2024-25 TRAVEL GUIDE TO CALIFORNIA 27
Coronado, where Marilyn Monroe frolicked
in Some Like It Hot; classic surf breaks made
famous by the Beach Boys; star-studded
Malibu; Riviera-like Santa Barbara; Hearst
Castle; Big Sur; Santa Cruz, with its old-time
beach boardwalk; San Francisco; Point
Reyes National Seashore; artsy Mendocino;
Redwood National Park.
A few tips: Allow far more time than you
think you need; besides the frequent diver-
sions, the road is so winding in places it's
hard to average more than 30 miles per
hour. If you're prone to carsickness, this
isn't the trip for you. Keep your gas tank full
and your bladder empty. In some areas, it's
more than 40 miles between gas stations
and restrooms.
Cowboys & Indians
East of the Sierra Nevada the green, popu-
lated West Coast ends and the brown,
sagebrush-covered West begins. This is the
Old Frontier of our imagination, a realm
of real cowboys and real Indians—and of
cinematic cowboys and Indians.
Highway 395 hugs the state's eastern
border, and the 264-mile stretch of high
desert from Reno to Lone Pine, which passes
tumbleweeds, swinging-door saloons and
ghost towns beneath the breathtakingly
sheer eastern wall of the Sierra Nevada, is
one of California's most iconic drives.
The northern stretch traverses ranch-
land that was once, and sometimes still is,
the domain of Basque sheepherders; and in
the town of Gardnerville, just over the
border in Nevada, you have your choice of
excellent Basque restaurants. As you drive
south, keep an eye out for cowboys,
although these days they're as likely to be
riding an all-terrain vehicle as a horse. Far-
ther south, as you approach Mono Lake,
MUIR WOODS NATIONAL Monument, right; Santa Cruz
Breakwater Lighthouse, a.k.a. Walton Lighthouse, below;
the Golden Gate Bridge, bottom.
PICK YOUR
HIGHWAY
CA-1 The Coast
pacific-coast-highway-travel.com
US-395 Eastern Sierra
aaroads.com/guides/us-395-ca
