Hi amandarawrrr. I sadly don't have any specific input, but thought I'd "top" your post so that others will see it!

Will you be looking to do active stuff when you're there? Hiking? Windsurfing? Would you prefer a coastal route or inland (mountains)? From your itinerary, it looks like you'll spend most of your time in the cities and not so much farther afield...

On my one trip to the area, I loved the food in Seattle, and spending time on the Olympic Peninsula. And while I didn't visit Mt. Rainier, I found the still-steaming Mt. St. Helens really fascinating!

Thanks for the bump I think we'll be sticking to more city sights for most of the trip, but would be interested in a light hike or two, especially in the mountains! This has much to do with the fact that we're really only hoping to rent a car for the one day, especially given extra fees thanks to our ages. So whatever we're able to see or do by public transportation would be fantastic - and we're not afraid of doing a little walking either! And yeah, I'd love to get up close to the mountains rather than the coast for our day trip up, I think.

I'm not a local but was on backpacking trips outside of Seattle for the last two years. My wife came up and we spent 5 days in Seattle over Labor Day week last year.

I think locals will tell you this is not one of the highlights but we had great fun taking the ferry out to Bainbridge Island and having dinner at the Harbor Pub, which has a large selection of craft beers, hard ciders and cocktails made with local fresh berries if that rings your bell.

Here is an inexpensive hotel that is located a few blocks from Pikes Market:
http://moorehotel.com/

I stayed there before and after backpacking and found it totally adequate. The staff was extremely helpful.

Seattle is very walkable. We enjoyed Pikes Market of course (so much good food!), the Underground Tour, going up the Smith Tower, wandering around Pioneer Square (lots of decent pubs and restaurants to stumble upon), the Klondike Gold Rush Museum, the Japanese Garden and Washington Park Arboretum.

In Pikes Market and surrounding area we ate in:
Athenian Inn Seafood Restaurant and Bar
Beecher's Handmade Cheese
Le Panier
Pan Africa
Pike Brewing Co
A deli located near the original Starbucks location

We had a very enjoyable dinner here because we happened by it when we were getting hungry. We were lucky to get seated as it got pretty crowded shortly afterwards:
http://www.tangorestaurant.com/

We also ate at Cafe Paloma in Pioneer Square which serves Mediterranean tapas (we like those a lot) and thoroughly enjoyed that.

For your day hike, I'd have to say Mount Rainier. One of my backpack trips was six days there. It's an amazing mountain, absolutely Himalayan in scale.

Have fun!

The Ace Hotel is Portland seems to be a trendy place for your age group- close to the Pearl District where much of the bar/restaurant scene is. I also like the Inn at Northrup Station- kind of a boutique hotel. I have stayed there a couple of times.
Check out the Travel Portland website for deals on hotels which usually include a breakfast and parking. Also has a calendar of what's happening in Portland.

Portland is a very walkable city- there are paths along the waterfront, cross over one of the bridges and continue walk on the other side, and cross back on the next bridge- or rent bikes and do the same thing.

Sat market is always fun- lots of people, crafts, foods.
Portland is famous for its food carts - Google food cart tours of Portland and you will find a way to sign up for one- on my list of to do's.

I have also done an Epicurian Walking Tour of Portland which was fun- takes you to a variety of restaurants/ bakeries/brewpubs. You know Portland is famous for brewpubs so you need to check some of them out.

Since you will have a car for part of the trip- you should drive out to the Columbia River Gorge- there are many short walks/waterfall hikes along the route. Its a beautiful area you should not miss.

Nelson, actually us locals always suggest that Bainbridge Island ferry ride! Not so much about Bainbridge but the views and the ride itself over and back are stunning, and it's only $6.75 (or something like that) round trip.

My list for a couple days in Seattle is a pretty typical one I think: Pike Place Market, Olympic Sculpture Park, the Waterfront, Pioneer Square historic district, Space Needle. Also interesting Smith Tower observation deck, Chinatown/international district.

Outside downtown it's fun to go into a neighborhood. Capitol Hill is great, easy to get to by bus, Volunteer Park is wonderful there (Metro #10 bus), and many shops and restaurants nearby on 15th Ave East or Broadway make a fun outting. Or Madison Park (Metro #11 bus) which is right on Lake Washington with a pretty beach, park, and small district of shops and restaurants.

Given your ages and interests, you might consider modifying your itinerary a little; maybe reversing it. Labor Day weekend in Seattle is when the city's amazing annual Bumbershoot music/arts festival is held on the grounds of Seattle Center. www.bumbershoot.org

Spend the holiday weekend in Seattle, then drive to Portland via Mt. Rainier and/or Mt. St. Helens, then visit the Portland area, and take the train back up. (Or, save $$$ on rental car one-way drop fees by picking up the car in Seattle at a downtown agency and driving back to Seattle airport instead of taking the train. The train is scenic for a short part of the trip, otherwise just slow.)

As for accommodation for beer lovers, you really should check out some of the McMenamin's places in the Portland area, specifically the Edgefield and the Kennedy School in Troutdale and Portland respectively. Really fun places, excellent beer, and the movies are free to guests. www.mcmenamins.com

Portland is fun but Seattle is better. Lots going on over Labor Day including Bumbershoot. Visit Pike Place Market, the Locks, wineries (many tasting rooms around Sodo in S. Seattle and north in Woodinville area), Ballard, take a ferry boat ride. Need more than a weekend! Enjoy!

Thank you for all your wonderful suggestions!! Do you know about when the lineup and full list of events for Bumbershoot is normally finalized and fully announced? We took a look at the current music lineup, and it didn't thrill us to death, especially given the price. (I'm so used to Summerfest here in Milwaukee where daily admission is $15 and headliners are usually pretty big names.)

Anyway, unless someone I'm really excited to see is announced, or there's something else really awesome worth seeing is at Bumbershoot, my bf and I were both sort of ambivalent towards going. Sounds like an awesome festival though, and that's definitely my scene - just seems pricey for the offering.

I love the ferry idea - that's definitely on my list of to-dos. I'd love to get out and explore along the Columbia River as well! Walking tours sound great - I had the opportunity to take advantage of one on a day layover in Amsterdam one time and it was really informative and wonderful. The food cart one sounds like a blast - I'll definitely have to look into it!]

I'll have to think more on the car situation... I do like the idea of having it for half the trip rather than a day and being able to explore outside the city if possible. I suppose we could always take a day trip with a group tour out to one of the mountains as well... I like the idea of being on my own schedule a bit better, though.

Thanks so much again!!!

(I also feel the need to throw this in as a sidenote - I posted on TripAdvisor originally and I can't believe how much more helpful you all have been. I'm hopefully not offending anyone who may frequent those forums but everyone there just seems impatient and disinterested... frequent suggestions often include "look at the links on the side of the page" and "that's too much to do in one week, you need to stay longer." Rarely anything more helpful or elaborate than that. So THANK YOU :])

Glad to see the bump helped.

The Columbia River Gorge is a great drive - take the historic roadway along the Oregon side of the river, which was built during the "golden age of automobiles" to best show off the vistas to the motoring public.

A bit of an odd suggestion, but I'll mention it anyway: We happened upon the Museum of Flight on our way into Seattle from Sea-Tac, and ended up totally enjoying it! Learned all about the evolution of the airline industry; random, I know...

During our stay in Seattle, our local friend recommended taking a locks tour. I remember she told us to take the longer one. (Sorry I can't remember the specifics!) We had gorgeous weather and could see Mt. Rainier from the boat! Parts of the tour are a little hoaky - such as pointing out where the houseboat from "Sleepless in Seattle" is located - but gave us a great perspective on the city as a whole. It ended in Lake Union, and we ended up walking up to the flagship REI store - quite impressive in its own right-!

We loved our dinner at Wild Ginger; make reservations if you want to go.

Re the car business. Seattle and Portland are very much cities of neighborhoods. While public transit in the cities is good, it's not so hot once you're out of the downtown cores, which is a shame because there are so many things to see in the neighborhoods, not to mention things to see/do in the region that are not all bus-friendly. Both Seattle and Portland are just marvelous places for day trips - Snoqualmie Falls, Whidbey or Vashon Islands, even Mt. Rainier from Seattle; Mt. Hood and the Hood River Valley, the Willamette Valley vineyard areas, even Astoria and the north coast - all from Portland.

With a car you might consider staying someplace besides the downtown area (which in the case of Seattle at Labor Day is very pricey because of cruise passengers as well as general tourists.) There are numerous affordable accommodations - many with some character, not just bland motels - just minutes from each city's downtown area, that would save you money and insure that you could do those spur-of-the-moment things (hit the food trucks in Portland, go to Fishermen's Terminal in Seattle, say) that would be inaccessible or an expensive cab ride without the car.

If you want to go downtown, the price of parking for a few hours will almost certainly be less than the difference in hotel prices you'd pay staying downtown.

How to see both Mt. St Helens and Mt. Rainier: Take I-84 east from PDX stopping to see Multnomah Falls (left exit). Hike to the top of the falls (steps and paved trail).
Continue east on I-84 to Hood River and cross to Washington Rt.14 and go to Carson. Take the FS rd. north past the east side of Mt St. Helens. Take the spur road out to the viewpoint then come back to the main road north to Randle.
Take US 2 east to Packwood where yiu will find lodging. In the morning head east on 2 to the Washington route that goes north through Mt. Rainier NP. Head back to Seattle from there.

Great idea Tom - thank you! Now I'm seriously reconsidering my no rental car stance. I'm a AAA member and know Hertz offers discounts, but I'll have to see just how expensive it would be to rent a car for the week and make sure our hotel(s) offer parking at a reasonable rate. I'd still really love to stay downtown, especially to be close to Pike Place Market and just in case we decide to have a beer or two with dinner and don't have to worry about driving back to the hotel. But as long as we're on a public transportation line I wouldn't be too worried. Lots to think about!

I know Bumbershoot has gotten awful pricey at the gate but it's a pretty incredible arts festival. I don't go for the big name acts, rather there are TONS of food booths representing all kinds of local food and restaurants, various shows in the smaller theaters (dance, plays, music, performance art, etc.), several outdoor stages, crafts vendors, beer garden, etc. etc. Especially if the weather is nice (which Labor Day can go either way here) really might be worth stopping in.

Alright. I actually got an email from Delta (who we're flying, and I'm a sky miles member) detailing a car rental deal with Hertz. Here's the rates I've found with the cheapest economy option, and the Delta promotion applied.

If we were to stay Labor weekend in Seattle and drive down to Portland say, Tuesday, renting a car from a random hotel in Seattle and returning it the morning we leave, it will be around $325 after taxes and fees... and I'm assuming we'll have to fight for hotel space and higher rates?

Renting a car at a Crowne Hotel in Portland on Wednesday and returning it to the Seattle airport the Sunday morning we leave is around $350 after taxes and fees (ouch). Returning it Saturday at 10am is $250. Contrary to everything I've read about renting cars, it actually costs an extra $75 to return it at a non-airport location on Saturday.

A day rental from non-airport locations from Portland to Seattle, from 7:30am - 6pm (business hours) is about $100. Keeping it an extra day is around $180.

I've never rented a car before so I don't know if these are prices to jump on or not, or whether I should do more shopping. It seems like every time I search there's different prices and there's so much variance based on pick-up/drop-off location, and it's not like I'm going to sit there and check every single one of Seattle's 18 locations to see which is cheapest (and many can't be booked online). Might call up AAA and see what they recommend

Can't advise you about the cost of the rental- but whatever you decide- ask if there is an additional fee for additional driver- depends on the rental company - so if you intend to share the driving, extra fee may figure into the total cost.

I have rented cars using Hot Wire- worked out OK but was not a one way - good luck with that

Might want to check this out- I have not done it but sounds like fun

http://www.brewbus.com/

For beer drinking/events in Seattle, check out the Washington Beer Blog.

http://www.washingtonbeerblog.com/

In Portland, I love Deschutes, Hopworks Urban Brewery (HUB), and Bailey's Tap Room. Laurelwood and Lucky Lab also get lots of recommendations. Too many good beer places in both towns - you will love it.

Cheers!

bookmarking

Agh! Just when I thought I'd be okay skipping Bumbershoot, I find out today that Gotye's opening act is an artist I really like and have never seen. They're coming to Milwaukee the weekend before too, but for $50, so it kind of seems like a no-brainer to pay $40 for admission to Bumbershoot instead and be able to see them and everything else that afternoon and evening.

So now the question is: Seattle Sept. 1, then head to Portland Sunday morning and stay 3 or 4 days, then head back to Seattle to spend Friday and Saturday there? Or stay in Seattle through Labor Day and head back to Seattle on Saturday afternoon instead?

The other question: What's the cheapest you'd pay for a hotel in either city? I think I can get away with a budget of $100/night in Portland but not sure if that will be possible in Seattle. Again I'd really like to stay downtown if possible, or at least on a metro line. I've stayed in European hostels before and we're not particularly prissy... but I'm aiming for around 2 and a half stars or so, 2 at the very least. I’m trying really hard to keep us at our $2500 total budget which is going to be VERY tight if/when we rent a car, since that’s $150 more expensive than Amtrak as originally planned. $680 for airfare + $275 car rental + $700 for food = $850 for hotel and attractions.:/

Thanks again, all!!!