In about a week, a buddy and I are driving from San Jose to Bellevue, right near Seattle. We're going for the Penny Arcade Expo, for any gamers who know about it. Anyways, I was hoping for suggestions about pleasant routes to take along the way, nice scenic drives that are fun, interesting, moderately safe and not out of the way. Google Maps has us taking I5 for 700 of the 850 miles... what's that like? Because of scheduling constraints we'll probably be doing most or all of the driving through the night, but some nice scenery and interesting roads would still be appreciated. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Cross posted in the West and Northwest forums because we're going through states in both regions... also in 4th Gen for exposure. Feel free to delete my whorage if you feel the need.

 

The coastal route is very scenic, but much more time consuming. North of San Francisco, take the coastal route through Bodega Bay, Mendicino etc. Then you can come up the Oregon Coast and Washington coast.

What you can see obviously depends on what time of day your are travelling. I find that you can't see all that much from your car when going along the Oregon coast, whereas you can on the northern California coast and you can drive faster on it.

 

I've only driven the part between San Fran and Los Angeles on the coast hwy and that was enjoyable. I've heard the Oregon coast is very nice. The I-5 from San Fran to the California border is super boring but faster. Too darn hot around Sacremento without a/c. There's a nice view of the formidable-looking nuclear power plant once you cross the Washington state border!

 

The Oregon coast very nice. The Nuclear plant is Trojan, near Scappose OR. I believe it is off-line now. Don't miss the gorge between Oregon and Washington...

 

how long are you guys gonna be up here? we have a NWmaxima meet coming sometime before summer ends. you guys should swing by

 

If you have the time I reccomend taking 101 all the way to oregon. It will take longer but is much more interesting. I-5 will be faster but the route thru sacramento, redding and yreka is straight and boring until you get to the mount shasta area (which is also a good pitstop if you have time).

 

i30, PM me with info on the NWMaxima meeting. Thanks!

 

We're pretty much just going to be there for the weekend... sometime Friday morning/noon to sometime Sunday night. The convention schedule is pretty packed, so I don't know about doing other things, although I'd love to meet up if time allows. One of the LS1tech mods wanted to meet up as well. Also, people seem to all agree that I5 is the way to go in order to make good time, and that other, much more awesome paths will take us as much as DAYS out of our way. Between meeting up with car guys and taking fun roads, I'm starting to wish we had a couple of weeks for this trip instead of a couple of days.