Quebec and Montreal and the St. Lawrence. That's a great idea for a trip.

I really don't see how anyone can exhaust Vancouver and Seattle in two days. I haven't managed to do that in over 20 years, although I have seen a few places twice ;-) .

One more question given the comment about snow (!!) - will it be too cold to hike and enjoy the outdoors in the NW? A major reason for wanting to do the NW trip is to enjoy the outdoors, so that could be an issue. It is so darn hot in Atlanta in June that I honestly never thought about it being too cold for this trip . . . cooler than Atlanta is a plus, but snow is a different story (although I'm assuming the poster meant in the mountains).

As for the "are you nuts" comments - I have been to Paris, it is a great city and I love it, but not at all costs. I don't totally idealize it - accidentially hitting the Louvre on "free museum" day when I was there was more than enough to teach me that even great locations are not enjoyable 100% of the time, it is best to plan to visit at a good time ;) And DH wants to see Amsterdam and I want to see Brussels so we could maybe get it down to two cities but one just won't happen. This doesn't mean I've totally ruled out the EU trip, but I am really leaning towards NW now and EU next spring. . .

I live in Vancouver. When I am not travelling afar, I enjoy playing tourist in my own city! I assure you there are wonderful galleries, museums, parks, interesting areas to visit, and many fine restaurants to try!

If you enjoy the outdoors, there are also many good hikes & walks. "Best Hikes and Walks of Soutwestern British Columbia" by Dawn Hanna might be a good resource for you. The hikes are clustered by area. Good information and maps are provided.

Good luck with your plans!

Sorry for the typo! Title should read "Best Hikes and Walks of Southwestern British Columbia"

Hi Audreyleigh,
To clarify about the snow. I hike and love to hike in the mountains. That's not open in June, especially this year. It's cold here still. But the advice for Best Hikes in SW BC is great as those hikes will all be open. The San Juan and Gulf Islands are also places to go and will be very, very different from Atlanta.

If you fly into Portland you can spend a couple of days there and visit the Columbia gorge. I love the gorge. Astoria on the coast is also nice and there are interesting Lewis and Clark sites to visit near Astoria and in Washington.

Heading north from there you can hike on the Olympic peninsula, along the Pacific. There are spectacular hikes and you can see amazing old growth trees. However I find the drive on the peninsula disappointing as the logging is over the top there.

Port Townsend is a lovely Victorian town that many of us locals visit. You'd probably really like it. From Port Angeles, nearby, you can take the ferry to Victoria. Victoria is on Vancouver Island and the Pacific coast of the island is beautiful. Tofino is amazing.

Then you can take the BC ferry through the gulf islands to Tsawassen and up to Vancouver for a couple of days. Then south to Seattle and back to Portland. Others may share with you that it's too much driving and they're probably right, but that's what I'd do to see the Northwest in June.

Let me know if you need more information. Now that I see that we lifetime members of the Lesser Seattle Society can't persuade you of the preferred charms of Paris, I'm happy to pull out my maps and give better advice.

Lots of "small" mountainous hiking options near Vancouver are open. The famed and crowded Grouse Grind just recently reopened for the season.

Rosetravels has outlined a good itinerary for you to see & experience the Pacific NW & SW BC. If you can fly into Portland and out of Vancouver, it will save you driving time, leaving more opportunity to explore! You might want to check distances & driving times - places are not as close as they are in Europe.

Actually, in late June some of the best mountain hikes in the Olympics are clear of snow---Mt. Townsend in particular. They could depart Seattle in the morning, ferry to Bainbridge Island, drive north and over the Hood Canal bridge to Quilcene; do the hike (about 4-5 hours), then drive to Port Townsend and spend the night.

Audrey, If you do decide on hiking the NW be sure to check out the places you intend to do that. We had a pretty severe winter with snow and storms in the mountains and places like Mt Ranier are going to be fixing the damage for a long time.

I live in Olympia which is south of Seattle. We just had the parents of my exchange student from France come over for a visit. I sent them on the circle over to the coast to see the old growth forests, then up to Port Angeles where they took a very to Victoria and Vancouver Island, then over to the Bc coast and up to Whistler (which is a great summer place for young people as well), then down to Vancouver, then back to Seattle and then back to Olympia. They raved about the different stuff to do. They then took a side trip to see Mt. St. Helens - which is not your typical Atlanta. Two weeks would be perfect for this trip.

OMG, I logged onto Orbitz to buy tickets to Vancouver today only to see that my fare alert for Brussels had popped up with $800 tickets!! And even better - they are on US Air and I have a voucher for ~ $100 (from another trip where our tickets got messed up), so it is really like $700 each! I can't believe it, I never would've thought prices would go down. Now back to my decision . . . I think I might go for Brussels . . . but now the NW trip sounds so fun thanks to all your help I think we will definitely have to do it sometime soon, too.

Let's see. Paris with at least 1000 years of history versuse Seattle's 100.
Sipping espresso in a cafe haunted by likes of Hemingway versus Starbucks, Eiffel towel versus space needle, Louvre versus Borders...I think the answere is clear.

Congrats on your airfare!

As someone who lives in Vancouver (and love it btw) I am also of the "Are you NUTS?" sentiment...Europe, Europe, Europe! har har

I understand the appeal of Vancouver, the nature, the water, mountains and really nice summers...but I would take Europe in a heartbeat for sure.

BUT when you start planning your trip to the NW make sure to post on the Canadian/BC board for tons of ideas on what to do and what to see. Just make sure to come in July/August - guaranteed not to have rain every day. :)

Have a WONDERFUL time in PAR-BRU-AMS. I'm entirely too jealous for my own good I think! :D

Hey, Snowed -- Seattle's been here for 156 years! Admittedly, that's not much longer than Boston had been settled at the time of the American Revolution, but it's more than 100.

And on our list of best coffeehouses, the best Starbucks in the city ranks about 50th.