Travel up this holiday

An estimated 3.5 million Californians plan to drive 50 miles—or farther—during Thanksgiving weekend, according to AAA Northern California. That’s an 8 percent jump compared to the four-day holiday of 2008.

Fortunately for drivers, gas prices around the state are down an average of 4 cents a gallon from last month. The least expensive prices in Northern California are in Chico. The average price locally, according to a recent survey by AAA, is $2.84 per gallon for unleaded. (The lowest price, according to GasBuddy.com, was at Costco, at $2.62 a gallon as of Tuesday.) Even in most metro areas with high-priced fuel, the average price has fallen below $3.

Representatives from AAA attribute the recent drop to vast oil reserves and weak consumer demand, possibly due to the nation’s skyrocketing unemployment rate. Still, the price is a marked increase from this time last year, when a gallon of unleaded cost an average of $2.55.