We are planning a 10 day trip in mid Sept from Phoenix to Cali and then wherever the S will take us. I am asking for ideas about where to go. Mainly we are interested in twisties and scenery in that order. I have never been to the west coast so it will all be new to us. Thanks in advance for the help.

 

You know, this would be a great idea for a board selection, perhaps in the Library: Great Drives. We could provide short write ups, maybe with pics and links to Mapquest.

 

www.miatadrives.com =)

 

If you go to Socal, make sure you cruise on PCH. All the way from the Malibu area to Palos Verdes. Ocean views along the drive and perfect for top down driving. You may even want to stop to lay out by one of the great beaches out here. Don't do it on the weekday though, cuz traffic is horrible.

 

Try Highway 1 along the coast. Beautiful scenery and nice roads. But like S2R said, avoid weekends. Highway 150 to Ojai is nice as well.

 

OK, now I am confused. We definitely want to do the PCH. Should we do it during the week or on the weekend?
Shatten, the Miata site is great, thanks.

 

Btw, I do believe Hwy 1 and PCH are the same. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. Also, I would imagine the traffic is worse on the weekdays, due to all the commuters.

 

I'm doing a 2 week cruise from Dallas-Ft Worth, TX to Portland, OR and back in about a week. Gonna hit as many twisty roads in between =) My route to Portland will include cutting through from Nevada through Yosemite National Part, west thru San Francisco, and up Route 1/101 to just SW of Portland (looks like 600 miles of coast drives). From everything I've seen (bought about 12 DeLorme map/Gazetters for my trip), there should be twisty/scenic routes aplenty =) Not sure if you'll be venturing that far north in California, but the western parts of California, from LA to the Oregon border look riddled with scenic/twisty roads (at least according to the maps and to what I've heard). If you don't want to drive too far from Phoenix, but wish to spend 10 days on the road, the coast route might be good, interspersed with some cut-ins to the middle part of the state.

Also, you might consider the Grand Canyon Rim drive on the southern part of the canyon. Not sure how twisty it is, but I'm gonna try it, should make for one heck of a drive with that view

Route 10 to LA between Phoenix and Palm Springs (which is as far west as I got, 2 years ago) is simply Gorgeous. Not much in the way of twisties, but the Desert more than made up for it in looks. I'd definitely suggest it.

 

Yes, hwy 1 and PCH are the same road. There are definitely several twisties in PCH all along the coast. You get a great view of the ocean nearly all the time.

If I'm not mistaken, I think down in LA, PCH actually changes names to Sepulveda and back to PCH again. Very weird naming conventions down here for streets.

 

Definitely take Hwy 1 (PCH) all the way up through San Luis Obispo, San Simeon, Cambria, and then up all the way to Monterey and Santa Cruz! Fron there, you can cut over to the Bay Areavia all sorts of twisties.
Near San Luis Obispo, there is also a great road from hwy 1 inland to Paso Robles that takes you up a beautiful highway that runs the rigdetop of some rolling hills. Simply awesome view! I'll look it up, unless someone else can tell me what the route # was.
Feel free to contact the Bay Area people if you are coming up our way on the Bay Area regional board. We have an active contingent and will be happy to assist and meet up with you for portions of the drive.