“I planned this road trip last summer with some friends from NYC. The group of friends I was going with are all from Europe, and the original plan was to drive across Route 66. But as we kept planning the trip, it quickly became apparent that they were more interested in the idea of Route 66, rather than the actual road trip. I think we ended up going through four or five different routes before settling on one that worked for everyone. We flew into Vegas and then made our way into California — we went from Sequoia National Park to Yosemite, over to San Francisco and then up to Napa Valley before finally driving down the coast to San Diego. I grew up in southern California so it was a really cool experience to show my friends the things that make my home state special, especially because it was all completely new to them. Before the trip, one of my friends had asked me if I was a mountain or an ocean person. I …