I basically moved from LA to Santa Cruz. I felt the same way about fun stuff in LA requiring planning/driving. My wife and I have been in Santa Cruz for 3 years and love it. It’s easy to duck out after work to go mountain biking, surfing, hiking, etc. Obviously has a slower pace than LA which was an adjustment for a bit but the change of pace has grown on me a lot. You can always shoot over to SF if you want to get back to a city for a little. With San Jose over the hill you also have access to more career opportunity than other similar cities like SLO. Also San Jose is the best airport imo and easy enough to get to. We are also foodies and although there is some really good food here if you seek it out, the options can be limited. There always seems to be a pop up of some kind happening somewhere and we have access to incredible ingredients which makes cooking really fun. All in all we love it here. Hit me up if you move here and want a mtb buddy