powderhound

Hi All,
I am about to take off on a two week road trip, Leaving jackson Hole, going to Portland, OR for a few days then spending 5 days heading down the coast to San Diego for the weekend, then to Sedona AZ for a few days, then around the grand canyon and up to Salt Lake City and hopefully a DE event at Miller Motorsports Park before going back to Jackson.

I just wanted to see if anybody had any places, roads or things that i should try to see or do on the way. I have done the PCH twice before, once in my Integra and once in the Boxster right after I got it. The one thing I haven't seen yet is the Hearst Castle that I plan to tour this time and Maybe try Malibu canyon, Topanga, And Angeles Crest But Would Like Info On other great stuff to Check Out.

I went out to Fort Bragg, CA and around back thru Reno a couple of years ago and 299 west out of Redding was unbelievable.

I am really looking forward to getting back on those Twisty turny roads, you can't really appreciate how awsome these cars are untill you get on roads like these, this is what the are made for.

I am also really stoked to see how the supercharger works at sea level, i've had it on now for a year and a half but the only time i've got it out of town was for the Parade in Keystone with side trip thru Boulder. 6k+ miles but all at about 5-6k'. It should really rock at sea level!!!

Any way sorry to be long winded but just looking for ideas to make this trip even better. I'll try to post some picks if someone would give me a link to instructions,( I really should know).

oh yea, trying to leave Thursday morning but we've got a winter storm warning with who knows how much snow and highs of only 35 predicted for thursday, this is going be intresting to say the least.

Hopefully on the road soon.
Eric

Macster

Crater Lake in Oregon. Monterey Bay aquarium. Drive through Yosemite. Drive down 395 and then over and up into Death Valley.

Highway 50 east across Nevada is a nice drive, but watch out for deer. I hit one on 50 20 miles west of Ely NV at Robinson Pass. Cut my Nevada road trip short in one big hurry.

Be careful in the higher elevations about snow or ice on the road. Be aware winter snow, ice and spring rain loosens rocks and such and you can come cooking around a sharp corner and face a road full of sand and mud or gravel or rocks as big as TVs or even bigger.

Deer (mule deer, the big suckers and maybe even elk in Oregon, at least east of Bend), and livestock (open range) and other critters are common.

Then there is smokey bear in the form of: NHP, CHP, OHP, and so on just waiting to bag and book a Porsche driver.

Just because you're out in the boonies doesn't mean you're alone and not being watched...

Sincerely,

Macster.

powderhound

Thanks Macster, good info. Being from Wyoming im used to criters jumping out in front of me and i will have my escort whith me to try to keep smokey to leaving me alone , good tips on yosemite but i will have to leave that for another time, i will stick closer to the coast, it is deffinetly on my list for the future, but the aquarium sounds like a good stop. thanks for the input.
Eric

Lightning MO

Well, if you are sticking to the coast near the Oregon/California border, the Redwood National and State Parks just south of the border are pretty impressive.

Also, if you're going through the Bay Area and like race tracks, you could visit Infineon Raceway at Sears Point just south of Sonoma (really great food and wine in Sonoma), and Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway just east of Monterey. Even if there's an event or a school, they let you in to look around, and when we showed up at Laguna, the Skip Barber Racing School had the track, but they took us around for a couple of hot laps in the instructor's car! (Just ask alot of questions at the racing school building in the infield.) It's quite an experience to drop off of the Corkscrew in a stock Mazda 3 at speed! (You might even check to see if SpeedVentures is having a track day at one of the tracks when you're in town.)

Alot of interesting roads in the hills between San Mateo and Santa Cruz (just look for the squiggles on the map).

It sounds like you've already done Hwy 1 between Monterey and San Luis Obispo, but don't forget to check out Hearst Castle, Cambria, and Morro Bay on the way.

Near Solvang/Santa Barbara/Ojai, the highways that go past Lake Cachuma and Lake Casitas are pretty nice drives.

Closer to L.A., Kanan/Dume Rd., Malibu Canyon Rd., and S. Topanga Canyon Blvd. are all pretty cool. Mulholland Drive used to be the classic place to take flight in a 930 Turbo (usually tail-first). +1 on Angeles Crest Highway. Also check out Rim of the World Hwy near Big Bear if you've got the time.

If you have time to head up into the mountains when you're in San Diego, look for Sunrise Highway, Julian (the town, known for its apple pie), Wynola Road, Dudley's Bakery in Santa Ysabel, Old Julian Highway, and Highland Valley Road (can all be done in a very big loop). The drive up to Mount Palomar is also interesting.

Gotta see the Grand Canyon: http://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/index.htm (Don't forget to stop at Desert View when you get near the exit at the south east part of the park.)

And if you're heading from the Grand Canyon, and through southwest Utah, if you've never seen it, you should visit Zion National Park. If you're going around the east side of the Grand Canyon, head for the Zion-Mt. Carmel Hwy 9 (don't forget to put the top down after you enter the park; this part of the hwy is amazing). Then visit Zion Canyon (at the south of the park). There's alot of places to hike in Zion Canyon. When you're done, then head out to I15, but stop to see Kolob Canyon (on the north west end of the park, off of I15; more of a place to drive and look around). Here's some info on Zion:

http://www.nps.gov/zion/planyourvisit/index.htm

Have fun!

powderhound

Great advice, I really appreciate the input, i will check it out and see what i have time for, the loop out of san diego sounds good as i will be there for a few days.
Thanks
Eric