I fly out of Livermore (KLVK) and I enjoy early morning flights over the hills and up toward Discovery Bay. Its not a touristy thing like the Golden Gate but its pretty in the morning. There are many smaller airports in this area and I find it interesting to just go to some of these airports as part of my now active flight training.
A couple weeks ago I was down at Hollister (KCVH) (just south of Reid Hillview) and there are lots of gliders there. Or up at Mather (KMHR) in Sacramento you can be the only one using an 11,000 ft runway. Last time we were up there the controller seemed like he was looking for someone to talk to it was so quiet.
Maybe this is part of my new found piloting experience and veteran pilots may not enjoy these simple encounters like I do, but I'm just passing on some of what I have enjoyed.