Hi all,

A friend and I will be arriving in Seattle in late May on a Wednesday just before noon. We have to be down in Portland, OR by late Friday night (doesn't matter how late). We've already done Seattle. So, we're looking for a good side trip to take. We don't mind doing a lot of driving.

We were thinking of either driving up to Vancouver or Victoria. But there seem to be many other options.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Victoria and Vancouver are great but if you are coming south anyway- you could do Mt Ranier and Mt St Helens .
You could easily spend a couple of nights at Mt Ranier if you enjoy hiking

Couple of options, wet v. dry, giving you some real choices -

West - head over to the Olympic Peninsula as far as Quinault. Spend Thursday seeing the wonderful beaches along the Pacific Coastal strip of Olympic National park, plus the Hoh Valley rainforest. Comfortable drive on Friday to Portland; I'd recommend heading down to Astoria on 101 so you can cross the mouth of the Columbia - pretty awesome - en route into Portland.

East - drive from the airport to Mt. Rainier, visit Paradise, then continue on US 12 into Yakima. Thursday run over to Palouse Falls (off SR 271 - you'll need a map) in some very scenic country (won't be too hot yet in late May) then make your way back to the Columbia, staying somewhere around The Dalles or Goldendale that night. Friday, stop for sure at the Maryhill Museum (on the Washington side of the river near Goldendale) and Stonehenge, then go west on the Washington side of the Columbia to Hood River, cross over then follow the "old" Columbia Gorge Highway into Troutdale thence Portland.

In late May daylight will be to your advantage, although none of these days involve particularly strenuous driving.

I would not suggest Vancouver or Victoria; it's really going the wrong way, plus the border and/or ferry hassles can put a real dent into the quality time you'd have in those places given your timetable.

Thank you both for your responses. I've done the Columbia River Gorge a few times, as well as the Yakima Valley, Mt. Rainer, and Mt. St. Helens. All wonderful places, certainly. Looking for something different.

The Olympic Peninsula sounds like it might make sense. I will certainly look into that.

Thank you again.

David

How about the Washington coast? Leave the highway around Olympia and head west thru Aberdeen onto the ocean.

...on to (not onto the ocean!)

My first choice would be to fly into Portland and go directly to Cannon Beach (80 miles) for two nights.

Second, I would drive from SeaTac to the Olympic National Park via Tacoma and the Narrows Bridge, staying at Crescent Lake Lodge on Wednesday and Lake Quinault Lodge on Thursday.

I was doing some more research and I'm very intrigued by Orcas Island. I know it's in the opposite direction, but that's not a problem for us. We could get an afternoon ferry there on Wednesday and have all day Thursday and Friday on Orcas, leaving early evening Friday.

Does that sound like a worthwhile thing to do?

We're also seriously thinking about Olympic National Park, which sounds nice as well. But putting aside convenience, does anyone have thoughts?

If you like kayaking, hiking, or just relaxing on the beach (in other words, you don't need/expect big tourist attractions or lots of shopping)I would say Orcas is a fabulous idea. It's one of my favorite PNW destinations. I've given a bunch of Orcas recommendations to people here lately-search by Orcas and see what comes up.
One thing to keep in mind-Orcas doesn't have a ton of public shoreline so try to pick lodging on the beach or with access. Trip Advisor has a bunch of reviews and I recommended some places in other threads. There's lots of cabins/b and b's online on the San Juan Islands websites, too.

I should add that May is actually quite a slow time on the islands, and you are going mid-week, so while I'd still do research and make advance reservations, you shouldn't have any trouble with ferry lines, crowds or finding a great place to stay.

Have you been to Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood? Amazing place, completely handcrafted (a WPA project). I highly reccommend it.
http://www.timberlinelodge.com/

Victoria can be a one-day trip if you take the Victoria Clipper passenger-only ferry. It is a small rather quaint city, very safe, very polite. The ferry lands right in the downtown inner harbour, and you can walk around and see many of the sights depending on your interest... the parliament buildings, the Empress hotel, the Royal BC museum.

If you stay overnight, you can add a bus to Butchart gardens, kayak or bike rentals downtown to explore the Gorge, or a bus and hike up Mount Doug. Best lunch value in the downtown area is at Swan's (on Wharf) at the north end of downtown. Best hotel value is the Day's Inn, right at the Ferry terminus, on the harbourfront.