The West Coast Drive!

This year, we decided to make the West Coast drive. We did a lot of research, and in doing so, saw that most websites say a lot of the same things. After having done the trip, we thought it might be nice to post some different opinions. Our goal was to see as much of the coast and the mountains as we could on an affordable budget. We had an amazing time.

We decided to drive south to north, the opposite direction to most, which worked out in our favour in a number of ways. Yes, driving southbound means you will be on the side of the road that is directly on the coast, but really, it's a matter of feet, and there our so many pull- offs on either side of the highway that you can't miss anything driving north.

Secondly, we spent about $1000 on a car rental from Hertz through CAA. This was for 3 weeks unlimited km for a midsized vehicle picking up in Los Angeles and dropping off in Seattle. We were quoted a vehicle return fee, but Hertz in L.A gave us a Washington plated Nissan Sentra (not so mid-sized if you ask me), and since we were returning one of their cars, they didn't charge us the return fee, just taxes. Most people drive south, and it was $500-$900 more to do so.

Thirdly, there was way more traffic coming south, especially in the Big Sur area. It's not a relaxing drive when there is somebody constantly on your tail forcing you to turnout*. This was constant for the south drivers as there were so many. We didn't really have that problem. 

Finally, we found we were very busy in L.A and California, and really enjoyed starting out fast with amusement parks, shopping, and site seeing, and ending with some hiking, lakes, and mountains. We would have been exhausted had we ended in L.A.

*turnouts- turnouts are along the coastal drive, and most one lane highways we saw on our travels. Ingenious when used correctly. Why some people resist the turnout I don't know? There are signs every few kilometers reminding slower traffic to turnout, so that faster moving traffic can pass. This means WHENEVER there is a car behind you, you should turn out, unless it is keeping a distance. There were portions of our trip in Oregon or Washington where signs read: If there are are more than 4 vehicles behind you and you don't turnout, you will be fined. LOVE IT! Yet, so many RV's refuse to do this. Respect the turnout!!!