Expert: Jason Curodeau - 4/6/2010

Question
Jason,
my wife and I plan on taking a vacation to California this Summer. We will be flying from Arkansas to Los Angeles and plan to rent a car and drive to Seattle. We have 9 days total and would like to drive highway 1. how long does this take or should we use a better interstate at times?

Wes

Answer
Wes,
The drive can be done in three days on hwy one depending on how often you stop. From Los angeles I would say iy is better to take 101 north until you get to Gaviota then take hwy 1. South of there it mostly traffic and bland surface streets. Beyond gaviota the scenery is great. If you are really pressed for time I would suggest waiting until you get to San Francisco the coast is amazing north of the city and this is by far the best stretch. South of there the big sur and cambria areas are nice too. The way I always go is north on i-5 or 395 and work my way through yosmite and old hwy 49 there are some great historic sites and then head toward Astoria oregon to Seattle. Then I take a ferry to the penninsula and head south on hwy 1. It is easier to see the scenery on the southbound trip because you don't have to look across traffic.
There are so many ways to do it depending on how much time you want to spend in each place. I used to live in Seattle in the nineties so I know there is a lot to do there especially in the summer. If you are a driver like I am you can cram a lot into nine days. Get a mapof the all three states and work out a tenetative route both north and south if anything looks interesting plan around your major interests and design your trip accordingly. Finally I would not miss the drive north of San Fransisco, the entire oregon and Washington coasts or the olympic penninsula. The ho rain forest is great to see as well. Huge ferns and banana slugs. I hope I didn't confuse or give too many options but I enjoy mapping different routes almost as much as the trip itself. It gives you time to research areas of interest and get to know a little bit about the places you visit before hand. Enjoy your vacation, and I hope I have been some help.
Thank yoy, Jason Curodeau