Marlene, I would love to go to the San Juan Islands someday. I don't think we'll have time this trip, but we are going to go whale watching in Victoria. If we make a return trip, I'll definitely put it on our list. And Olympic National Park as well. Have you done that and Rainier? How do they compare to each other? How many days would you recommend for those? They look beautiful.

I have not done Rainier yet. We stayed in the Olympic National Park for 4 nights. The park is massive so we could have easily spent more time there. Drove to Portland to visit the Columbia River Gorge for 3 nights, then back to San Juan Island for 3 nights. Way too much traveling around for most people but we had an amazing trip.

Sounds nice. Where did you stay on San Juan Island?

We stayed at the Island Inn at 123 West.

Loved lime kiln park and our visit to the Roche Harbor resort on the other side of the island. The Western Prince whale watching zodiac tour was really fun too. Rumor Mill had great live music while we were there a couple years back.

Volcanogirl--ONP and Rainier are very different from each other! Hard to explain as in dead tired right now. If you are serious hikers then you will want to allow at least 2-3 days at Rainier and ONP a minimum of 3-4 days.

Not sure how adventurous you are or how far from Victoria you are willing to go, but if you like whales there is an awesome kayaking trips with "Wildheart Adventures"

Here is a website that might give you some more ideas : http://www.outerlimitstraveller.com/experiences-c1tpc

Hi, all - we're in Victoria now. Have already done whale watching and the Butchart Gardens. It's beautiful here. Love The Empress as well - great location.