It’s a simple idea. Drive all the way around California, keeping as close to the border as possible without ever crossing it, yet stay on excellent roads: California highways, U.S. Highways, and even Interstate Highways. Along the way you’ll see cities, mountains, ocean, and desert, all the while getting to know the real California.
[toggle title_open=”Close Excerpt 1″ title_closed=”Excerpt 1″ hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]It’s a simple idea. Drive all the way around California, keeping as close to the border as possible without ever crossing it, yet staying on excellent roads:
California highways, U.S. Highways, or even Interstate Highways.
Each person’s experience will, of course, be different, but each one will be highlighted by:
- Bests – such as the beach named the best in America or the Navy base named the best in the world
- Birthplaces – such as the birthplace of the physical fitness boom of the 20th Century
- Busiest – the world’s busiest port of entry
- Firsts – such as the first tunnel under an airport runway, the first motel in the world, or the US Olympic training center designed from the ground up to be an Olympic training center
- Highest – the highest point in the continental United States
- Hottest – the hottest place in the United States
- Largest – such as the largest alpine lake in North the world’s largest resort hotel (when it opened), the largest Japanese Segregation Center, the largest man made small boat harbor, the largest concentration of lava tube caves, or the largest wood lath building in the world (when it opened).
- Last – such as the last non-Essex class aircraft carrier from WWII, or the last working lumber style cookhouse
- Longest Running – “major” street race in North America
- Most – such as the most photographed bridge in the world, the most beautiful government building in America the most grand Victorian house in America, the Southernmost Russian settlement in North America, or the most visited American Castle
- Oldest – such as the oldest tree in the world, California’s oldest working wharf, or the oldest human remains in North America
- Only – mobile national monument
- Rarest – species of pine tree in the United States
- Smallest – such as the smallest county, by population in California or the smallest place ever to host the Olympic Games
- Tallest – such as the tallest trees in the world, or the tallest thermometer in the world
The list of those things included here is not meant to be comprehensive, just representative of all of the amazing, unique and otherwise noteworthy within California’s borders. They are not, like Burma Shave Signs, always visible from the road. Some are. Some are even part of the road itself. Others are nearby and need a short drive to be visited. All are included because the editor thought them interesting. [/toggle]
[toggle title_open=”Close Excerpt 2″ title_closed=”Excerpt 2″ hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]This incline railway was the partner of Angels Flight in downtown Los Angeles. Two cars ran in a counter balance configuration from a Los Angeles Pacific Railway stop at the base of the Westchester cliffs to a hotel at the top of the bluff. The line only existed from about 1901-1909. The incline eventually succumbed to unstable soils and cliff erosion. The two cars were named ‘Alphonse’ and ‘Gaston’.
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