family road trip from SF to Portland to Seattle
 

We are road tripping from San Francisco to Portland and ending in Seattle. Our trip will last about 2 weeks, so there is time for lots of sightseeing and over night stays along the way. We are staying with friends in Portland and Seattle but would like to make the most of the in betweens. We are 2 forty somethings with 2 girls aged 9 and 7. We love food and nature. Any suggestions?

What month and do you want the coastal route or a route through Crater Lake NP and Bend?
Do you live in or near San Francisco and are you driving your own car?

We will be leaving SF in late June.

Tom's next post will be to take Amtrak and avoid rental drop off fees . . . >)

Two weeks is OK. But that is a lot of territory so you will have to be pretty selective. Do you want any time IN SF? And will this be round trip or a one-way drive?

But basically you will want to allocate about 3 days for the northern CA coast and the redwoods, 2 or 3 days for the Oregon coast, say 2 or 3 days in Portland and Seattle each depending on your friends plans . . . And the remainder maybe in Olympic nationa park.

Or, instead of going up the Oregon coast, go from Crescent City to Crater Lake and the Cascades on the way to Portland.

Nope no Amtrak for this trip. If you don't live in the SF area, consider flying to Sacramento and renting a car and making a loop with the final leg south on I-5 from Weed.

This has been a very snowy winter and even in late June some of the mountain areas, such as part of the rim at Crater Lake, and the visitor areas at altitude on Mt. Rainier, are still going to have quite a lot of snow on the ground. In addition, we like to say that summer in Seattle starts on the fifth of July, prior to which you run a high risk of having the mountains cloudy or downright socked in.

So your best chance of staying in good weather is to stay at lower elevations and closer to the coast.

Here's a 13-day plan which I like (others may disagree of course.) Overnight points are listed.

1 SF - Eureka via Avenue of the Giants. Dinner at the Samoa Cookhouse.

2 Bandon

3 Hood River (This is a longish day drive; Mt. Hood and the Gorge could also be included as a day trip while you're staying in Portland.

4 Portland

5 Portland

6 Portland

7 Lake Quinault

8 Forks, stops at Ruby Beach and Hoh rain forest - Hall of Mosses walk.

9 Port Angeles

10 PA (Victoria day trip)

11 Seattle

12 Seattle

13 Seattle

Map - https://goo.gl/maps/ueLTMaQjqYK2

This would have you staying on US 101 through the redwoods and the southern Oregon coast (the most scenic part) then heading inland to Mount Hood and the Columbia River Gorge before staying in Portland for a couple of days. Then you'd return to the coast for Olympic National Park, seeing more beautiful coast, the incredible Hoh rain forest, and Hurricane Ridge. I've added a day trip (as foot passengers) on the ferry between Port Angeles and Victoria BC.

Then into Seattle via the ferry from Bainbridge Island, finishing with your Seattle visit.

This is quite flexible of course, but it would give you some terrific highlights.

Two weeks really isn't as much as it seems if that counts your time visiting Portland and Seattle.

I really love the Oregon coast so would try to figure a way to fit in some time there.

My highlights between the cities you mention are the redwoods of northern California, the Oregon Coast, the Columbia River Gorge, and Mt. Rainer. You have plenty of time to visit them and to spend time with your friends in Portland and Seattle (who will also no doubt have suggestions about fun things to do).

Crater Lake is an intriguing phenomenon, but the Oregon Coast offers spectacular scenery and it is dotted with little towns that are geared up to welcome families such as yours. The Rogue River, the Oregon Dunes, Cape Perpetua, The Oregon Coast Aquarium (in Newport), the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse (also near Newport), the Sea Lion Caves (near Florence), and Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach are some of the attractions on the coast.

In case you are wondering, driving the Oregon coast is a very different experience from driving the California coast.

HTtY

You still didn't answer some of my questions in the first post. I still think that with 2 weeks you can make a complete loop including SF, the California north coast, Oregon coast, Olympic NP, Seattle, Portland, Columbia Gorge including waterfalls, Bend and Crater Lake NP.
If you are flying into California, I suggested Sacramento (SMF) instead of SFO because of its easy access to I-5.
Do you have plans to go elsewhere after Seattle?

I read the request as a one-way road trip from SF to Seattle (but I could be wrong).

We will be flying into SF on Friday June 23rd. My wife has business there over the weekend.So will most likely hit the road Monday or Tuesday. We plan to arrive in Seattle on the 2 or 3rd of July. Our flight back home is on the 5th.

Thank you for all the suggestions so far.

So you only have 5 to at most 7 days for the drive?

That is entirely different.

You don't have much time for any meandering at all.