addwag

My fiance and I are going to take a road trip for 4-5 days from portland oregon. I am thinking of him to Seattle for a night (hes never been), then canada for 3 days then returning back to seattle for a night..

any suggestions on where to go, stay, do? or should we do something completely different? We are getting married in November so we dont have a ton of cash for the trip (id like to keep hotels at or under 100 per night)

He enjoys the outdoors, as do I.. we like to hike, photograph et

gardengypsy

Well I live in Bellingham, so if you are going up to Canada anyway, I would recommend a night up here, it's very pretty, lots of hiking the Mt Baker Park area, and the MT Baker Highway is a scenic drive as well. There are a lot of cute places to stay if you don't want to camp either. I love it here, and that's why we moved here (for the nature fun) 3 years ago http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/mbs/ that's the link to the park site. Here is a site for lodging http://www.mtbakerlodging.com/ and here is the site for Bellingham www.bellingham.org

addwag

so if we did 1 night seattle, 1-2 nights bellingham then return to seattle and back to portland...

any recommendations on specific places to stay? camp? eat? hike?

gardengypsy

I honestly have no recs for camping because I alway backpack on the trails with my husband and doggies. As far as places (hotels) to stay, I would say the Hampton Inn and the BEst Western would be your best bets for a budget.If you splurge, stay at the Chrysalis for one night, we stayed there the night after our wedding and it was well worth it, but $$$$!http://www.thechrysalisinn.com/
Actually for car camping Larabee State Park is beautiful, right near town but still feels secluded and has some local trails you can hike. If you go down MT Baker highway for a hike, stop at Glacier Ranger station (you'll have to anyway to get a prak pass for the day $5) and ask them what they recommend for your level of ability. They are very nice and well-informed and up to date on what's open or closed and they have great books to refer to. My favorite is Hiking the North Cascades by Erik Molvar, who used to be a ranger in Mt Baker park. I use it so much, it's a wreck, but very accurate and very informative. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...books&n=507846

Good luck on your trip!

happytrailstoyou

If your fiancé has never been to Seattle, perhaps he has also never been to Mt. Rainier or Mt. Saint Helens--which would also be good hiking destinations.

You would have plenty to do in 4-5 days without going all the way to Vancouver.

On the other hand, Vancouver is a great city and home to Stanley Park and a walk along the water accessible by foot from downtown.

It would be easier to give suggestions if your plans were a little more focused.

You will be hard put to find a room for $100 in downtown Seattle or Vancouver.

christy1

There are so many fantastic places to hike and camp between Portland and Vancouver-Rainier, St. Helens, Larabee and Mt. Baker (which is in Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, not a park, by the way) are all great ideas. If you could only narrow it down a bit (100 Classic Hikes in Washington is an excellent resource for the whole area) I could give you more specific recommendations. Perhaps you could do a little web research and see which area sounds most exciting to you?

gardengypsy

OH and if you decided to eat somewhere while driving down th eMT baker highway, I highly recommend North Fork Brewery (FANTASTIC pizza, beer, and hoagies) or Milanos (fabulous Italian food, big portions).
Or if you are eating breakfast you have to stop at Grahams.

addwag

I was thinking seattle and mt. helens might be a better option, would it make sense to do helens en route or post setalle?

As for hotels.. I have found a few off of the fodors main site I will look into..

any suggestions for really good breakfast places or must sees in seattle?