If you insist on staying in Northern CA to finish up your master's degree, it is okay to pursue a MBA (may be with a concentration in Finance). You can still sit for the CPA exam as long as you have completed all the academic requirements (i.e. 150+ hours, plus certain # of hours of coursework in accounting and business).

I have an undergraduate degree in accounting with a in-progress MBA (with a concentration in Finance) and got my CPA license a few years ago. The accounting profession has a great demand in competent professionals in recent years, especially the public accounting sector. Finding a job (either audit or tax if you wish to stay in public accounting) is not hard at all.