seattle to san francisco

[zivsylvia]

Can anyone provide a scenic route from Seattle to SF. I would like to spend no more than 5 days on this.

thanx

[PNW Judy]

The most scenic route is definitely the coastal highway: US 101 and CA 1.

5 days would give you time to explore the wonderful sights along the coast. I would suggest going west at Olympia and starting your coast drive south in Westport, WA. However, if you live in Seattle, you might save SW WA for a long weekend and start your excursion south in Astoria, OR.

If you have any specific questions, let me know and I'll try to answer them.

[Robert Schaller]

Welcome to the board! Judy's suggestion is a good one. You could also mix it up a bit by seeing some of the inland sights as well -- Crater Lake NP in Oregon, and the Redwoods in CA as well as the beautiful drive along I-5 in far northern California (the Mt Shasta area).

Take US101 south along the Oregon coast as Judy suggests, then cross inland to see Crater Lake and then down I-5 through the Lake Shasta area to Redding before cutting back across to the Mendocino coast, then pick up SR1 south of there for the remainder of the way into San Francisco.

From Redding, I suggest SR299 to SR3 and that to SR36 (to US101). This is a SLOW road -- minimum 3 hours and if you stop to look, longer than that. It's slow going, but like most roads that cross the coast range, very scenic.

If you take this suggestion, be sure to plan your trip through Mendocino, CA at dinner time -- and check out The Ravens. It's somebody I know's favorite eating establishment in that part of the world...

Also, here's Megan's description of Crater Lake (Oregon) in case you're not convinced on that one -- from Journal #3 , back in May 1994.

...for true and utter majesty and every other royal superlative, Crater Lake is IT. I'd been there before, but it didn't matter. I still couldn't believe it was real. If you haven't already been there yourself, you'll just have to go, and then you'll know what I mean. It's so magnificent that you want to scream. But you don't, because the beauty of it awes you into silence. No one even speaks in a loud voice when they're near it. The Indians said Crater Lake was a holy place, and they knew what they were talking about. We took pictures, and they came out beautifully, but this is a place to experience for real. Go there, and if you've been, go back.

Bob