UA Fan

Does the Amtrak rail line go along this coast?

Gardyloo

No; see this map. It hits the coast around Pismo Beach southbound.

Some miscellaneous drives I think are among the best:

• The Seward Highway between Anchorage and Portage, Alaska;
• The Richardson Highway between Glennallen and Valdez, Alaska;
• US 163 between Kayenta and Monument Valley, AZ
• Nebraska SR 2 through the Sand Hills between Grand Island and Alliance NE.
• Mississippi SR 1 and US 61 - the Great River Road - from Vicksburg to Tunica, via Clarksdale and the Crossroads of the Blues.

UA Fan

Thanks, I'l be there next weekend, will do this.

Dieuwer

^ I did SFO-SAN during the week of 4th of July. Monterrey is nice but a bit of a tourist trap. Didn't go to see Hearst Castle...seen billions of castles in Europe already. I suggest stopping in SLO for lunch/dinner. Cute college town with nice eateries at the Mission park.

pinniped

Well UA Fan, you're in luck: all of the best American roadtrips are well-covered by UA! :-: Fly into SJC/SFO/OAK, SEA/PDX, OGG, DEN, or IAD, get a good local roadtripping book, and go from there.

Big Sur / Carmel is and will always be one of our favorite places in the U.S. if not the entire world. I've driven it many times and this year went back to do Big Sur to Carmel on foot. (One Sunday per year they close the PCH for the Big Sur International Marathon.) Truly spectacular!!

The Seattle area contains a whole week's worth of different daytrips or overnighters in pretty much all four directions.

Same goes for the Virginia area near Dulles: you could spend a week at a B&B out in the plains area and do Skyline one day, Virginia wine country the next, then small oceanside towns in Maryland, and numerous other options.

Maui always rocks - if you do the Road to Hana go right at sunrise. That way you can stop at waterfalls, short hike areas, and other scenic spots and still stay ahead of the tour buses that start turning up in droves by midmorning.

RichardInSF

For winter driving, I propose a road that most haven't heard of: Titus Canyon in Death Valley National Park. It's only 26 miles long but combined with a visit to Rhyolite, will take all day.

Oh yeah, it isn't paved, but generally suitable for careful drivers in 2wd cars. You do need to bring your own water and food.

You will be amazed at how stunning this ride is.

Also, what about Tioga Pass and Yosemite Valley?

RichardInSF

Hearst Castle is radically different from any of those billions of European castles. For starters, it isn't really a castle.

Dieuwer

Well, I did go to Hearst Castle initially. But when I saw the huge crowds in the main hall and the prices for the tours, I turned around and drove away.

UA Fan

Can folks recomend some nice drives in the last week of Dec? We plan on flying to RAP for Mt. Rushmore then drive to Yellowstone and then to Jackson Hole any particular drives in this area will be much appreciated.

RichardInSF

Yeah, the main hall is always a mess. But they seem to always manage to fit you in within an hour or so anytime I've gone. What's unique about the place is not so much the building as the insight it gives you into the life of this very arrogant, powerful man. Any one of the several tours will accomplish that.

BearX220

You're going to want to watch the weather. Winter on the Plains can be brutal, roads possibly not navigable. Or it can be perfectly benign -- luck of the draw. You may want to consider hiring an SUV / 4WD vehicle. That said, if the weather is fair, refer back to my earlier post about the Badlands / grasslands area bounded by Rapid City, Custer, Wall and the Nebraska border. If the roads are passable in winter and visibility is good, the scenics are terrific.

blue47

Sacramento to Reno

Spokane to Missoula

Albuquerque to Farmington (colorful mesa)

Denver to Grand Junction

Columbia River Gorge (Portland to Dalles) Out on the South side, back on the North side

Lafayette to Baton Rouge

watchmyfly

I much perfer to drive at the golf course, very scenic ones, kapula is my favorite

pinniped

18th hole is a hoot. With the right winds, a 350+ yard bomb is not out of the question.



Also, I've never had any desire to see the Hearst Castle either. I know it isn't a castle, but I just don't "get it" I guess. Perhaps if I'm in that part of CA again sometime soon with a few hours to spare, I'll do it. It's just not high on my list. The natural beauty of the coastline is what attracts us...

We spent a couple hours in the Getty Mansion outside of LA...that was somewhat cool, but again I wouldn't have really made a big trip out of it. We just happened to be there at a good time to do it.

piper28

Yeah, that's a pretty good one, I've done it a couple of times. As I recall it gets graded, so most of the time it's probably suitable for a normal car, but there can be times when a few spots get a little worse. There's quite a few roads up in the hills of Death Valley that are quite interesting, although most of them having a high clearance vehicle is a decent idea.

Other non-paved interesting roads: White Rim Trail and Shafer trail in Canyonlands (4x4 required), and the stretch along the Pony Express trail in Utah (detailed in the National Scenic Back-country byways book).

Paved: head down 261 south from near Natural Bridges NM, the first 20 miles or so will leave you wondering about the warnings about no semi trucks allowed after a certain point, but when you hit the Moki Dugway, you'll understand why.
I know there also some interesting roads in the vicinity of Mt Rushmore, I ended up on one that had a bunch of corkscrew turns but I honestly can't remember exactly where that was.
Just outside the US in Canada, 17 north from Sault Ste Marie isn't too bad.

Personally, I have to admit that while it was ok, I didn't really find CA-1 to be great experience it's always made out to be. Maybe it's because of the hype, but it just didn't live up to expectation for me. Then again, I've driven a lot of truly scenic drives in my lifetime, many of those that are listed here, so I'm pretty lucky.

My vote for least interesting stretch of road: I-80 across eastern Colorado and Nebraska .