06/26/2026
I drove up the Central California coast expecting a quiet, affordable escape, only to find a landscape transformed by soaring motel prices and sky-high meal costs.
The basic family trip I once knew has become a luxury experience reserved for wealthy international tourists.
I encountered three-hundred-dollar motel rooms, seven-dollar gas, and restaurant prices that make a weekend outing unaffordable for locals.
I’ve seen firsthand how decades of misguided governance and burdensome regulations have priced out the residents and eroded the very soul of our coastal towns.
After a lifetime in California, I can no longer ignore the painful reality that the beauty of our coast has been co-opted by those who can afford it, forcing me to question whether it’s still worth staying.
Only the rich and foreign may use it now