My wife was planting the seeds for the idea of moving out of state to be nearer to her family, most of whom recently moved from California to North Carolina. Then this book arrived and I read through it and came to the realization that no state holds as many natural and cultural wonders as California and how could I ever want to live elsewhere?
I mean, c'mon, how is it fair that one state has so many wonderful regions and attractions? Wine Country, Sierras, San Francisco, Mendocino, Silicon Valley, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur, Hearst Castle, the desert, the delta, Los Angeles, Hollywood, San Diego, to name the most popular. Okay, Silicon Valley is getting really old, but the rest is still great, and this book made me want to go see it all again!
This guide does a very good job of paying tribute to it all. This book has some great sidebars regarding the history, best drives, best small towns, best architecture, best museums, hotels, festivities, etc, etc. And of course, traveler information, weather, culture, and more. The included fold-out map is nice quality, but is small and is pretty much just a highway map. Guidebooks never have enough photos, but this one does better than most, with good photography and nice maps.
The book gives a lot of suggestions for how to see the most with what time you've got, and they do an admirable job, but if you really want to see California, you better just move here, because there's so much to see, and it ain't exactly a small state.
ALSO - I got this book at the same time as Frommer's California 2012 book, which has 200 pages more than this one, and costs a few dollars less, but I think Day by Day has a friendlier, more interesting look, more photos, and is more pleasurable to read, while still providing the vast majority of information in the other one. Since I gave that one 4 stars, this one really deserves 4.5.
