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THE BEST TRIPS AROUND THE WORLD—INCLUDING PERSONAL ONES PART 1
THE DISCOVERER BLOG’S “The Best Road Trips Around the World” reminds me of great personal tripping with R&T. Here in Parts 1 and 2 today and tomorrow are tidbits about the Discoverer’s list of 20 road trips, with personal notes on ten that are either identical to or near copies of their choices.
Sea to Sky Highway—Canada. Discoverer writes, “As the name suggests, the Sea to Sky Highway takes you on an epic journey from the seashores of Vancouver, along the coastline of Howe Sound and up into the dramatic mountain peaks of Whistler.” I explored part of this route when Mazda offered a hydrogen-fueled Miata for a test drive.
Canada’s Sea to Sky Highway. Credit: EB Adventure Photography/Shutterstock. This and other images from the Discoverer.
Also, back in 2007 I had the unique opportunity of co-driving a Toyota Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle from Fairbanks to Vancouver. This 2300-mile adventure took us into Yukon Territory and British Columbia.
The Discoverer says of The Alaskan Highway from Seattle, Washington, to Ketchikan, Alaska, “Towering mountains, pristine nature, quaint towns, and abundant wildlife follow you around every twist and turn of this adventurous route.” Yep, I’ve encountered similar things while piloting the Toyota FCHV.
Alaska Highway Totota FCHV.
The Garden Route—South Africa. “This route,” the Discoverer notes, “gets its name from Garden Route National Park” in the Western Cape of South Africa. It’s one of the ten not on my personal list, together with Australia’s Great Ocean Road, Argentina’s Route 40, the Florida Keys Overseas Highway, Romania’s Transfăgărășan Road, Norway’s Bergen to Trondheim, the Karakoram Highway between China and Pakistan, Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way, Italy’s Amalfi Coast, and Scotland’s North Coast 500 (though Wife Dottie did both of these, this last one with pal Innes Ireland).
And, come to think of it, I have been to northeastern South Africa to visit, among other things, “Malamala Game Reserve.”
Blue Ridge Parkway. The Discoverer says, “This scenic highway along the spine of the Appalachian Mountains winds through thick forests and rolling mountains, making you feel like you’re alone with nature.” I was alone with nature and my Mini Moke “From Sea to Shining Sea.” Well, actually Wife Dottie joined me in Texas.
Natchez Trace. “The Natchez Trace Parkway,” the Discoverer describes, “travels 444 miles through three states and 10,000 years of North American history.” It was also on my Mini Moke route.
Route 66. “Poems, movies, and books have been dedicated to America’s Route 66,” recounts the Discoverer. Songs too, as I’ve sung Bobby Troup’s “It winds from Chicago to LA/ More than two-thousand miles all the way.”
A pal also had a memorable trip along Route 66: See “Clearing Innes Ireland’s Name.”
Pacific Coast Highway. The Discoverer observes, “Possibly California’s most popular road trip, the iconic PCH (Pacific Coast Highway aka California State Route 1) offers a little piece of everything that’s made California famous.”
An oil derrick masquerades as a condo tower; the shrubbery helps.
Yep. I agree wholeheartedly about PCH, what with an encounter being less than eight miles from where I’m composing this.
Tomorrow in Part 2, Wife Dottie and I venture Down East the Maine coast, I cross Morocco’s Atlas Mountains, attempt an Austrian winter pass, and enjoy New Zealand’s scenic routes. ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2023
Simanaitis Says 
As a long-time California (Northern) resident, I’m going to say it’s hard to go wrong. Just try to stay off the freeways, which is often possible. 101 from SF to the Oregon border, for instance, has many places where you can meander through town – or some redwoods – along the old route paralleling the freeway. Also, local roads – Sonoma County (I once managed to put over 400 miles on a county car in a day’s worth of site visits without leaving Sonoma County, and only about 20 minutes of that was on a freeway). Another cool road is Kaiser Pass – summer only – east of Fresno; good 2-lane road up to Huntington Lake, then what looks like an equally good Forest Service road, then a barricade and a sharp turn onto what looks like a driveway (and is about that wide) with pavement bridging the gaps between granite boulders for the rest of the trip. Mono Hot Springs near the end.
Three Canadian ones that I can suggest, include Trans Canada Highway along the north shore of Lake Superior, the Cabot Trail on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, and one I will be driving in a few weeks, the drive out to Tofino on Vancouver Island, through Cathedral Grove (hope it is still there, what with forest fires and other issues). The last time I drove that route, Cathedral Grove was spectacular like driving through the redwoods in Northern California. Also on that trip we drove by a lake that looked like a sheet of glass, not a ripple to be seen anywhere (that I’m sure won’t happen again).