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Growing up in Southern California—especially as a themed motel enthusiast with a penchant for roadside destinations—I’m borderline ashamed to admit I’ve only made it north of Los Angeles a handful of times. San Luis Obispo is home to my favorite place on earth—the Madonna Inn, a Pepto-Bismol-pink fever dream of kitsch—but aside from that and a family trip to Hearst Castle back in 2013, my relationship with Central California has been mostly drive-through. Ojai, in particular, had always been a blur… a quick pass-through in 2017 en route to the Madonna Inn (priorities), nothing more. So when the opportunity arose for a much-needed girls’ road trip to the Ojai Valley Inn, I jumped—despite knowing embarrassingly little about what the town actually had to offer. Spoiler alert: quite a lot.
Genesis, the luxury arm of Hyundai Motor Group, kindly loaned us its 2026 GV80 Coupe 3.5T Prestige All Wheel Drive (AWD) for the roughly two-hour drive from Los Angeles, Friday rush hour included. As someone who hadn’t driven a car in nearly six months, I’ll admit I was panic-attack-level nervous, especially since the road to Ojai gets winding and foggy after sunset, which is precisely when we began our journey. Fortunately, I was in very good hands (or wheels, rather). For reference, my former ride was a 2009 Toyota Camry—RIP, I will forever miss her, and she was the best—but the GV80 Coupe felt like a different universe entirely…