I’ve been on a lot of road trips in my time. I haven’t been to every state, but I have been to many areas of the country. New England, the Mid-Atlantic, the South, the Deep South, the Midwest, the Southwest; I have seen them all and enjoyed the unique qualities that all of these areas of our great country have to offer. However, my favorite area of the country is the West Coast. Now, I admit that being from the Pacific Northwest, I am biased. But this is an area of the country that you really need to explore and appreciate. The best way to do this is to travel down the I-5 corridor and venture into different parts of Washington, Oregon, and California.
I remember a few years ago some friends and I went on a 4 day road trip. We start in the thriving metropolis of Salem, Oregon (note the sarcasm) and head north. We quickly decided we were hungry and stopped for a few hours in Portland. If you’ve never been, explore the area around NW 23rd Avenue. That area has tons of local restaurants and shops that really define the unique, youthful, and alternative culture the city is known for. Back to my story, we took off and headed north again and decided to stop in Tacoma for dinner (yes, we eat out a lot). Tacoma is not as bad a city as the locals make it out to be. In fact, I enjoyed it. As we continued north on the highway, it was getting dark and we weren’t going to have time to stop again (we were going to Vancouver, Canada). But one of the most beautiful sights we saw was the Seattle skyline at night. If you’ve never seen it in person, you have to see it at night from I-5 heading north. It’s really amazing.
We finally made it to the border quite late and arrived in Vancouver. We spent 2 days in the city and explored the surroundings. It was my first time outside of the US, so it felt great exploring Vancouver’s exotic surroundings (again, mind the sarcasm). Seriously though, it was pretty funny. After finishing in Canada, we had plans to go to California. Long story short, we got to California with only one stop in Eugene, Oregon (we left early and everyone except the driver slept most of the way). After another stop in a small town called Yreka (just over the mountain pass that separates Oregon from California), we drove a long way and arrived in San Francisco. After spending the whole day driving with minimal stops, we had a night on the town and spent too much money. San Francisco is one of my favorite cities and I was sad that we only spent one night there.
The next morning, we did some sightseeing and had breakfast before hitting the road again and heading a bit further south, where we made a detour to the Monterey Peninsula (home to Pebble Beach) and Santa Cruz. We ended up on the California coast near the Santa Cruz boardwalk enjoying the view. I distinctly remember taking one of my RV pillows out of the car (I brought one to sleep on) and laying on the hood watching the sun set over the ocean. It was the perfect happy ending to a fun road trip. The west coast is special for many reasons, but you have to go find them and experience them for yourself.
