Page 42 - 2017 Travel Guide to California

ROAD TRIPS
BY JOHN FLINN
You’re in the Driver’s Seat
Explore the golden roads of the Golden State
CALIFORNIA
BRIDGES
The Bixby Creek Bridge in Big Sur,
above, is emblematic of
California’s rugged coast and
Highway 1. Completed in 1932, it
remains one of the tallest single-
span concrete bridges in the
world. Other notable structures in
California include, of course, the
Golden Gate Bridge and the San
Francisco Bay Bridge, a
breathtaking workhorse linking
SF and Oakland.
Californians didn’t invent the car, but
they like to think, with some justification,
that they invented the automobile lifestyle.
With drive-thru grocery stores, drive-
thru pharmacies, drive-thru churches and
even drive-thru mortuaries, one gets the
feeling that if Californians could only
invent a drive-thru delivery room they
could happily go from cradle to grave
without ever having to pull over to the curb.
California is a land of supersized dis-
tances, jumbo landscapes and big-gulp
vistas, and the best way to see it all is on a
road trip, or, better yet, a series of road trips.
Here are a few of our favorites.
Up the Coast
Northern Californians call it “Highway 1”
and Southern Californians call it the “Pacific
Coast Highway”—or, simply, the “PCH”—but
there’s no doubt that the road that hugs the
state’s remarkable coastline, often close
enough to feel the salt spray, offers one of
the world’s classic driving trips.
From sun-splashed Southern California
beaches to the misty redwood forests near
the Oregon border, the journey, which
includes a few stretches on other highways,
is a touch over 1,000 miles.
The sights are so numerous we can
barely scratch the surface: The Hotel Del
Coronado, where Marilyn Monroe frol-
icked in Some Like It Hot; classic surf
breaks made famous by the Beach Boys;
star-studded Malibu; Riviera-like Santa
Barbara; Hearst Castle; Big Sur; Santa
Cruz, with its old-timey beach boardwalk;
San Francisco; Point Reyes National
Seashore; artsy Mendocino; Redwood
National Park.
JMICHAEL URMANN/SHUTTERSTOCK. OPPOSITE: ASIF ISLAM/SHUTTERSTOCK; ANDREASFINK/SHUTTERSTOCK; LUCKY-PHOTOGRAPHER/SHUTTERSTOCK
40 2017 T R AV E L G U I D E TO C A L I F O R N I A