Southern California is ‘Spider Webbed’ (apologies
) with great twisty roads. Nearly any mountain road is going to have great sections, and some have spectacular views.
For instance,
Highway 18 from San Bernardino to Lake Arrowhead starts out as a wide rambling mountain road and ends up a tight twisty ‘smile-maker’ with a view. One side of the road is near vertical mountain and the other is a 6,000’ drop off with a view all the way to Los Angeles on a clear day.
Pacific Coast Highway 1 (101) from Malibu to San Francisco, and vice versa, can be done in one day, starting out early out at sunrise and ending at sunset. The Pacific Ocean on one side of the road and incredible beauty and culture on the other is sure to please. The problem is going to be your wife. She will want to stop a hundred times along the way for shopping, sight seeing, historic roadside turnouts, and the view. You will be sorely tempted as well.
But a real driver will resist this dire temptation and push on. Otherwise, you will need at least 2 or 3 days to make the trip and you’ll have missed out on the incredible fun of blasting along one of the most fun drivers road in the United States. Malibu, Point Dume, Point Mugu NAWS, Port Hueneme, Ventura, Lompoc, Vandenberg AFB, Guadalupe, Pismo Beach, San Luis Obispo, Morro Bay, San Simeon (Hearst Castle), Solvang, Gorda, Big Sur, Carmel, Monterey, Laguna Seca Raceway, Half Moon Bay, San Francisco and environs are just the big names along the way.
Mulholland Dr.. Nothing else need be said other than it’s a local historic hot spot for dangerous quick runs in a winding, busy, road-racers dream road. Lots of cops, cause when they were kids, they used to race there too!
Highway 74 to 371 to 79, or in other words, the back road from Palm Springs to Temecula. From sea level to 7,000’ and back through great backwoods and high plains.
These are just a couple of the myriad roads built for real drivers here in SoCal.
Here are a couple of photos of Highway 74 around Idyllwild. Notice the rear view mirror in the second to last photo. Many fun curves: