Craig Gillette
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The next couple of months are, perhaps, not the best time to be visiting non-coastal Southern California, the temperatures are usually pretty brutal until the end of September or so. Although as you get father north and/or higher in elevation, it's less oppressive. Sequoia/Kings Canyon aren't as impacted as Yosemite by popularity and the potential for an extended waterfall season this year. Nor quite as spectacular although accessibility to the Sequoia "Big Trees" is probably better as there is construction still underway at the Mariposa Grove near Wawona, one of the more famous locations for visiting the giant sequoias.
If they are a subject of interest, the Park Service offers some suggestions on alternative locations in their Mariposa Grove info in the Yosemite Park site. There are a variety of other places to see them, including some state parks/forests and undeveloped groves in national forests. This is a west slope opportunity.
Others have mentioned Highway 395. The most scenic stretch runs from the south end of Owens Valley north. There are on line tourism guides to much of it. Although the scenery can be inspiring, the southern stretch is pretty hot, with noted side trips getting into higher country.
Here's a site that has some more detailed info on the area.
http://www.americansouthwest.net/california/eastern-sierra/index.html
You may need to closely follow these sorts of sites and get continuing information depending on when you make your trip. This was a pretty big snow year and closures on some of these roads may last longer into the summer. For example, there are no posted opening dates for the Tioga Road or into Devil's Postpile on the NPS sites yet.
The Highway 395 area is well worth considering, keeping in mind the snow issues. It's kind of hard to lump the Eastern Sierra in with Los Angeles and San Francisco as being the same state. Geologically speaking, some spots make it hard to think the same planet, almost. (And also contrasting that with the serious hot temperatures that will be present through most of the lower elevation parts of the state.)
Highway 120/Tioga Road is the connector from the east side to Yosemite although there are passses north of there and down at the Tehachapi that will likely not be problem. Note that there can be summer thunderstorms in the larger area that can be intense and also offer some added cloud and weather photo interest.
A kicker in the travel planning possibilities is Highway 1 on the coast between Monterey and San Luis Obispo has received even more damage with slide activity in several spots including a huge slide that just recently occurred and opening dates are unavailable, with a known bridge replacement in the Big Sur area expected in the fall now not likely to be the controlling event for through traffic anymore.
Lassen Volcanic National Park and up around Mount Shasta might be worth thinking about although snow closures mat remain in place for quite a while up there, too.
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