Car trip from San Fran & Seattle
 

My family (2 adults/1 child) is planning a 2 week road trip from San Francisco to Seattle along Route 1/101 in August. We plan to stay a few days in both cities as well. We need suggestions regarding day trips, must-see activities, restaurants, hotels, etc. that are appropriate for a family with a 7 year old.

Can you clarify the timing? Two weeks overall or two weeks on the road in addition to a few days each in SF and Seattle? Makes a big difference.

With a seven year old you'll obviously be wanting to limit driving to a few hours a day, maybe with a couple of days staying put on a couple of occasions.

The visual highlights are rugged coast on California SR1 and the Oregon coast parts, the Redwoods, possibly the Columbia River and Puget Sound areas, or, if you're planning it, the Olympic Peninsula.

Give us a sense of your timing and particular interests, and we can help with more detailed suggestions.

We did this same trip 2 summers ago. Flew into Seattle from Boston, spent 3 days there, drove to San Francisco. We decided to do much of the drive along Interstates - the more scenic route is nice, but we also had kids with us and decided speed was more important.

Our first stop was Mt. St. Helens. Incredible devastation, even all these years after the volcano. Not sure it is worth it for a 7 year ol, but we are glad we did not miss it.

Stayed one night in Portland. Were totally under-whelmed. Even posted question here when we returned about what to do in Portland area - got only a few replies and most indicated it was a great place to live.

Next stop was in very northern CA to see big trees. Spent 2 nights there. Well worth it. Beware. We had bought some great fruit in Washington and they had "fruit police" at the CA border - confiscated it all for pest control. Don't know if this is still in effect.

Drove through wine country - would have liked to stop for tour, tasting - but we were sick of driving and wanted to get to SF

Spent 4 days in SF. Wonderful city - bring warm clothes, even in August.

You have more time than we did, so you could slow down the drive and see more things. Our kids were 10 and 14 at the time and are very used to being in the car for hours at a time - you will know your own kid's car tolerance. Coastal scenery is probably not going to thrill the 7 year old, so weigh carefully whether you go the scenic route or the fast route.

Follow-up to question. Our trip is two weeks overall, including stays in SF and Seattle. Thanks for the replies so far.

If you can, see if you can reverse your route. When driving to the north along the California/Oregon/Washington coast most of the attractions will be on the opposite side of the road; which means you'll be trying to make a lot of left turns off of a two lane highway.

One cool place to stay: The Red Lion Inn in Astoria Oregon. The hotel has a very 70's fell with it's color scheme and decor. However the hotel is partly on the water and overlooks the marina. The rooms have decks and if you wanted to could fish from your room. The school where Kindergarten Cop is also in Astoria.

Crater Lake, Mt St. Helens are must sees.

When in Seattle take a ferry over to Bainbridge Island or another place on the Sound.