"Welcome to the Hotel California" California by mad4travel

You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave....

California is many things to me:
The American dream????
Plastic fantastic,
Nature in the raw,
Fantastic beaches
Palm trees and hot tubs
Raging sunsets
Great Shopping
Have a nice day,
Laid back LA Music -The Byrds, Mommas and Poppas, The Doors,The Eagles,
Getting caught in the LA Riots (an experience I can tell you!)
In and Out burger (the best!).
Breakfast at Dennys (listen its a big deal to us tourists ok!)
Freeways
Gangs and gun crime

I've been here a lot so its going to take some time to put together all my tips, please bear with me

Preparing for the Oscars on Hollywood Boulevard

In no particular order....

San Francisco
San Diego
Santa Barbara
Palm Springs
Yosemite Natonal Park
Lake Tahoe
Joshua Tree National Park and Mojave Desert
Death Valley
John Muir National Park
Driving the Pacific Coast Highway

I've left LA off this because its a bit of an urban sprawl but have included places to go in my tips.

Yosemite

The easiest way to see California is by car. Driving is pretty easy as most traffic doesn't go very fast due to traffic jams!

Theres nothing better than cruising up the Pacific Coast highway with top rolled down and Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run blaring from the radio. Bit of a cliche but spiritually uplifting!

If you are after nature then a car is a must, public transport is pretty non existant thru to the national parks.

• Pros:Easy living, Great weather, fantastic scenery
• Cons:Big place, LA smog and Traffic, Crime ridden areas
• In a nutshell:"Call some place paradise - kiss it goodbye" Don Henley