alexb76

I am planning a week long road trip from Vancouver, BC to LA and possibly as south as San Diego (probably not possible within a week). Definite stops would be at Portland, San Fran and LA. Trying to drive along Oregon coast and Wine Valley in CA.

Any pointers? Places to visits? Roads to take? Places to stay at with safe Parking? etc...

I am quite excited, would be 2nd long road trip with the 911!

PS. Edit, most probably will only go as far south as SF (not LA).

Mother

That's allot of distance for 1 week looks like Hwy 5 all the way, if you had more time I would say cut over to Hwy 1 along the cost from around Oregon. By the way bring me down a Coffee Crisp candy bar.

niner niner seven

Man... you are going to smoke everyone on the trip south.

alexb76

Hmm, I just another distance check, and you're right. I might skip LA, and go only as far as SF. Although was hoping to catchup with family in LA... can add 2-3 more days if needed, but rather do it more relaxed.

alexb76

and hopefully not get ticketed!

mobonic

Take the 101 from Oregon down, and go to Monterey/Carmel (bit farther than SF) and you can check out Laguna Seca while you're there

Edgy01

I have done that route many times.

Take Route 1 starting at the Oregon coast (not much going for that area in Washington state). Do the Astoria bridge, and perhaps stop and see Fort Clatsop--site of Lewis and Clark's winter location. In the Astoria area. Drive down the coast and stop up at Cape Perpetua--great views.

Stay on Rt 1 south through all of Oregon, and into California. Roads are very nice. Just watch your speed. When getting into California you may want to try Rt 1 south. It's quite nice and but you have to be aggressive--pass when you can (RVs etc.) because the passing opportunities are rare. You will have suitable overtake capability, but you have to be aggressive, or you WILL get stuck. The RV crowd routinely does not pull over to let others pass.

The BEST place for some spirited driving is that last section of Rt 1 along the Calif coast north of the Golden Gate. It takes you from Stinson Beach up to the John Muir Woods (I think) and then will join 101 south. The section from the sea level area to the woods is a blast.

I personally fine Rt 1 NORTH of SF to be far nicer than the Big Sur section. Have fun! When are you heading out?

I am leaving tomorrow morning for Oregon via Rt 101. If you see a VW Vanagon hauling a Sterling that is me!

alexb76

Thanks man, maybe we cross paths then!

winkingchef

If you want restaurant/hotel recommendations in SF, let me know your tastes/budget and I will be your concierge.

/agree with Edgy on the HWY1 route
Best spots for me:
* HWY1: Stinson Beach to Marin (just north of San Fran)
* HWY1: Big Sur (try to go during non-RV times)

Places to stop:
* Bolinas (just north of Stinson N of SF) - need GPS to get there (the surfers remove the road signs), but it's the last bastion of N. California Surfer culture
* Hearst Castle just north of Cambria (trippiest national park ever)
* Nepenthe Restaurant in Big Sur (beautiful view of the ocean from a building designed by "assistant to Frank Lloyd Wright"
* Any other hikes in Big Sur

alexb76

Hey, be careful, I might take you up on your offer!

Any hotel recommendations actually? I've only been to SF for work and always stayed downtown both at Westin and Hilton.

winkingchef

Depends on your tastes and budget - send me a PM and I can try to accomodate.

If you're into funky B&B, check out the Red Vic....

ADias

I agree with Dan. My preferred section of Rt1 up north is the section between Leggett and Westport (north of Fort Bragg). The section south of Mendocino to Manchester is also excellent. As Dan said these are busy at this time of the year with tourists and require intensive driving - but that is what a 911 is all about.

I suggest you overnight at Benbow Inn in Garberville before you drive south.

South of SF I recommend Rt1 to at least San Simeon and then if you want to go to LA you could hop into CA46 (great sweeping road) to I5 to LA.

This one-way uses 'back-roads' so-to-speak and you may elect to drive I5 home as a straight shot.

If you plan to stop in the Bay Area shoot me a private message and perhaps we can meet and I can introduce you to my private 'Ring'

cbzzoom

While the Hwy 1 / 101 route is very beautiful, it is a bit of a nightmare in summer. Certainly on a weekend I would avoid most of it.

There are tons of amazing little offshoot roads all along there that are very fun though. Skaggs Springs Road for example is sublime.

Watch out for tickets in Oregon. Tons of cops and they will give tickets for going 5 mph over the limit on the freeway (grumble grumble), and you can't get out of tickets with lawyer or traffic school there, so you're screwed. In fact I try to avoid Oregon as much as possible because of the unreasonable level of speeding enforcement there.

Edgy01

Concur with Tony on the Benbow Inn. It's a great spot if your overnight happens to be around then.

If you venture south toward LA the Santa Barbara area offers many nice roads. There is always the editors' favorite (for all the auto magazines) of Rt 154 which cuts a bit off of 101. It drops you into Santa Barbara from about 2600 feet. Rather than taking it all the way into town, take a RIGHT turn at Painted Cave Rd onto old San Marcos Pass Rd and you will find my little "Ring." (It's about a 1-1/2 from my place). It's a nice series of switchbacks but during daylight hours you can encounter bikers. (I do it at speed at night when there are no bikers and you can see oncoming headlights from a long way off).

If you do venture into Big Sur many rave about 17 Mile Drive in Carmel. It's a nice break from Rt 1.

Just a bit south of Carmel and the Monterey area is the Julia Pfeiffer state park--it's on the ocean side. I used to drive by it a million times and never even knew it was there. And then the old standby--the Bixby Bridge. A great photo-op.

With the range of these cars today you need not stop at the pricy gas stops in the thick of Rt 1.

Julia Pfeiffer:

helispud

Don't have X-band turned off on your detector going through Oregon. That's all they were using, at least in Eastern OR, when I last drove through there in May.