A few weeks ago I was just browsing through the aisles in Borders when I came across a book called "Unforgettable Things To Do Before You Die".

I eagerly grabbed the book from the shelf and began to flick through, convinced I'd just been privileged enough to have done one of those very things.

But I was disappointed to find my recent holiday destination absent from the list of must-see places around the world -and so I hope to put that right in some small way by writing this article.

The Pacific Coast of California truly has some of the most breathtaking, spectacular scenery on the planet, and you can see it all from the comfort of your car as you drive on down the Pacific Coast Highway (or Highway One). We joined Highway One at San Francisco, but the road hugs the coast right from Fort Bragg, about 150 miles further north.

It would be a crime not to stay at least a couple of nights in the eclectic, multi-cultural city of San Francisco, as there's so much to see and do.

Our hotel, the Radisson, was ideally located at Fisherman's Wharf with its lively boardwalk, endless gift shops and fish restaurants, street entertainers, and the unforgettable colony of wild sea lions.

We could have spent many hours of our trip mesmerised in fascination, simply watching the sea lions lolling about and barking relentlessly on the pontoons at Pier 39.

Luckily we managed to tear ourselves away to jump on a ferry across the bay to Alcatraz -the tiny island which is dominated by the infamous prison of the same name.

From 1934 until its closure in 1963, the prison was home to some of the world's most notorious criminals. On the cellhouse tour you can learn - by listening to a commentary through personal headsets -how the prison operated, what life was like for the inmates, and even take a peek inside the cells of legendary convicts like Al "Scarface" Capone and George "Machine Gun "Kelly.

Of course, no trip to San Francisco would be complete without driving over the famous Golden Gate Bridge, and happily when you get to the other side there's a beautiful national park to make the crossing doubly rewarding.

The winding road up to Muir Woods offers incredible views back across San Francisco bay, while the park itself is criss-crossed by walking trails and populated with magnificent, towering redwoods, which follow the crystal clear Redwood Creek.

From San Francisco we drove along the coast down Highway One for about three hours to Santa Cruz, a small town dominated by a long, wide sandy beach, with family amusements along the boardwalk. We feasted on fresh fish at a restaurant on the end of the pier (while watching the antics of the biggest seagulls we'd ever seen) and spotted a mother seal and her pup sunning themselves at the mouth of a river that flows out over the beach. Our bed for the night was at the Pleasure Point Inn, a luxurious guest house overlooking the sea, and a deck complete with hot tub on the roof. It's about a 15-minute walk from there to the smart, neighbouring small town of Capitola, where we had our pick of several restaurants and enjoyed some of the best Mexican food we 'd ever eaten (California has a large Mexican population). Monterey, the old capital of California, was our first stop the following morning. It used to be famous for its successful fishery business, but today Cannery Row has been turned into a tourist attraction with restaurants and shops -and the town is now better known for its aquarium. Monterey Aquarium, housed in a former sardine cannery, is one of the largest in the world, with stingrays, jellyfish, penguins and sea otters amongst the sealife on show.

Unfortunately we were just too late to see the aquarium's most exciting exhibit though - a Great White Shark. The aquarium has made it into the record books as the first in the world to keep a Great White Shark alive in captivity for a prolonged period (the previous record was 16 days), after capturing a baby Great White in September 2004. However, the shark had to be released back into the wild at the end of March after it grew to six feet in six months and bit two other sharks in half. Fishermen in San Diego have now been put on the alert to find another baby Great White for the aquarium, so if you visit later this year you may be lucky enough to experience your very own Jaws encounter. The drive between Monterey and the next town to the south - Carmel-by-the-Sea (where Clint Eastwood was once mayor)-is one of the most beautiful parts of the route. This short section of the coast is privately owned, so to drive through it you have to pay an $8.50 toll.

The road -known as 17-Mile Drive -follows the sea and then loops back on itself, through the Del Monte Forest, back to Monterey.

If you do the whole 17 miles it would take you about three hours, but as time was pressing we just drove the coastal stretch down to Carmel, stopping along the way to take pictures of the stunning surroundings. Carmel-by-the-Sea is a really upmarket, quaint little town, with a chocolate box appearance and full of antique and art shops.

I hardly thought it was possible to witness even more beauty in one day, but the drive from Carmel to our next hotel really did render me speechless.

We had to be strict with ourselves or otherwise we 'd have been stopping for photos at almost every bend in the road. By the time we arrived at The Post Ranch Inn at Big Sur, we had fallen head over heels in love with the Pacific Coast of California -and that feeling intensified when we saw the resort which was to be our home for the next two nights. The Post Ranch Inn is the ultimate in peaceful, secluded luxury, perched 1,200ft above the Pacific Ocean, with nothing but the infinite expanse of chameleon-like blue sea, and the majestic Ventana Mountains reaching up to the sky as far as the eye can see. I'll never forget the open fire (complete with wood and kindling) in our bedroom, the slate hot tub in the bathroom, the restaurant with surely the most spectacular location in the world (right on the edge of the cliff, with glass from floor-to-ceiling), and the 104 degree basking pool, with its infinity edge, which looks directly out over the ocean.

If you can prise yourself away from this relaxing, romantic haven - or for an alternative place to stay -you should take a drive,9.5 miles off Highway One, to the amazing Bernardus Lodge. This small hotel sits beside its own vineyard right in the middle of the lush green Carmel Valley (directly inland from Carmel-by-the-Sea). We took lunch on the sunny terrace while watching other guests playing croquet . On our drive from Big Sur down to San Luis Obispo, we spotted a huge colony of wild seals lazing around on the beach, and stopped off for a tour of magnificent Hearst Castle -the palatial home of the late newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst - which was built in the early 1930s on a hill looking out over the ocean.

The unbelievably tacky Madonna Inn -the sort of place you could only find in America -provided our stop for the night. All the rooms at this famous pink hotel are decorated to different themes (check out their website for a tour of all 109) and ours was the Old World Suite, with its novelty "rockfall shower". It 's worth spending a bit of time in San Luis itself as well as exploring around nearby Pismo Beach, before heading south towards Los Angeles and stopping off in Solvang - a town built, bizarrely, entirely in Danish style, with a largely Danish population.

Once in LA we took a stroll down Rodeo Drive -marvelling at the prices in the boutiques and chuckling to ourselves at the sight of some of the designer-clad Beverley Hills residents. We took a drive through Hollywood -past the Walk of Fame (simply a line of stars sunken into the pavement, engraved with celebrities' names) - and decided that unless you 're a real movie buff there 's little point in spending much time there. We could have happily spent a few days soaking up the relaxed atmosphere and the sunshine in the beach communities just south of LA though. We only stayed one night in Huntington Beach, but there's a whole string of beachside towns stretching south from LA, providing a welcome haven from the huge, smoggy, noisy metropolis.

The hardship of having to leave California after an amazing two weeks was inevitable, but ending our trip in San Diego seemed to make saying good-bye even more of a wrench. It 's a clean, buzzing city, with a young population and the warmest climate in California. Our last day was spent on the holiday island of Coronado, just across San Diego Bay, where the almost-pure-white beach stretches for miles, and you can't help but lose yourself in some "California dreamin '".

Factfile

Fiona Griffiths flew with US Airways from Gatwick to San Francisco, via Philadelphia. Flights operate twice daily to San Francisco from London Gatwick. For information and bookings call 0845 600 3300 or visit www.usairways.com. Fiona hired a car from Budget Car Rental, which is located at all the major Californian airports. Rates start at £15 per day for a Group A vehicle based on a seven-day rental. For more information call 08701 565656 or visit www.budget.co.uk

Hotel Details:
1)Radisson Hotel Fisherman 's Wharf,San Francisco.Rates start at $139 (£77).Tel:001 415 392 6700/www.radis- son.com/sanfranciscoca_wharf
2)Pleasure Point Inn,Santa Cruz.Rates start at $225 (£124).Tel:001 831 475 4657/ www.pleasurepointinn.com.
3)Post Ranch Inn,Big Sur. Rates start at $495 (£260). Tel:001 831 667 2200/www.postranchinn.com
4)Bernardus Lodge,Carmel Valley.Rates start at $275 (£152).Tel:001 888 648 9463/www.bernardus.com.
5)Madonna Inn,San Luis Obispo.Rates start at $147 (£81).Tel:001 805 543 3000/www.madonnainn.com.
6)Le Meridien,Beverley Hills. Rates start at $219 (£121). Tel:001 310 247 0400/www.lemeridien.com.
7)Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort,Huntington Beach. Rates start at $179 (£99).Tel: 001 714 845 8000/ www.waterfrontbeachresort.hilt on.com.
8)Radisson Hotel San Diego Harbor View,San Diego. Rates start at $139 (£77).Tel: 001 619 239 6800/www.radisson.com.

96 SOCIETY JULY 05