i havent lived in California in many years but my youngest son was born there tidal pools in Monterrey when my boys were so little John Steinbeck memorial Monterrey Bay Aquarium and i'm kinda hung up on the San Francisco Zen Center I drove there once from Seattle and sat in meditation silence bowed to the Buddha statue the buddhists sometimes say the Buddha was not a god he was just a human being who reached enlightenment if he could do it you can too