Highway 9

Driving around here can be hit and miss. On the one hand there's the lovely 280, with its thicket of green shrubs and flowering plants down the central division and views of the surrounding countryside all around. Then there's the 101, which is always clogged with traffic and has nothing but ugly commercial buildings and auto-shops to offer for visual appeal. 

On first arriving here, we drove a lot on the 101 as it seems to be the GPS's preferred route. Now we know our way around, I've found my own preferred routes. They may be slow and winding but they're a lot more scenic.

Highway 9 is the loveliest out of the lot. It goes right through the mountains, all the way to Santa Cruz. My usual trek is through the part of the highway that goes through Los Gatos and Saratoga, on my way into the heart of Silicon Valley. Driving along the road, however, it's as if Silicon Valley never happened. The road is lined with trees and small paths lead off it to secluded homes and landscaped gardens. If you keep driving past Saratoga village, you get into the hills and the roads rises and rises ahead of you until your ears pop. 

You can either follow the 9 all the way into the mountains but usually I would take the Skyline Boulevard where you can see the Valley of Heart's Delight spread out before you at one of the look-out points. 

The best thing about this road is its quietness. It's never busy with traffic and you can only drive 45mph so commuters generally don't take it. It's more common to see cyclists and joggers and walkers by the verge of the road, in the bike lane, than lines of traffic ahead of you. 

Somehow, I find it therapeutic to drive along this road with my favorite music playing. It feels as if you could drive forever, just enjoying the quietness and greenness and the surrounding trees. Even on hot days, it feels cool somehow. Once you leave Highway 9, then you're back into baking concrete, the road shimmering ahead of you with heat and stressful traffic. Away from the Valley of Heart's Delight and back to Silicon Valley again.