Don't go inland. There is nothing, besides of course Lake Tahoe and Yosemite.
Paso Robles is a good place to go for wine, so is SLO. Monterey peninsula and the 17-mile drive is great. Go to Alcatraz while in SF. Walk up and down State St Sanata Barbara and get some lunch and shop. Drive down the 1 from about San Jose to Morro Bay, its amazing. Also, when you get to Westlake area near LA, take the Malibu Canyon road from 101 to the 1. It's a great curvy mountain road to beautiful PCH where you can continue south on that and see real nice homes and stuff. Theres a really nice bakery behind a gas station right near where that Malibu canyon road comes out to the PCH, forget the name now, but I can figure it out later. Cars and coffee is amazing, here's a little video I made when I went 5 yrs ago.
Sorry for being so jumbled, my email is cloutierjoe@gmail.com if you want more description. Oh, and go Red Sox!