After an amazing week with the Global Adobe Education Team at the Adobe Creative Educator Innovator Summit in San Jose, my wife and I went on a 1,700km road-trip to explore California.

Day 1 – San Francisco

After exploring San Francisco for a few days prior to the Summit, we returned by CalTrain on Friday 19th July for 1 night. The next day we experienced a Waymo (self-driving car) on the way to picking up a hire-car for the week ahead. Can’t wait to see fully automated self-driving cars in Melbourne.

We were a bit hesitant after seeing a Waymo turn into oncoming traffic on the wrong side of the road while we were on a hop-on hop-off bus a week earlier.

Day 2 – San Francisco to Half Moon Bay

On Saturday 20th July, we picked up a lovely GMC Terrain for our week on the road and got use to driving on the wrong (Right) side of the road as we made our way to Half Moon Bay, about 40 min south of San Francisco.

One of the highlights was seeing humpback whales frolicking just off the coast.

Day 3 – Half Moon Bay to Yosemite National Park

On Sunday 21st July, we traveled inland towards Yosemite National Park. We made a stop on the way at the Apple World HQ in Cupertino but the visitor centre was closed. We did cross over the Adobe Creek on the highway at Los Altos – that is where Adobe got its name.

We stayed the night at Mariposa, about 45min from the National Park.

Day 4 – Yosemite to Sequoia

On Monday 22nd July, we made the lengthy trip through lots of dry farming land to Sequoia National Park to explore some very big trees.

Day 5 – Sequoia to Santa Barbara

On Tuesday 23rd July, we drove from Sequoia to the spectacular coastal town of Santa Barbara.

Day 6 – Santa Barbara to Venice Beach (Los Angeles)

Wednesday 24th July involved a drive to Venice Beach & Santa Monica in Los Angeles.

Day 7 – Los Angeles

Thursday 25th July was meant to be our final day before heading back home but due to a Qantas cancellation we enjoyed an extra day in LA so we made the most of our rental and explored the main city tourist areas.

Our final night was at a beautiful hotel in Santa Monica before heading home.

All up we drove about 1,700 km (1,053 miles) and saw some of the best that California can offer.