"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
10/27/2014 at 12:53 • Filed to: None
2
6|
"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
10/27/2014 at 12:53 • Filed to: None | 2
| 6 |
Growing up in NJ, the only things I knew about Los Angeles, CA were the Hollywood sign and lots of traffic. Of course I knew there must be more to the area but I had no way of knowing without being there. After graduating from college this past May, my girlfriend moved out to LA for work while I have a job back in NJ. Since we decided to stick it out and continue a long distance relationship, I am now traveling out to the west coast every other month or so. The sunny weather, obsessive car culture, relaxed atmosphere, and of course great canyon roads has really drawn me in. I came here thinking the traffic would be a never-ending circle of hell but really its not that different from the NYC area. However, what makes it so different are the great roads just outside the city! This past trip out here I had the opportunity to drive on four really great roads that I think everyone should do at least once in their lives. No matter what car you are driving it is surely a fun time. Anyways, now a story time about my drive:
(my phone camera is crap so all of the pictures are just googled)
My girlfriend's car is a 2005 Honda Civic Ex similar to this one. All of my drives were made enjoyable by the pretty tight handling and more than adequate horsepower. Sure civics are not known for very much speed but I was having the time of my life driving at the speed limit anyways. Sunroof open, windows down, and some classic rock made for some great drives!
Angeles Crest Highway and Big Tujunga Canyon Road
I arrived out in LA on Thursday night and my girlfriend had work on Friday so I spent the day going on a nice drive on some popular roads. The first place I started out on was Highway 2 (Angeles Crest Highway). The thing that really struck me on that road was just how silent it was. I stopped at a turnout, turned off the car and radio, and then just listened to the silence. Certainly different from the busy city! From there on out, I drove with no radio just to enjoy the silence and the dynamics of driving. I circled around on Big Tujunga Canyon Road and eventually ended up back in civilization. I had no cell service 90% of the time so GPS was not an option. It made the ride even more surreal to just rely on my own sense of direction (also helped that I read the map ahead of time).
Mulholland Drive
After taking a break for lunch at an In-N-Out Burger, I headed to a road much closer to the city center. Mulholland Drive definitely has some history of being a fun driving road so I took some time to drive it between the 101 and the 405 in both directions. There were a few open-top tour buses and a cement truck trundling along that were quite annoying, but either way it was an enjoyable road. This road is about 15 minutes from the apartment though so it is definitely somewhere I will be frequently visiting in the coming months!
Ortega Highway
For the weekend, we decided to go apple picking out in Yucaipa, CA which was a solid 90 miles from Hollywood. Even though that was mostly straight driving on the freeway, the views of the changing landscape made it very enjoyable to just kick back with the cruise control on and relax. After a long day of apple picking, we went to a drive-in movie theater over in Riverside, CA. We had never been to one so it was a great way to enjoy such a classic American past-time. Anyways, we were staying in Lake Elsinore so I knew we were nearby Ortega Highway. To get back to the city, we decided to follow Ortega Highway out to the 5 and then drive back up Hwy 1 along the coast. Being a Sunday early afternoon, there were plenty of motorcycles and car clubs driving spiritedly through the hills. This was definitely one of my favorites!
Moral of the story...
What I really learned from this trip (other than how much I would love to move out there) is that a fun drive is much more about the road you are on than the car you are driving. Any car can be fun at the speed limit if there are enough twists and turns to keep things interesting. If anyone has suggestions on more roads to drive in the general LA area, I will surely try them out next time I fly there!
crowmolly
> Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
10/27/2014 at 12:58 |
|
I had a great time beating on a rental Camry in Topanga canyon last year.
DailyTurismo
> crowmolly
10/27/2014 at 13:14 |
|
Whoops - didn't mean to reply here. NINJA EDIT
|
DailyTurismo
> Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
10/27/2014 at 13:15 |
|
I can highly recommend a drive around the Willow Springs area.
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/34.87…
smitdoshi
> Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
10/27/2014 at 14:40 |
|
Ortega Highway is a lot of fun as well if you are in the OC area. seems like you were more towards LA/Hollywood area.
I have driven Ortega mostly late nights just so i can get a bit more speed as it is one of the quicker canyons in my opinion.
http://www.daytrippen.com/ortega-highway…
|
Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
> smitdoshi
10/27/2014 at 15:41 |
|
The last road I drove was Ortega Highway. Great stuff there! It was so much downhill going West so I could see how you could go pretty fast down that.
|
smitdoshi
> Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
10/27/2014 at 16:59 |
|
oh crap dnt see that.. my bad! glad you liked it