Actually I live on the Central Coast now (Northern Santa Barbara County). But I grew up in the Bay Area on the Peninsula, and my folks still lived up there until very recently. So, I had a free place to crash while doing conventions up there. Now my folks have retired down here, and now I have some places to crash in the LA area now... so I might be doing some LA cons. Probably hitting both areas, it's about an equal drive for me.
My plan is to hold off this year (except maybe APE), and then do a few smaller two-day cons next year.
NO I haven't been to San Diego Comic-Con yet. I've wanted to go for as long as I can remember. Even just as an attendee! I hear it's pretty hard to get in as an exhibitor because there's sooo many people trying to get in. Lots of the folks I've met doing APE and WonderCon (which are both also run by Comic-Con Interational), have said that they're doing it to "pay their dues" to get into SDCC. Frankly, I wouldn't want to exhibit there unless I had a pretty strong following (not even close) and thought I could at least come close to turning a profit. Four days of con is a lot of time of work, lot of nights in a hotel, and San Diego is a bit of a drive... so It would be an expensive endeavor, not even including the price for the table/booth!