "Roads and Routes"

Santa Barbara and SF are high dollar areas.
Between the two are Hearst Castle, Pismo Beach, Lopez lake, Ventana\Big Sur, SLO, Arroyo Grande, Morro Bay, Atascadero, Los Osos etc...
Those places are worth the stop.

You won't find many, if any, boondocking places in Santa Barbara or San Francisco. You might prepare to fork over some cash for a campsite and they're not cheap in these areas. Otherwise, you have some long drives to and from. Good luck!