Dear Fodor Friends:

Lots of Questions - Please Be Kind...

This will be our third trip to the Pacific Northwest (see Also under: Seattle/Tacoma/Vancouver/Whistler/Olympic National Park Advice Requested)

We are looking for scheduling advice and for information especially regarding Whistler, B.C., and the Olympic National Park.

If you want to get a feel for the kinds of things we usually do or enjoy doing, scroll to the very bottom of this e-mail to see things we have already done in the Pacific Northwest - Seattle/Vancouver/Victoria.

We are looking for new adventures, places we haven't seen, restaurants we haven't eaten in, wineries we haven't tried, the best Happy Hours, meals, museums, views and photography opportunities possible, etc.

We plan to arrive on Saturday - August 4
Our plans are flexible. We can stay in the Seattle/Tacoma area until Monday - August 6 or we can get underway a day or two early.

Our projected Itinerary:
*August 4 - Arrive. Settle in Hotel. Dinner or evening plans?
Agenda Items: August 5 - Possibly 1 Day at Seattle Hippie Festival (Groovy...smile) or Museum of Glass in Tacoma. Other activities in Tacoma?

*August 6 or 7 - Drive to Vancouver. Stay Vancouver 4 nights August 6 or 7/ 8/ 9/ 10 or 11
Agenda items: Grouse Mountain, Capilano Suspension Bridge, Burnaby Village, Stanley Park (re-visit)

* August 11 - Drive to Whistler. Stay Whistler August 11 and 12.
Agenda: Perseid Meteor Showers at night on * August 12. Looking for best/darkest/highest viewpoint possible in Whistler. Willing to splurge if we can lodge somewhere near the top of any (remote) area or mountain.

* August 13 - Drive to Port Angeles.

A.) Is it better to drive from Whistler straight to Port Angeles? How long should that drive take?

B.) Would it be better to take ferry from Vancouver to Victoria and then take a ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles? (Is that even possible to do in one day?)

C.) If we leave Seattle on August 5 instead of August 6, we can be in Victoria on August 12 instead of Whistler. We have been to the Royal Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in Victoria before. We just don't know if it would be better to observe the Perseid Meteor Showers from Whistler, B.C. or the Observatory at Victoria, B.C.

D.) Should we cut one day from either Vancouver or Olympic National Park and include San Juan Islands? Is it possible to leave from Vancouver and Car Ferry West across the San Juan Islands to Port Angeles?

*August 13 or 14 - Sleep in Port Angeles.
Anyone with lodging and restaurant ideas?
Is there a better place to stay than Port Angeles that is an easy drive to Hurricane Ridge/Crescent Lake/Sol Duc area?

*August 14/15/16 Explore Olympic National Park using Port Angeles as a base - Hurricane Ridge/Crescent Lake/Sol Duc area for 2 -3 days. Are we missing activities? Using too much or too little time?

*August 17 (morning) - Drive to Kalaloch for the day? Afternoon drive to Pacific Beach. Sleep Pacific Beach area. Lodging or restaurant ideas?

*August 18 (morning) - Get up in Pacific Beach area. Pack up car and drive towards Hoh Rain Forrest, Quinnault area. At end of day, drive towards Tacoma/SEATAC.

*August 18 at night - sleep near SEATAC Airport.

*August 19 - Noon: Fly Home

Thanks for your advice, kind words, and admonitions!

JLSCT

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PAST TRIPS:

In 2002 - 9 day trip to (7 days not including flying time):

1. Victoria - 3 days: Whale Watching (wheee!), The Royal Dominion Astronomical Observatory (terrific!) The Royal B.C. Museum (fab/u/lus,) The Crystal Gardens Conservatory, Butchart Gardens and fireworks show - (gorgeous,) Mount Douglas, Chinatown street fair.
2. Seattle & Environs - 4 days (Monorail, Pike Place Market, Space Needle, Underground Seattle, Glassblowers, Tillicum Indian Dinner and Show on Blake Island, Mount Rainier (1 day), Salish Lodge (1 day),

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In 2004 - 15 day trip (13 days not including flight and drive times):

1. Portland - 3 days (Saturday Market, Rose Gardens (oh my!) Chinese Garden (worthy of a $10,000,000 film set) Portland Grill Happy Hour, Papa Hayden's desserts (Yum)
2. Historic Highway, Waterfalls (wow), Bonneville Dam.
3. Mount Hood and Timberline Lodge - 1 Day/overnight. (Walked out at night to the end of the paved portion of the Pacific Crest Trail to see Perseid Meteor Showers. We loved it beyond words.)
4. Hood River, the Windsurfers, and one or two small wineries. (We liked Cathedral Ridge)
5. Castle Rock to Mount St. Helens - amazing 80 mile drive (we stayed at a Bed & Breakfast owned by Jason Robards nephew...)
6. Mount St. Helens through Toledo to Mount Rainier. Second time at Rainier. Stayed one night at Paradise Lodge and one night at Crystal Mountain Lodgings on the eastern side of the mountain. Recommend the latter highly for anyone actually wanting to see Sunrise at "Sunrise" without having a campsite or a trailer.
7. Seattle - two days. We went to the Music Experience, the Space Needle (second time), the Seattle Museum of Art (Indian Collection), Pike Place Market
8. Vancouver - 3 days. Saw Stanley Park, the BC Anthropology Collection of Indian Art, Gastown, Chinatown (a real disappointment), Kitsilano, Granville Island, Vancouver Museum of Art, Lynn Valley Canyon and the Lynn Valley Canyon Suspension Bridge (in the pouring rain...)
9. Tacoma (Museum of Glass Bridge and final dinner at Salty's (with the Olympic Peninsula in the distant view...) (Next trip: Olympic Peninsula!)

Hi jlsct

Based on your list of the things you like to do, I'm going to suggest some fairly drastic changes (you specify that you want to have new adventures, places you haven't seen, wineries you haven't tried, and it seems from the list of trips you've been on before, you've done quite a bit in Vancouver/Victoria).

So - my suggestions:

From Seattle, drive to the Okanagan - take the I-90 then the 97 up to Osoyoos (appx drive time 5.5 hours). Stay a day or two in the South Okanagan and explore - LOTS of wineries etc.

Next, Kelowna and the North Okanagan (about 2 hours driving). Again, lots of wineries, spend time at Lake Okanagan etc.

Drive to Whistler via the Trans Canada highway (hwy 1) (appx 5.5 hours).

Drive to Vancouver (appx 1.5 hours)

Take the ferry to Victoria, then on to Port Angeles - or drive via Seattle.

Granted, this is quite a bit more driving that you had previously planned, but I think it'll check off more of your "want to do" items...

My advice - don't bother to pay for the Cap Suspension Bridge. There is one in Lynn Valley called the Lynn Valley Suspension Bridge which is free and just as nice. No "touristy" stuff but nice hike around the area and very cool bridge. Probably not as easy to get to on public transport as Cap Suspension but if you have a car it should be no problem.
However, since the Cap Suspension bridge is on the way to Grouse Mountain, it might be more convenient. The tram gives an awesome view of Vancouver and to me is definately worth it. That's pretty much all I can help with

Dear CR,

Thanks for the advice!

As I explained in my original post, we have already been to the Lynn Valley Canyon and Suspension Bridge on one of our previous trips. It was an interesting day (We went during intermittent pouring down rain --- which was the reason I refused to pay for Capilano in the cold and the wet weather...)

As I recommended to another traveler in a post to a Fodors question regarding "Vancouver vs. Victoria," we have purchased an end of season Enteratianment Book for Vancouver.

It will give us, (among other benefits) a Buy One / get One Free coupon for the Capilano Suspension Bridge. At $27.00 for 2 people, we figure it is an economical way to do something we haven't done yet.

For others who may read this post, here's a restatement of at least part of the information I already posted in reply to the original "Vancouver vs. Victoria" question:

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Go to www.entertainment.com
You can buy a "Vancouver" Entertainment book right now for $7.98 plus $1 shipping and handling.(it's the end of the season and they want to unload them before they all expire on November 1.)

There are coupons for Buy one/ Get One free for almost every single museum and Garden in Vancouver, including the Aquarium (which is, unfortunately not valid during July and August) plus carriage rides in Stanley Park, Capilano Suspension Bridge, Lafflines Comedy Club, and many, many, very good restaurants, including the Cannery, Le Gavroche, Hermitage, Water Street Cafe, McQueens & Monk MQueens, Wild Rice, Borgo Antico, Amarcord, Stone Grill, The Stanley Park Fish House [Great for lunch after the Carriage Ride], and Death By Chocolate, plus many different coffee and gelato shops. There are more restaurant coupons than you could use in a month of eating out everyday. You'll get back your 8.98 after the first coupon you use dining out...

I have some suggestions on some of your questions.
Tacoma ideas besides the Museum of Glass: The new Tacoma Art Museum is really good. It is in same area, generally. Also, the state Historical Society is nearby and is excellent. Fujiyas is an extremely good Japanese restaurant in walking distance, though there are many other restaurants. There is also a lovely walkway along the Sound in Tacoma that is near Old Town Tacoma, not too far from the museums (a couple of mile drive).

Vancouver - Granville Island has a good comedy/improv theater that you might enjoy in the evening. I would suggest cutting your time in Vancouver and spending some time in the Gulf Islands (as opposed to the San Juans).

Perseid Meteor Shower - Consider going to the Gulf Islands instead of Whistler and viewing the meteor shower from an island. Saltspring Island is the largest, and if you got away from the main town of Ganges, you would get great views. Ganges has an excellent Saturday market that a lot of local artists bring their works. Also there is a great driving tour on Saltspring Island, where you can visit the wineries, art studios, bakeries, cheese makers and other attractions. You can get the brochure for the drive at the tourist office.
The Saltspring winery has a B&B. We haven't stayed there, but the winery is lovely and the wine tasting is so yummy! It's away from city lights for meteor viewing.

From Salt Spring Island, you can go on to Vancouver Island and stay overnight, then go to Port Angeles. When you are on Vancouver Island, if you have time, you could take the walk-on boat in Sidney to the Spencer Spit and have a walk and picnic. It is a marine park and very beautiful.

The ferry from Port Angeles only goes to Victoria. If you don't go to Vancouver Island, you will have to drive south to Whidbey Island and take the ferry from there to Port Townsend, which is a great town to visit. Or you could drive down to Seattle and take the ferry to Bainbridge Island. I think the Whidbey Island ferry is the best of those two options for you.

Once you are on the Olympic peninsula, you can visit Hurricane Ridge for mountains (rather than Whistler).
The Dungeness Spit is supposed to be quite neat on the OP. I haven't been there, but I think it is like Sidney Spit in many ways, with lots of tidepools and long flat expanses of sand.

Do a search or separate post on the US board (putting in Washington) on what to do in the OP. I think you may want to stay only one night at Port Angeles. There is a lovely lodge at Lake Crescent (probably too late for reservations, though). There isn't a lot to do at Kalaloch other than walk along the beach. It's a good place to say overnight, but not somewhere to spend a lot of time.
You will need to get cracking on reservations!!!

I realize your plans may be fixed by now, but I do hope that someone has advised you to check the construction schedule with respect to the road between Vancouver and Whistler--it is at seatoskyimprovements.ca/closures_updates. Because of the 2010 Olympics the road is being widened post haste and that means closures and delays--although they try to stay clear on weekends.

That noted, I would say that if you still have flexibility, I would shift more time to Whistler which is one of my favorite places with lots of hiking+biking, incredible scenery plus good restaurants!!

The Port Angeles ferry schedule is at cohoferry.com.

Vancojo

Dear Fodors friends:

These are among our final trip plans for the Pacific Northwest:

We will be driving from Vancouver to Whistler on Thursday morning, August 9. We understand about the Sea-to-Sky Highway construction and have no need for immediacy, so long as we get to Whistler in time for our hotel reservations that night.
In fact, we plan to make it a leisurely drive and stop at Shannon Falls, Brittania Beach and maybe even Squamish along the way...

Our bigger concern is about our departure from Whistler on Saturday morning. August 11.

We need to be in Tsawassen for either the 2:00 or 3:00 sailing to Victoria/Swartz Bay.

We know we need to make a reservation for either the 2:00 [better for our evening plans in Victoria] or the 3:00 Tswassen sailing.

How long should we plan for the drive between Whistler and Tsawassen?

If we leave Whistler at 9:00 a.m. could we make the 2:00 p.m. Tsawassen sailing? (Is 5 hours enough?) Or should we plan for the 3:00 sailing instead?

Should we plan to leave at 8:30 a.m. instead? Would it make any difference?

Any advice is welcome!

Google maps says Whistler to Tsawassen is 161 km and they give 2hr and 25min as driving time. That sounds generous to me--I can't picture it taking five hours.

I would consider taking the ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo and then driving the two hours from Nanaimo to Victoria instead.

If you do want to go to Tsawwassen, it can take a long time to get into and through downtown Vancouver, depending on traffic and whether the Lion's Gate Bridge reversible lane is in your favor or not. But four hours should be enough, and five should be more than enough.

I go to whistler a few times a year(including this tues.).I don't know if you really want to stay too high on the mt.in the summertime,since all the action is in the town,good price during the summer.lot of nice biking and hiking trails around the 5 alpine lake.also bike trails on and off the mt.You can even have a salmon b.b.q on sat on top of the mt.ride the gondola.do the zipline Lots of activies on the blackhomb benchland including an alpine slde.fun for all ages.there is something for everyone at lost lake less than a 1 k from the village,also a free bus.you have your family beach,your doggie beach and your nuddie beach.I usually stay at glacier reach,use the stoney creek propertiesthat are dog friendly.The woods is father out and close to lost lake.many beautiful parks.hope this helped.,