Page 46 - 2019 Travel Guide to California

ROAD TRIPS
BY JOHN FLINN
Get Behind the Wheel and Go
Explore the Golden State from the driver’s seat
HIGHWAY 1
Whether you drive ten miles or
the full thousand, Highway 1 will
provide twists and turns and
views of the coast that will take
your breath away, such as this one
at the Bixby Creek Bridge in Big
Sur, above.
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 hap-
pily 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
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44 2019 TRAVEL GUIDE TO CALIFORNIA