Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

My one and only visit to SoCal many years ago, I heard that a lot.  You won't hear that in the South, or in any part of Texas I've frequented. 

Another odd thing to my ears when I was there--although this may not be specific to LA dwellers, since you just used it--they called interstate highways the freeway.  Freeway is not a term I'm used to hearing.  People in the places I've lived say "take the interstate," or "take I-10," but they won't say "take the freeway." 

Yeah, I use interstate, too, but freeway and highway are common here, likely because 101, which is a primary road throughout California, is not an interstate (and, for some reason, interstates and 101--freeways--are not highways).

Yeah, I use interstate, too, but freeway and highway are common here, likely because 101, which is a primary road throughout California, is not an interstate (and, for some reason, interstates and 101--freeways--are not highways).

Sounds awesome, although I'm sorry that you missed out on the California coastal redwoods. My earliest family vacation memories are of staying in a cabin on the Smith River (the only undammed river in the west, allegedly) near Crescent City. We went there many summers in a row, until I was about 10, I think, and I went back a couple of times in my early 20s. It's a beautiful place (and home of the Forest Moon of Endor). But the roads have always been tricky. Back then it was negotiating with massive lumber trucks--and it might still be.

Side note: in NorCal, when we hear people refer to freeways with a "the" in front of it, we think those are LA/SoCal people, as in "the 5," "the 110," or, as above, "the 101." Here, I take 101 to 92, then south on 1 (to get to the coast that Fearless and his daughters visited). In LA, they would take "the 101 to the 92, then south on the 1." I'm curious if that's more common nationwide than I realized (referring to the freeway with a "the" in front of it)?

Reading this thread's discussion about road naming conventions reminds me that technically 101 is "Highway 101," as it is a US "highway," with the sign to match. I'm not sure why no one here thinks of it as a highway. We have lots of state highways around that we all use that term for. I remember when they removed the last traffic light from 101 down in Santa Barbara in 1991. My sister was in college there when it happened. I guess that was the cue to everyone that it then had to be a freeway, not a highway.