looks like i’m taking my son to either lax of sfo and renting an exotic car for a few days for a big birthday.
we wanna drive up into some twisty mountain and/or seaside roads for a few days.
food and wine never hurts!
ideas?
SFO is my choice. My brother drove from SF to Monterey to Yosemite to Gold Rush country to Napa/Sonoma and down the coast back to SF. Driving between Sonoma and the coast through twisting roads we managed to get the rear brake drums to glow red.
Didn’t work out well for Christian Bale in Ford vs. Ferrari. Just saying.
vintage gt40 is not going to be an option 
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SFO and then drive up hwy1 - hairpin turns along the ocean for hundreds of miles. I drove the other way from the north down to sfo and it was terrifying lol
Go all the way up to elk and stay at the Harbor House Inn - incredible hotel and 2 star restaurant.
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thanks. keep 'em coming!
There are plenty of scenic roads all over Sonoma county, many with hilly twists and turns. Lots of wine and food. Stay in Bodega Bay, cruise from there up and down the coast, lots of interesting and scenic destinations. Inland to Occidental and Sebastopol for wine. Up hwy 1 along the coast to Sea Ranch or Gualala is spectacular scenery and exactly the kind of road you’re looking for.
Btw, there is an actual “California City”. I don’t recommend it for your desired purpose. Or for any purpose lol.
If you find yourself in southern California, the Palms to Pines scenic by way is one of my favorite drives. At times of year you can go from snow up in the Cleveland national forest down to 90° weather in the Coachella Valley in Palm Desert. It’s super fun and spectacularly beautiful but be careful. The opening scene of the crash in it’s a mad mad mad mad world was filmed at the bottom of it.
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more great recc’s.
thanks!!
already looked at bodega bay and seems a great blast off point.
only thing is, it’s my kids birthday and he doesn’t drink at all nor really care about food and it would bore him to death if i start needing to make tasting stops. then again, i have a built in driver
although gott’s would be his favorite in the world if he gets to see it!
If you are in Sonoma the drive between Occidental and Monte Rio on the Bohemian Highway is like driving in a video game. I wouldn’t miss that one.
Time to start introducing him to some finer things 
SFO up to Mendocino / Elk for Harbor House Inn or SFO down to Monterey / Big Sur
he’s been introduced. he likes quarter pounders…
2x to paris already and croque monsieur is about as far as we get!
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Don’t waste Harbor House on him
Nick’s cove sounds like his kind of place, fish & chips, burgers, etc.
Do NOT go to Harbor House, lol
hearing this, maybe you should go south to LA and just eat tacos the whole time between drives
there will be no harbor house for us!
if he gets gott’s and in n out it will be his favorite birthday ever.
i thought by the time he got to 18 he’d be well past this phase
we’ll have one night in the city so i’m thinking we can get to the ferry terminal so i don’t have to drive over to st helena
assuming gott’s is still in the terminal, but it’s been a while
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You could also drive up to the Avenue of the Giants. Driving through the redwoods in an exotic car…might be a good way to enjoy the scenery. Maybe not the #1 drive but if you have a few days…can do.
We rented a drop top Porsche a few years ago from Turo.
Took it from SFO along the coast to San Jose for tacos. Down to Nepenthe for champagne. Cut across using backroads to Tahoe and more Mexican at Truckee.
Just packed a duffel bag and left the luggage at the hotel.
The following year we did the same only north on Hwy 1 and at some point cut over to Napa. We couldn’t get out of Napa fast enough after lunch and more champagne. Small towns, roadside food and twisty roads were calling.
Sounds like a great trip, don’t overthink it…that’s the whole point!
Get an old detailed paper map of CA and take the long ways.
have it mostly planned
up 1 to jenner area then across to occidental and up to monte rio and armstrong.
then slowly to healdsburg via westside rd and thru the petrified forest rd to calistoga
various drives from there up to angwin and atlas and spring mtn
many trips to gott’s
any more thoughts are appreciated
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Oakville grade road was a fun road/trip.