Help with 7 day Seattle and National Park itinerary for family with 2 year old.
 

Hello,

My wife, 2 year old daughter, and I will be heading to Seattle in early September. We are interested in seeing the city of Seattle as well as Rainier National Park. I feel like 7 days is too much time for just those 2 places alone, but not enough time add in a third destination (either Olympic National Park, North Cascades, or San Juan Islands).

Here is my current itinerary:

• Day 1: Land at noon and head to Seattle.
• Day 2: Drive to Rainier
• Day 3: Spend a full day in Rainier
• Day 4: Drive to Lake Quinault
• Day 5: Drive to Port Angeles
• Day 6: Drive to Seattle
• Day 7: Fly home at noon

I am worried this itinerary does not give us enough time to explore the city of Seattle. I also worry there is too much driving, and not enough time actually enjoying where we are at. Perhaps we would be better off eliminating the third destination all together and just take some easy day trips from Seattle? Any recommendations for that? And finally, out of the 3 what do you choose: ONP, North Cascades, or San Juan Islands?

Thanks!!

I love the North Cascades best of all but it's even further away from Seattle!! So definitely doesn't fit your timeframe.

San Juans are tricky because of course you need a ferry to get to them so time consuming.

You are correct in the way you are looking at your proposed plan... There IS a lot of driving. There's isn't enough time in ONP. And you don't have any time in Seattle :-)

I mean you can do it, it is possible.

Easy day trips from Seattle... Whidbey Island, Snoqualmie Falls, Bainbridge Island.

Thanks for the reply suze. I am going to look into the day trip ideas you recommended, and maybe consider cutting out ONP.

Welcome to Fodor's!

I'd suggest making Mt. Rainier just a day trip, and NOT on a weekend day. It's around 2 1/2 hours from Seattle, so a long day with a toddler, but any overnight options would be expensive and you'd probably have a hard time finding any place decent at this point. Even on weekdays there are going to be a LOT of people at the visitor centers.

If you don't know by now, hotel prices in Seattle during the Alaska cruise season (roughly until Sept. 15) are nuts. You might think about staying someplace out of the city for a night or two (or more.) Even if you have to commute in and park, you'll probably end up saving money compared to staying in the city.

Suze mentioned Whidbey Island as a possible out-of-town destination. I'd heartily endorse that. Look at this route and google the places on the map. https://goo.gl/maps/xM2fknmzJJSzdy77A This would give you something of a mini tour of the Puget Sound country, including cute waterfront towns, beautiful scenery, beaches for toddler paddling, farmers markets... it's a terrific two-day (or longer) loop trip.

Thanks for the input Gardyloo

I really appreciate the Whidbey Island day trip itinerary you sent me. I will strongly consider working this into the trip. As far as areas to stay outside of the city, do you have any recommendations?

If I were only to do one national park, which should I choose for a 3-4 day trip? Olympic loop or North Cascades loop? I may skip Rainier altogether, or make it a day trip if I have time and feel ambitious on one of my Seattle days.

Thanks,

Jeff

Olympic loop or North Cascades loop

They are completely different kinds of scenery. I suggest looking at a guidebook or even just photos online to decide which is of more interest to you. Rain forest peninsula or high mountains.

I love North Cascades direction most and a 4 day trip would be enough time. Weather should be beautiful that time of year. The Methow River valley, Mazama, Winthrop, that general area is where I've spent time. The drive over from Seattle has dramatic scenery. I would drop both Rainier (hope you see it from Seattle on a clear day!) and ONP in favor of this option. Personal opinion only :-)

If Rainier is a priority then you might consider driving there straight from the airport (depending on when you land) because it is south of the city so starting from the airport would save you almost an hour. If you land at noon you could drive straight there, spend the night and then leave from Rainier to drive back to Seattle from there the next day late afternoon. Be sure to try and time your driving to be off the roads during rush house-Seattle traffic is rough, so if you left Rainier around 3PM you would miss the worst of it I think. Then I would base somewhere in or near Seattle and decide on day trips from there. I think with only 7 days total including the travel days-you really only have about 5 days, so being able to go to Rainier and then explore 1-2 of the island destinations would be pretty full already.

In terms of where to base in Seattle, the prices get better once you are out of the "core downtown" area. Are you thinking about a motel or hotel or more of a vacation home airbnb type rental? Where I would suggest might depend on what kind of place you are thinking about.

Thank you suze and jpie . I think my new plan will be to bookend my trip in Seattle, and spend the 4 days in the middle doing the North Cascades Loop. I am hoping I can find a good pre made itinerary for the loop drive that I can customize a little, because starting from scratch is a little daunting with how much there is to do and see.

As far as places to stay in Seattle, usually we go the airbnb route.

If you decide on Rainier, there are lots of cabins in the Ashford area. The one we usually go to still has lots of availability in September, and it is called Almost Paradise lodging. She is a wonderful host and has cabin scattered around her property. Very close to the park entrance.

The Cascade Loop is a beautiful drive. Have you seen the website for it? www.cascadeloop.com and that will help with figuring out what all you want to see etc. We do a lot of hiking and backpacking in the North Cascades and September is a beautiful time as the larches are turning. We live along this loop, so if you have any questions, just ask.

With a 2 year old, I would look for an airbnb near Woodland Park Zoo-the Phinney Ridge area or Greenlake since both will have great parks and play areas nearby. But there are many great neighborhoods that surround the downtown business/tourist core area-particularly to the north-the nicer neighborhoods to the south get interrupted by the stadiums and the more industrial areas.

Also I don't know if you are aware that Seattle recently opened a new airport to the north of the city at Paine field PAE is the airport code. I don't know if it will work for you from wherever you are coming from but it is supposed to be a great airport and much easier to get through. Here is an article about it

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/p...ate/index.html

New airport? I flew out of PAE during private pilot training in 1962.

My daughter and I stayed at this airbnb which was very reasonable and loved it

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/plus/22...PyhwgC6yuLFrAL

jpie thank you for the neighborhood recommendations, it certainly helps narrow my search. odie1 thank you for the airbnb referral, it looks amazing, but it is booked up during our dates unfortunately.

I am still flip flopping between spending 3-4 days doing either the ONP loop, or the NC loop. I feel like ONP will be less daunting to plan since there are plenty of pre made itineraries already out there. NC loop definitely seems a little more like a DIY road trip and less like visiting a national park. One nice thing about the NC loop is that I will get to see the Whidbey Islands, which has definitely piqued my interest after suze and Gardyloo recommended it to me. I think I will trim down my time at Rainier to 1 day instead of 2.

I don't think it would be that hard to put together a NC loop. The main problem there is just figuring out how to limit it a bit and also remember that ferry lines can be daunting in the summer if you are bringing a vehicle over. But if you decide to do that you can take the ferry over from Mukilteo to Clinton on Whidbey Island then drive north touring and take the bridge at Anacortes back to the mainland to go over the north Cascades area-so you will only need 1 ferry trip. That will save time and money. The main thing there is that it is better to avoid weekends for ferry rides during the summer, or plan your trip on a ferry where you can make a reservation if you have to make it a weekend day. Not all routes take reservations. Here is a link to that info:

https://secureapps.wsdot.wa.gov/Ferr...e/default.aspx

Also, just as an aside it is "Whidbey Island" singular, not "Whidbey Islands"-not to criticize, just wanted to clarify. Also the north Cascade highway is beautiful with spectacular scenery-although you may not really want to do the "whole loop" But the Stehekin area is really amazing. Here is a website with some of the info about the loop drive:

https://www.cascadeloop.com/destinations

Whidbey Island is not part of the San Juans (Whidbey & Camano are south of the San Juan Islands, north of Seattle).

Yup you are right-not San Juans. I meant to just correct singular/plural but got carried away and took a wrong swerve :) Luckily I was still able to edit!

Somehow, I think I've made my itinerary even more ambitious, but here it is. I would definitely appreciate your input.
.
Day 1: Land at 11:30am and head to Seattle.

• Check out MoPOP and Pikes Place.

Day 2: Drive to Rainier.

• Stay in Ashford/ Paradise area overnight.

Day 3: Drive to Lake Quinault.

• Hike the Lake Quinault Rainforest Loop

• Stop at Ruby Beach, Hoh Rainforest, Forks?, Lake Crescent

• Visit Hurricane Ridge first.
• Spend the night in Coupeville.

• Stop at Deception Pass.
• Visit the Space Needle.

First, a minor thing. There's no "s" in the Pike Place market. Pike Place is a street, an extension of Pike Street. (Pike Street was named after John PIke, the architect for the original territorial university; its site now occupied by the Olympic Hotel.)

I also think it's doable albeit potentially exhausting. Do you have accommodation booked at any/all of these places? If not, it's job one.

I know this borders on insanity, but I started to draft an alternate idea, then the interwebs ate it, but hey, I can be ridiculous if I want.

My concern with the Olympic NP plan is that it's a LOT of very boring driving. The scenic highlights - the rain forests, beaches, Hurricane Ridge etc. - are terrific, but the drives between them are really - that's really - meh. And with a 2-year old (who we do not know, so this might be no biggie) there's just not a lot of places to stop around the edge of the national park. Again, possibly not a big deal, but... well, anyway, here's a different plan, just to muddy the waters.

Here's a map - https://goo.gl/maps/wLsb8BCRNozvCEqVA

What's involved: This would take you to Mount Rainier, then instead of heading out to the coast, you'd continue over the Cascades and down to the Columbia River. You could visit the Grove of the Patriarchs just off the (incredible) Stevens Canyon Road, then over White Pass and down to the Yakima Valley. You'd then head south through the Yakama reservation and great "old west" scenery to the big river. Stop at the weird copy of Stonehenge on the clifftops overlooking the river, and stop at the very cool Maryhill Museum - a reasonably kid-friendly place with a surprising selection of exhibits (Rodin in the sagebrush) and a very nice little cafe.

Continue west along the river to Hood River, Oregon. Hood River is a very nice little town, a big center for water sports (kite boarding, windsurfing etc.) on the Columbia, but also full of craft breweries, wineries, and galleries. Spend a couple of nights in Hood River; during the days you can drive the Hood River "fruit loop" past U-pick orchards, wineries, fruit stands - https://hoodriverfruitloop.com/ - or drive up to Timberline Lodge on the side of Mount Hood. There are lakes and forest trails in the national forest around Mount Hood, beaches along the Columbia or Hood Rivers for paddling... and everything will be in harvest mode in September - apple and pear orchards, etc. It's a stunningly beautiful area.

Continue west along the Columbia past Cascade Locks and the Bridge of the Gods, and visit the Bonneville fish hatchery near the iconic Bonneville Dam. Your daughter will love meeting Herman the Sturgeon (a huge and ancient fish viewed through underwater windows) and for 25c for a bag of food, she can feed the baby trout in the fish pens. The hatchery has been a major kid-pleasing site for decades; I remember going there as a kid myself, although we had to battle mastodons along the way. ;)

Then you're in waterfall country. Visit Multnomah Falls, then take the gorgeous "Historic Columbia River Highway," (old US 30) past more waterfalls, such as Latourell. Enjoy the vistas of the Gorge from Vista House and the nearby Portland Women's Forum viewpoint. Maybe visit Portland for a night. Then it's back to Seattle.

Like I say, quite a departure from your present thinking, but in my view it might be a lot more kid-friendly, with lots of variety in a pretty compact area. Just a thought, anyway.

Possible timetable -

Days 1 and 2 - as planned
Day 3 - Ashford to Hood River via Stevens Canyon Road, Grove of the Patriarchs, Maryhill Stonehenge and Museum. Overnight Hood River
Day 4 - Hood River Valley fruit loop, Timberline Lodge, possibly Lost Lake.
Day 5 - Hood River to Portland via hatchery, waterfalls, view points.
Day 6 - Portland to Seattle
Day 7 - As planned.

Reflection Lakes, Stevens Canyon Road

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...d23ab09c54.jpg

Grove of the Patriarchs

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...af8e3c94c5.jpg

Maryhill Stonehenge

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...2f4bc240de.jpg

Mount Hood from Hood River Valley

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...b757d11c7e.jpg

Latourell Falls

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...74967815ec.jpg

Wow! Gardyloo thank you so much for the alternate itinerary and ideas. It sure looks amazing. I am going to look more into this. Last night my wife and I watched some YouTube videos of ONP and North Cascades, and made the decision that North Cascades is probably more to our liking. So, I spent all day coming up with a North Cascades itinerary (little did I know Gardyloo had already given me a lot to think about). Curious to get everyones thoughts on this North Cascades Loop itinerary.

Seattle > Everett > Leavenworth (2.5hrs)

• Get on highway 2
• Monroe – fishing, rafting
• Sultan Bakery
• Wallace Falls State Park (Upper Wallace Falls Hike 4.4m)
• Index – Expresso Chalet, Bridal View Falls, Wood Sasquatch Statue
• Stevens Pass
• Tumwater Canyon
• Leavenworth – München Haus Beer Garden, Waterfront Park, Lake Wenatchee State Park

Leavenworth > Winthrop or Mazama (2.5 – 3hrs)

• Cashmere – Liberty Orchards
• Wenatchee – Pybus Public Market, Columbia River
• Get on Highway 97
• Chelan – Lake Chelan (could detour to Manson ~30mins)
• Twisp – Art, Blue Star Coffee, Twispworks
• Winthrop – Spring Creek Bridge
• Methow Valley
• Get on Highway 20 aka North Cascades Highway

Winthrop > North Cascades Area (1h)

• Heather Maple Pass Hike (6.5m)
• Washington Pass Overlook
• North Cascades National Park – Ross Lake Overlook, Diablo Lake Overlook

North Cascades> Coupeville (2hrs)

• Marblemount – Wildwood Chapel
• Rockport – Cascadian Farm, Skagit River Park

Are you planning to fish and raft in Monroe? If not, there really isn't any reason to stop there. It is just a town on the way to the mountains.

Sultan Bakery is ok, but I wouldn't go out of my way for it. It is popular because there are so few places along here for a meal after hiking/backpacking/skiing so it works for that, but that is the only time we stop there.

Wallace Falls is a beautiful hike, and the espresso place is good and the Sasquatch statue is fun. Most people just park there and snap a few pics and move on without realizing that behind the espresso stand is a field with picnic tables that you can go relax at and let the little one run.

Skykomish is a tiny town and has a cute little railroad that kids can ride and is always a hit.

Out on Icicle Creek Road in Leavenworth, the Icicle Gorge trail is very good for families. It is only 4 miles and very easy, and there are a couple spots you can stop and cool off in the water. There are a few spots that are super shallow so very safe, and other areas that I would not recommend for a 2 yr old. It is obvious, so no worries.

A fun place in downtown Leavenworth is the Gingerbread Factory. They make miniature gingerbread cookies that are always a hit with little ones.

Blackbird Island/Waterfront Park is really interesting and a great area to walk. Do be careful as there are bears etc there. People are unpriced by that since it is right in town and lots of people there, but especially in the evening/early mornings the wildlife is out so keep an eye out.

The Applets and Cotlets place in Cashmere is fun, but make sure they are open the day you plan on going. I think it is Sundays that they are closed.

mms thank you for the wonderful suggestions. I will definately be removing some things from my to do list, but you have given me some great sounding options to replace them with.