1 Week in Kent, Washington...Am I Cramming My Itinerary Too Full???
Jul 14th, 2000, 05:22 AM
#1
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1 Week in Kent, Washington...Am I Cramming My Itinerary Too Full???
I will be staying in Kent, Washington for 1 week in mid-August. I want to "see the sights" and would like to do the following:
Day 1 = Mt. Ranier
Day 2 = Columbia River Gorge
Day 3 = Ocean Shores/Grays Harbor
Day 4 = Seattle
Day 5 = VancouverIsland
Day 6 = Relax
What do you think - am I going to spend all of my time rushing from one place to the next, or is this do-able? Any of these that should be cut out, or things added? Thanks!
Day 1 = Mt. Ranier
Day 2 = Columbia River Gorge
Day 3 = Ocean Shores/Grays Harbor
Day 4 = Seattle
Day 5 = VancouverIsland
Day 6 = Relax
What do you think - am I going to spend all of my time rushing from one place to the next, or is this do-able? Any of these that should be cut out, or things added? Thanks!
Jul 14th, 2000, 08:33 AM
#2
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Hi, Samantha,
Yes, you will spend all your time rushing about, and see very little.
The Columbia Gorge is at least 3 hours from Kent by car; Ocean Shores also close to 3 hours, Vancouver Island at least 6 hours travel time each way (more like 7-8 with border delays). If it was me I'd skip Ocean Shores and Vancouver Island, and spend an extra day in Seattle and another seeing Puget Sound (Whidbey Island, for example.) The Gorge can be done in one (real long) day but you'll be racing around.
Yes, you will spend all your time rushing about, and see very little.
The Columbia Gorge is at least 3 hours from Kent by car; Ocean Shores also close to 3 hours, Vancouver Island at least 6 hours travel time each way (more like 7-8 with border delays). If it was me I'd skip Ocean Shores and Vancouver Island, and spend an extra day in Seattle and another seeing Puget Sound (Whidbey Island, for example.) The Gorge can be done in one (real long) day but you'll be racing around.
Jul 14th, 2000, 08:52 AM
#3
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Yes, you will be driving a great deal. don't make the mistake we did many years ago on first visit to France, where we drove past everything, in our effort to complete the distance we had set for ourselves. Can't remember seeing or experiencing anything but a blur. Mt Rainer is worth it on a clear day, otherwise I wouldn't bother. The ocean is at least 3 hours away, and often cloudier and damper than here. Why not enjoy the city and it's environs for at least3-4 days, then play it by ear. Vacouver (the city) is 3 hours away not counting a possible long delay at the border. Our waterfront is very interesting, and you could jet up to Victoria (much nicer anyway) for a day trip on the Victoria Clipper (get on the internet for tickets), or take a tour of the waterfront, or take the "Spirt of Seattle" dinner train to one of our local wineries, or do Pioneer Square with lots of shops and antiques, or drive to Snoqualamie Falls (about 45 min to the east on I-90) or walk on a ferry to Bainbridge and sample small town life on our islands and have a suberb fish dinner...I could go on and on, but don't spend the entire week driving. If you are coming to Kent for the Boeing company, perhaps you could ask them to arrange a tour of the Everett Plant (very interesting). You will enjoy more if you try to see less and go for the experience of Seattle.
Jul 14th, 2000, 05:00 PM
#4
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To save time, maybe you should change to:
Day 1 = Mt. Si
Day 2 = Green River Gorge
Day 3 = Lake Sammamish
Day 4 = Seattle
Day 5 = Mercer Island
Day 6 = Shopping at Big K
The Spirit of Seattle is a boat ride, The Spirit of Washington is a train ride. A better boat ride is The Spirit of Puget Sound. The Victoria Clipper is as low as $69 per person for a round-trip ticket (2 hrs. one-way).
Day 1 = Mt. Si
Day 2 = Green River Gorge
Day 3 = Lake Sammamish
Day 4 = Seattle
Day 5 = Mercer Island
Day 6 = Shopping at Big K
The Spirit of Seattle is a boat ride, The Spirit of Washington is a train ride. A better boat ride is The Spirit of Puget Sound. The Victoria Clipper is as low as $69 per person for a round-trip ticket (2 hrs. one-way).
Jul 14th, 2000, 06:16 PM
#5
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Are you returning to Kent each night? If so, this is way too much. Ocean Shores is not such a beautiful place - its overdeveloped.
May I recommend if you want to see the mountains and the ocean and Vancouver Island, driving across Puget sound (by car ferry, of course) to the Olympic Peninsula. The Olympics are the beautiful mountains on the west side of Seattle/Kent diametrically across from the Cascades/Mt. Rainier (which is better from a distance, anyway). There are so many places to cross and routes to take. You can drive through cute little Port Gamble or, with two ferries, go across to Whidbey Island and then into Port Townsend. On the ferry, you get the scenery of Puget Sound. Drive north up the Peninsula toward Port Angeles. You will go past Dungeness, famous for crabs and its terrific (seven mile long?) narrow spit of sand. (Seattle to P.A. by ferry will take 2-4 hours depending on which route you take and how fast you go, and how lucky you are with ferry times and lines.)
Just past P.A., go to Olympic National Park, Hurricane Ridge -- good for a day hike, and yes, its windy. But the panoramas of the mountain range and of Canada across the straits of Juan de Fuca are way better than what you can see on Mt. Rainier.
Then back down the mountain to Port Angeles again (20 minutes), and take another ferry (1-2 hours?) to Victoria BC on Vancouver Island. If you just want to see Victoria, you can leave your car in the US and save a lot of money.) OK this is really a 2 day outing at least, so stay overnight in P.A. or Port Townsend (about 30-40 minutes from P.A.)
Then spend the rest of your days tooling around Seattle, or pop down one day to the Columbia River Gorge (but its about a four hour drive, I think, so that would be a realy long day.) Have fun, and hope you see the sun at least one of your seven days.
May I recommend if you want to see the mountains and the ocean and Vancouver Island, driving across Puget sound (by car ferry, of course) to the Olympic Peninsula. The Olympics are the beautiful mountains on the west side of Seattle/Kent diametrically across from the Cascades/Mt. Rainier (which is better from a distance, anyway). There are so many places to cross and routes to take. You can drive through cute little Port Gamble or, with two ferries, go across to Whidbey Island and then into Port Townsend. On the ferry, you get the scenery of Puget Sound. Drive north up the Peninsula toward Port Angeles. You will go past Dungeness, famous for crabs and its terrific (seven mile long?) narrow spit of sand. (Seattle to P.A. by ferry will take 2-4 hours depending on which route you take and how fast you go, and how lucky you are with ferry times and lines.)
Just past P.A., go to Olympic National Park, Hurricane Ridge -- good for a day hike, and yes, its windy. But the panoramas of the mountain range and of Canada across the straits of Juan de Fuca are way better than what you can see on Mt. Rainier.
Then back down the mountain to Port Angeles again (20 minutes), and take another ferry (1-2 hours?) to Victoria BC on Vancouver Island. If you just want to see Victoria, you can leave your car in the US and save a lot of money.) OK this is really a 2 day outing at least, so stay overnight in P.A. or Port Townsend (about 30-40 minutes from P.A.)
Then spend the rest of your days tooling around Seattle, or pop down one day to the Columbia River Gorge (but its about a four hour drive, I think, so that would be a realy long day.) Have fun, and hope you see the sun at least one of your seven days.
