It’s relatively easy to split the difference in California as well. I live in L.A. and have done short weekend+ vacations to San Diego, Palm Springs and Malibu.
Book a hotel room, drive 60-90 minutes and you’re winding up, essentially, in fairly different worlds, with just as much or nearly as much to explore. It’s a great way to have the ‘destination’ component of a vacation without all the logistics and headaches involved in vacation travel.
There’s also Vegas nearby if you want a totally different scene. My wife and I would go to Vegas quite often before our child and had a wonderful time - almost rejuvenating to our relationship. Now that I think about it, feels odd to say you had a great time in Vegas with your wife haha.
This has been my approach as well. There's a lot of diverse stuff here. I recently spent a long weekend 7 miles away from my house, at the downtown Bonaventure hotel, just walking around DTLA and doing stuff I don't usually get to do. I left my car at home to be sure I wouldn't revert to my standard mode.
When my kid was younger, we used to take the train down to San Diego for a week, or spend the week at a beach hotel in Santa Monica.
That said, travel abroad and to the east coast is really an essential complement to those pleasures. It's good to keep perspective.
Book a hotel room, drive 60-90 minutes and you’re winding up, essentially, in fairly different worlds, with just as much or nearly as much to explore. It’s a great way to have the ‘destination’ component of a vacation without all the logistics and headaches involved in vacation travel.