We took the kids from SF to Santa Cruz often and many times drove to Carmel and Monterey - it was a beautiful drive both ways. Everyone should do Hwy 1 sometime LA to Mendocino.
I grew up 76-85 in San Jose and we had cousins in LA.
We took Rt.1 more than once, though we usually took Rt.101.
“We took the kids from SF to Santa Cruz often “
So you do the Half Moon Bay cut in ?