Hi everyone,

My beloved and I have the privelege of two weeks of honeymoon driving around Southern California in June...the first bit of our itinerary is fairly well sorted as we have people to meet up with in certain places on certain days, but we need help with getting the best out of the second week. So far we have.....

Day 1 LAX to Anaheim
Day 2 Disney ('cos she's a big kid at heart!)
Day 3 Del Mar (to kick back on the beach)
Day 4 Del Mar (train into San Diego
Day 5 Drive to Palm Springs (the pretty way)
Day 6 Palm Springs (doing the tourist thing)
Day 7 to 13 Help..this is where you come in!

We want to visit Carmel, Monterey, Morro Bay and Santa Barbara, but need to be back at LAX at the end of Day 13....and travelling both up and back on the coast road seems a bit silly..

So what we wanted to know was is there an inland scenic route that anyone recommends that would get us from Palm Springs to Carmel? We could then take our time cruising back down the coast road. And, if we make Santa Barbara our last overnight stop, how long will the journey take from there to LAX (we need to drop off the rental and check in by 21:00 hrs)

All help and advice gratefully received!

Lardzilla and his Fairy Princess

I would allow AT LEAST 3 hours just for the drive and drop off process, plus whatever time you need to get the gate and check in.

I'm not sure there is really a good inland route that fits in you time frame. You have to go a good distance to the west and then north.

You could take a loop out east from PS along the 10 and go thru Joshua Tree back to 29 Palms, Amboy, Barstow, Bakersfield, then either Rte 58 or 166 over the coastal ranges to Santa Maria or Paso Robles. From there you would pick up 101 to the Monterey Bay area. It's quite a bit more driving though.

I don't think the train stops in Del Mar any more.

We once connected from I-5 to 101 going from Lost Hills to Paso Robles. My old map shows that as being route 46. It was quite scenic as I recall.

The route that Neopolitan mentions passes the spot where James Dean was killed in 1955, a town called Cholame. It's a bit bare, but in June will still be somewhat green. You pass over the San Andreas Fault, tho we've never been able to spot it.

You would leave Palm Springs and pass through L.A., take Hwy 5 north and cut over to Hwy 101 at Hwy 46. It's not that scenic, except for the part of 5 that goes over the Grapevine. 101 north of Paso Robles (wine country, if you are interested) goes through pretty rolling hills, then it flattens out into farm country until you get to Salinas. Then, you head for the coast and Monterey. Parts of the 101 are quite beautiful, parts are blah.

I really enjoyed driving along CA2, the Angels Crest Highway, which begins just off I15 near the El Cajon Pass and ends along the Foothills Freeway (I210) in La Canada.

If open, stop at the Mt Wilson Observatory. You miss "most" of Los Angeles taking this route.

I actually began this drive at Big Bear/Arrowhead and crossed I15 at El Cajon.

Keith

Hwy 46 is pretty. And it's a better road than it used to be, as I noted when we drove through there 2 years ago, from Paso Robles to Las Vegas.

The train hasn't stopped in Del Mar for a decade at least. Solana Beach is the nearest stop--there's a bus that will take you to and from the racetrack but it's a bit of a hike from the beach to the track.

As for a route from PS to Carmel, there really isn't anything "scenic" other than the coast highway, at least once you get out of Southern California. Hwy 2 is scenic enough, but it's a tour of the LA mountains, it won't even begin to get you on your way to Carmel.


The most scenic way out of SoCal from PS (get a map to follow this) would be to take 62 to 247 into the west side of the Mojave Desert. Then 18 to 14 to 52 over the Tehachapi Mtns over to Bakersfield. From there you either get over to the coast for scenery or just take I-5 up 152 which puts you half an hour *north* of Carmel. If you try to do this in one day it'll be dark before you reach Carmel