California Road Trip for two teen best friends?

My best friend and I want to go on a vacation together. We're both currently 18, but we still need time to save for the trip so it will be another year or so before we take the trip. We live on Long Island in New York and want to experience a dramatically different landscape and we think California is just the ticket.

I have already done some research and have picked out a few spots I definitely want to check out, but several questions remain about how much time I should dedicate to each destination and the economics of the whole endeavor - we're both students and are on a relatively tight budget. I know we wont be able to do everything I've picked and I'd like some advice on what to do and what to skip. We'd like to balance serene natural experiences with exciting city adventures. As far as nightlife goes, we not into dance clubs and would prefer live music venues. Some suggestions for each city listed would be greatly appreciated. We love rock and alternative music. I also have an obsession with french fries. If you know of any great places for french fries along our journey please share them with me. When we go to the national parks we would camp but when in the bigger cities we could also use some suggestions for cool hotels that arent too pricey.

Here are the places I would like to visit.

San Diego

Torrey Pines State Reserve

Los Angeles

Channel Islands National Park

Hearst Castle

Big Sur

Monterey

Santa Cruz

San Francisco

Point Reyes National Seashore

Yosemite

Lake Tahoe

Mendocino

Arcata

Redwood National ParkCalifornia Road Trip for two teen best friends?
Places you should spend more than 1 day

San Francisco
Yosemite
Lake Tahoe - When you get there it can be kind of hard to know where to go. There's no national park visitor's center to tell you the best spots. I recommend Emerald Bay State Park and D.L. Bliss State Park on the southwest side. Meeks Bay is also a nice beach. It's not part of a park but it is open to the public and has more facilities like restaurants and a gift shop. I've heard there are some nice spots on the Nevada side too, but I haven't found them. Don't spend too much time in places like South Lake Tahoe, Stateline, and King's Beach, though it's fine to get a hotel there.

Places you should spend 1 day

San Diego
Los Angeles
Channel Islands - You pretty much have to. The ferry will leave in the morning and bring you back in the afternoon. I think I'd recommend Santa Cruz Island instead of Anacapa Island. Anacapa Island is more unique, but it's small and it gets crowded when the ferry comes in. Santa Cruz island will be more quiet.
Big Sur - Maybe. If you want to take a decent hike allow a day. But you can see a lot just by driving and taking short stops at overlooks. Either way, don't miss McWay Beach at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. There is a short about 1 mile trail to where you can see a waterfall cascading onto a beach.

Places you should spend less than 1 day

Hearst Castle - But you have to spend about half a day. You can only see it on a tour and the tour lasts about 3-4 hours.
Monterey
Santa Cruz
Mendocino

Places you might want to skip if you're short on time

Point Reyes - It's got a nice view from the lighthouse, but it takes quite a while to get there.
Redwood National Park - It's definitely worth seeing but it's a lot farther north than most of your destinations. You could go to Muir Woods just outside San Francisco instead. I'll be honest, it's not as nice, but you do get to see redwoods.

Places on your list I don't know much about

Torrey Pines
ArcataCalifornia Road Trip for two teen best friends?
That's quite a list and will take a long time. Cali's a big state. You might want to do the Pacific Coast Highway and see where you can detour from there. Generally people break up their Cali trips into NoCal and SoCal and usually they're done on separate occasions because people in the US don't get long vacation periods. Really, it's a big state.



Get AAA to map out a trip for you--or do it yourself on Mapquest.com--and you'll see what I mean. I've gone to many, but not all the places you list, but over 5 separate trips, each lasting from 6 to 15 days. I'd pick a route--like PCH as mentioned above--and see where it takes me. We spent a day at the Hearst Castle alone.



Good luck.