Yes, the wine country isn’t just north of the Bay Area.
Don’t miss Big Basin and Nepenthe. For a nice finish to the trip (unless you want to go to Tijuana), make a quick visit to this National Park - nothing spectacular, just a cool bit of history.
If you need a Monterey Bay overnite, we stayed here on the night we got engaged - it is great. You can watch the sea otters at breakfast
Morro Bay is just a hop, skip and a jump from San Luis Obispo, is very quiet and laid back, and is somewhat more economical than anyplace you’re likely to spend the night in Monterey.
Plus, it’s got that huge rock.
Big Sur is a beautiful place to drive through. And the people are friendly, if you want to stop and have some lunch.
There are so many places to go to just for the things you see along the way, including the Monterrey coast, with its aquarium, mentioned above. Not far inland you can see farmscapes and towns straight out of Steinbeck. If there’s time, don’t just stay on the coast. Go into the San Joaquin valley and–since it’ll be summer–you can try rafting on the Kern River. As kaylasdad99 suggests above, you can go back to the coast to see Morro Bay (and its inhabitants). Santa Barbara’s beaches are great in summer, and there’s a solstice celebration there on State Street in June. (Because of the season, check the lunar cycle so you can participate in a grunion run in the middle of a summer night.) As for L.A., check out this recent thread from these boards.
Alas the food in the Madonna Inn is mediocre, but the men’s room is a must see. We’ve stayed there, just for fun.
Another thing to do is to get a reservation at the Getty Museum just north of LA. You need one because parking is extremely limited - come early.
The Santa Barbara pier and beach are great. Downtown has been chain-storeized, alas, it was a lot funkier 20 years ago.
Besides the Aquarium in Monterrey, and Cannery Row (not worth much time, but it is right down the street from the Aquarium) downtown Monterrey is California’s first capital.
In San Diego, there is always the zoo and the many museums in Balboa Park. A bit inland is the Wild Animal Park which I prefer to the zoo but which will take an entire day.
1 takes a lot longer then either 5 or 101, but it is a lot prettier. Check ahead for landslides and the like.
Point Lobos Reserve, just south of Monterey, has been called “the greatest meeting of land and water in the world.” I once took a friend from the east coast to see it - she said, “everything here looks like a Sierra Club calendar.”
I agree with the recommendations of the Monterey Aquarium. You should know that it takes time to see it adequately. You should budget at least four hours. I have spent an entire day in the place. Be sure to see the jellyfish exhibit, and also see the otters at feeding time.
Santa Maria Valley, not too far south of San Luis Obispo, has its own style of BBQ that features beef cooked over oak wood, salsa and pinquito beans. The Santa Maria BBQ web site lists the best-know restaurants devoted to this style.
The town of Solvang is a sort of Danish theme park. I find it touristy, but you might enjoy it.
I was also going to suggest Hearst Castle, and just mention that we were completely taken aback at what a madhouse the place is during the tourist season. I didn’t think it was that popular of an attraction, but when we got there it looked like disneyland at the tour center place. Getting reservations in advance would definitely be a good thing. Along these same lines, campsites along that whole stretch are often booked up weeks to months ahead of time-- apparently this is normal anywhere on the California coast, but it really took us mountain time-zone folk by surprise.
This might be a fun trip to stay on the Queen Mary. The thing is moored in the heart of industrial Long Beach, which is inconvenient if you’re actually seeing sights in LA, but if you’re more or less just driving through LA because it’s in the way it wouldn’t be too bad. If nothing else it’d split up the LA part of the drive. We stayed there last summer and, booking online, the room was pretty affordable-- it cost less than it would have for two of us to tour the ship and stay in a cheap motel. The whole exterior of the ship and most of the interior are open for guests after the tour hours, so we had a blast spending the evening strolling around and exploring the ship, drinks in hand. It could give you just a taste of an old-fashioned honeymoon cruise! 
Having lived in Santa Cruz back in the 1960s-1970s, I’d be tempted to go there and stay, with maybe some side trips to Monterrey. The campus of USSC is out of this world, IIRC, but given my interests during the time frame I was there, most places were. The trip down to Big Sur is well worth it; just don’t get carried away with looking at the scenery—driving there requires a lot of concentration unless you enjoy unplanned plunges down the mountain side and into the sea. If you go all the way down, keep an eye out for Pea Soup Anderson’s----I can’t believe I’ve forgotten exactly where it is and I don’t know if it’s still in business; it it is, it’s a great place for lunch.
What was that hotel on the road between Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz that had all the wacky theme rooms and the disturbing dolls?
Ha! The Madonna Inn, complete with the Caveman Room. At least stop for coffee and kitsch.
Merged duplicate threads from Cafe Society and IMHO. SkyBlueKayak, please don’t post the same topic to multiple forums.
Thanks for mentioning that you had merged the threads. I thought I had missed all of the 15 references to the Madonna Inn before my post.
“One thing about living in Santa [Cruz] I never could stomach, all the damn vampires!”
Stranger
The trip will be for a week or ten days in late July.
(What kind of car should we rent?)
(Is there a good parrot zoo en route?)
Chill out, Edgar.
Oh, so you’re inviting yourself to join in on someone else’s honeymoon? This will be interesting.
Holy crap, this is awesome - I’m doing this very trip next week!
My only must-see is the Monterey Aquarium, but I’ll consider other suggestions from this thread.
Hint for visiting State Park beaches on your drive: your day pass/permit is valid for same day at any unit charging the same or lower fees. The individual day use fees can be pretty expensive (up to $10), but you can hopscotch your way from beach to beach all day with that one permit. Note that some beaches are in the National Forest (Sand Dollar Beach for example), and they charge separately.
I live in San Diego and I can tell you there is TONS to do.
I dont know what kind of Eaters you are… but here is a list of good places in my beautiful city:
*Hodad’s Hamburgers on Newport Ave in Ocean Beach (these have been on Diners Drive Ins and Dives and is a San Diego FAVE
*SouthBeach Bar and Grille is also on Newport Ave, right by the ocean and are some of the best fish tacos in San Diego
*Blue Water Seafood Market and Grille in Mission Hills (by the SD airport) is a classic. And so is El Indio next door if one of you prefer Mexican food. (Both have been on Diners Drive Ins and Dives)
*The Tractor Room in Hillcrest is to-die for original and classic cocktails and brunch; Their sister restaurant across the street: Hash House A Go Go is a huge SD favorite for Breakfast but the wait can be a little crazy - theyre also great for dinner and have less of a wait
*If you roll into town super late, there is Studio Diner near the stadium; theyre open 24 hrs and have great food… and yes, theyve ALSO been on DDD.
*Finally, if you want a nice more upscale (but not too crazy expensive) dinner try: The Prado in Balboa Park (one of my fave restaurants in SD and awesome after a day visiting Balboa), Oceanaire for Seafood in the Gaslamp downtown (you MUST have the crab cake if you go or it was all for nothing)