I was only in California once, myself, on a family vacation when I was probably 14 or 15 years old (1969 or 1970.) We stopped for a couple of hours in San Francisco, where we surprised at how chilly it was (Sacramento was around 90 degrees that day when we drove through.) We didn't get to do much in SF, since we were pulling a trailer, and that afternoon we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and took the coast highway north. I remember my brother getting car sick on that road (it was like a roller-coaster), and we stopped for the night in Bodega Bay (where Hitchcock's movie,
The Birds, took place.) They served a great New England style clam chowder at the restaurant there, but I was constantly keeping an eye on all the damned seagulls that were everywhere.