This blog records one of my favourite road trips in US, which is from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and then to my destination: San Diego. This road trip happened in Jan 2020 when my family visited me from China. I still remember every breathtaking scenery that we explored throughout the whole road trip. Therefore, I feel like I should write it down and recommend our experience to everyone whose bucket list includes California and Highway 1.
Hopefully this blog would provide you a useful guide when you plan a same road trip in the future.
Below is the route of our road trip. Since we wanted to see ocean view and heard Highway 1 is one of the most beautiful highway in the world, we did not follow the direct route through I-5 suggested by google map. Unless you are in the mood for barren landscape or short in time, you definitely do not want to choose this fastest route. To make sure our route kept on Highway 1, I set couple of stops, such as Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Simeon and Santa Barbara, which all turned out to be the best stops. 
Day 1
We first landed in San Francisco International Airport(SFO) and rented a SUV that would accompany us in the next 7 days. I planed many things to do in San Francisco, so we decided to spend a full day explorering this great city. The most famous attraction in SF is Golden Gate Bridge, where many films shot their scene. Besides, I went to world class univerisity - Stanford located in the heart of silicon valley and big tech companies’ HQ, such as Google, Apple and Meta. 
Day 2
We headed out of the city to Highway 1, stopping at Santa Cruz, before arriving our second day’s destination Monterey and Carmel, on the curve of the coast. Do not miss the scenic 17 Mile Dr near Monterey. Carmel is known for artists’ home, because many artists, writers and poets live in this beautiful town. When night falled, we stopped at Old Fisherman’s Wharf and had our dinner in a tasty seafood restaurant when sunset glow tinted the sky red. 
Day 3
Today, we would drive through the most astonishing road on Highway 1, which is known as Big Sur, with mountain on our left and sea on our right. Make sure you drive slow and enjoy every single scenery, because you do not want to miss them. Bixby Creek Bridge is a must-see spot favoured by many Hollyhood movies. Then we stopped at Pfeiffer Beach, McWay Falls, Elephant Seal Vista Point and arrived our stay in San Simeon. There are hotels on Moonstone beach which have great sea view from the room. We stayed one of them and ended the day by watching the sun gradually went down below the sea level.
Day 4
On our way to the famous Santa Barbara, we stoped at Solvang, a town founded by Danish immigrants where you could see northern European architecture. Santa Barbara County Courthouse worths visiting since you can get bird eye view of whole city here.
Day 5
Before arriving LA, we stopped at Malibu and Santa Monica, the western edge of Los Angeles. We visited Beverly Hills, Hollyhood and Grffith Observatory. LA is no doubt an incredible city. Whether you want to relax on the beach, go shopping in Rodeo Drive, eat food in Chinatown or hit the theme parks, there is definitely something for you. Although we did not have time going to amusement parks, we highly recommend spend one more day in exploring Disney, Universal Studio or Six flag, if you have not visited before in somewhere else. 
Day 6
Unlike most people who did road trip in California, Los Angeles was not our last stop. Grabed an In-N-Out burger and we continued our trip to San Diego. The weather became hotter as we approached SD. Make sure you go to La Jolla Cove. Not only it has scenic ocean view, but also does it have so many water activities, like snorkling, scuba diving… We enjoyed an unforgettable afternoon on the beach.
Day 7
This was last day of our trip. We explored more attractions in San Diego: USS Midway Museum and Coronado island.
I hope you enjoyed reading my journey and this blog could be useful when you plan your trip in the future. I am sure there are plenty of stunning attractions I did not cover. Be creative and discover new spots as well. 
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