If you rent the car for 24 hours you could drive an hour south of Seattle to see the Washington capitol in Olympia and then drive 3 hours down I-5 through Portland to the Oregon capitol in Salem. The golden man on the top of Oregon's capitol is more impressive than Washington's capitol IMHO.
Take Rt. 22 west out of Salem to US 101. Head north with stops at the Tillamook Cheese factory and the Astoria Column before heading over the big bridge back into Washington using US 12 to get back to I-5 and Seattle.

Perhaps DH would enjoy walking onto the passenger ferry and going over to Victoria, BC Island - which is almost like a quick trip to England. If you check - you can find some authetnic British Pubs, have high tea (either reasonably priced or the "full monty" at the Empress http://www.fairmont.com/empress/Gues...ternoonTea.htm ) and also visit the increidble Royal Museum.

You probably won't find too many obnoxious Portlanders there either. Double


http://www.clippervacations.com/ferry/ferryschedule

Thanks, Tom! That might be doable for us. Love the prospect of visiting the cheese factory! Much of my travel's high points are food related. smh

Tomsd, I would like to include a ferry excursion and that sounds fabulous! We'll soon be discussing an itinerary in more depth, so I'll be sure to mention this!

Make sure you take the passports with you just in case you do decide to go into Canada.

I'm a little confused. Is the Clipper ferry the only way to get to Victoria? Or, can you take the WSDOT?

Yes, the Clipper is the only ferry from Seattle to Victoria. We've made that trip a couple times and enjoyed it, but next time we'd like to try a float plane: http://www.kenmoreair.com/Page.aspx?nid=130.

If I can expand a little on islandaze's post...

The Victoria Clipper is the only ferry (foot passengers only) that connects Seattle and Victoria. However, if you are driving you can go to Port Angeles and take the Black Ball ferry or drive up to Anacortes and take a Washington State ferry...but only a few ferries from there go to Victoria each day.

I have done the float plane and it was fun- leaves from Lake Union and lands in the Inner Harbor in Victoria- just a short walk to restaurants, shops etc. Look for web specials -

The Clipper is the convenient and quick way to get to Victoria- a more scenic route is to drive up to Canada ( just south of Vancouver) and take the ferry over. I like this ferry as it goes more frequently than the others, and the route is much more scenic- traveling close to the islands and between narrow channels.
When I go I frequently leave my car and just walk on ( much less expensive) and I take a bus from the the ferry landing in Sidney to downtown Victoria.

But of course this suggestion means more driving and have to cross the border where there can be delays- but if you are going in May I think that might not be a problem.
Victoria is a beautiful city.

If you don't want to go that far to experience a ferry ride- just take a day trip to Bainbridge Island or drive up to Edmonds and take the ferry to Kingston for lunch- both easy to do.
Edmonds is a great little place to visit even if you don't do the ferry- lots of cute shops and restaurants within walking distance of the ferry landing.

You can also drive up/ just north of Seattle - to Edmonds is it? - and take the passenger and cary ferry over to Victoria - Siddney actually (30? miles above Victoria - connections available) and that goes through the San Juan Islands. We were very fortunate - and saw a pod of Orcas/Killer Whales that swam alongside the big car ferry for about 20 minutes - and then - poof - they were gone.

Oops. Thought I posted this: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries/vess...?terminalid=19

No ferry to Victoria from Edmonds- maybe you mean Port Angeles ,Tom

Tom's thinking about Anacortes, which Bobmrg already mentioned.

Ok - a bit hazy here. I think you have to get to Anacortes - and from there over to Sidney - which is only about 15 miles from Victoria. Coming back from Sidney/Victoria - we also stopped at a B & B on Whidbey Island - and from there - that's where we took the ferry to Mukilleo I believe it was. http://www.whidbeyislandbandb.com/ http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Anacortes&state=WA

Best Bet: Study the various ferry routes and how to get from A to B to C, etc.

you can take the Black Ball ferry from Pt Angeles, or a ferry from Anacortes or drive up to Tswassan ( not correct spelling but too lazy to look up) in British Columbia- I always take the latter as the times are more frequent and in my opinion, more scenic.

Thanks, y'all. Will study these options. I would love to go to Victoria, however if anybody these options cost as much as the Clipper or float plane, we'll have to pass this go-round. If I read right, they were both about $132 each way per person? Hoping the other routes/ferries cost less. Also, we may only do a one day rental in order to visit Olympia...

You can take the Coho ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria. We have done that and it was enjoyable.

Do you mean Olympia or the Olympic Mountains?

mms - Olympia, to tour the Capitol building. It's one of our travel goals, yo visit each one. Olympia will be our 19th...