I always check out all the fabric shops when I travel. Met a quilter from North Carolina on line a few years ago who invited me to visit. My sister lives in CT and I'm on the West Coast. So I flew to CT and she and I drove to NC stopping in Lancaster and every quilt shop we could find. Had a great time.
Went on a road trip to Sisters, OR with 3 friends. We plotted all the shops between Napa and OR and then each of us carried a new journal. Every time we stopped we noted our feelings in our journal like the store layout, the fabric selection, the friendliness of the store and the bathrooms (some of them were really well done!). We stopped at 39 shops! Spent oodles of money but had a fabulous time and would love to do it again.
By the way, those of you coming to Northern California, we have tons of fabric shops.