California has two classic road trips, and they don’t share much scenery. One follows the ocean. The other runs along the dry east side of the Sierra Nevada. The deck has questions for both, so pick the ones that match your windshield.
Drive one: Highway 1 along the coast
The Pacific Coast Highway, officially Highway 1 for most of its length, runs cliffside through Big Sur and past beach towns and piers. Good questions for this drive:
- The Golden Gate Bridge color, if you start or end in San Francisco. Everyone guesses red or orange; the official name is the answer.
- Gray whales. They migrate along this coast in winter and spring, and whale watchers sometimes spot spouts from the pull-offs.
- The 21 Spanish missions. Several sit near the coast road, so each one you pass is a chance to ask how many there were.
If you finish in Southern California, save the Route 66 question for the Santa Monica Pier.
Drive two: US 395 and the desert
US 395 runs north–south between the Sierra Nevada and the Nevada border. From the town of Lone Pine you can see Mount Whitney on a clear day, and from there it’s a few hours to Death Valley, the lowest point in North America. Ask the Whitney question with the mountain in view and the Badwater question on the way down into the valley. The contrast lands better than any fact on a card.
Joshua Tree and the saber-toothed cat questions fit the southern desert and Los Angeles on the same trip.
Three California facts that aren’t in the deck
- San Francisco’s cable cars are a moving National Historic Landmark.
- The desert tortoise is California’s state reptile. It spends much of its life in underground burrows to escape the heat.
- Bixby Creek Bridge in Big Sur, a single concrete arch high over a canyon, is one of the most photographed spots on Highway 1.