[Mrs Red C]

My favourite place was Solvang, a Danish based community with lots of history inc the 1804 Mission Chuch too. Fabulous food/drinks as well 😁

We visited in April 2018 and also did Trip Reports, travelled from San Francisco to LA via Joshua Tree NP.
Henry Cowell NP has/had (depending on the recent fires) lovely big Redwood trees and a vintage train too.
Found Monterrey overated, the Aquarium was very expensive, didn't do whale watching as did that years ago.

Love the Desert Hot Springs, Aerial Tramway up the mountain, such extremes.

There's so much to see and do that you'll have to go back again. Think you need to find things that each member of your family likes and share them out. It is a long drive between both Cities so take that into account too. Don't plan to do everything as its too tiring doing a trip like this!

Enjoy your research and definitely check out all the Trip reports, lots of shared and different ideas/experiences. 😁