Just booked flight to Seattle; need help with itinerary
 

My husband and I will be flying into Seatlle on October 16 and flying back (JFK) on Oct 25. Just starting to plan itinerary. Heres some things we would like to do: explore Seattle, the Oregon Coast, Crater Lake, maybe the Redwoods. We love the outdoors, biking, waterfalls, fishing, nature. We also have heard there's a great wine area in Oregon. Don't want to kill ourselves to do everything but have never been to the northwest. Thanks to the help of this forum we took a trip to southern cal from san diego to santa barbara and had a fantastic time thanks so much to all of your input, so looking forward to your help again.

Well, with nine days (or is it really eight after allowing for airplane arrivals and departures?) you probably need to pare down your list a little.

Crater Lake and the Redwoods are both two days' drive (okay or one killer) from Seattle, and in the second half of October you won't have daylight or possibly dry weather working in your favor. Plus, depending on the year, late October can be getting close to snow season at high elevations like Crater Lake. I'd recommend confining yourselves to Washington and Oregon, and mainly northern Oregon at that.

The weather on the west side of the Cascades can definitely be getting wet by then, so I'd suggest you plan to include some time on the east side (the mountains block much of the moisture) as well as the west. In addition to the vineyard areas of Oregon (mainly in the Yamhill County area a little south of Portland) there are also some excellent wine-producing areas in east/central Washington (around the Yakima Valley) and some in the Columbia River basin and near the Columbia Gorge. The Yakima areas would be drier than Seattle/Portland - might be worth investigating.

You could visit a couple of National Parks - Olympic NP and Mt. Rainier NP come to mind, as well as the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area and the Mt. Hood region (Mt. Hood itself, Hood River Valley). The autumn color will be mostly gone at higher elevations but ought to be great in the lowlands, including Seattle and Portland themselves.

On the Washington and Oregon coasts, the weather will be a factor, with a good chance of wet conditions, or maybe windy and wet. If you're okay with that, great - the coast can be very dramatic if it's windy/stormy. If you don't like the wet, then you might limit yourselves to a day on the coast, possibly as a side trip from Portland, or maybe do a loop - Portland to the coast, then back via the vineyard areas, or v.v.

There are numerous threads on what to see and what to do around the Pacific NW, as well as good coverage in Fodors' own guides (our dear hosts.) Have a look and come back for more.

Crater Lake and the Redwoods would be a stretch because of drive time. INO, go no further south than Salem, OR.
One possible loop from Seattle is across to the Yakamia/Walla Area for WA wineries. Columbia Crest, Krestel, et al. then along the Columbia River, Bonneville Dam, the Gorge, Mt. Hood and Portland. From there to McMinnville/Dundee/Newberg for some great Oregon Pinot Noir. After the wine region head for the OR coast and north to Tillamook and Astoria. BTW, good air museums at both McMinnville and Tillamook. Lots of Lewis & Clark history sites around Astoria on both side of the river.
Now stay on along the Pacific Coast of the Olympic Peninsula. Visit Aberdeen, Quinault, Forks, Port Angeles, Port Townsend and back into Seattle.
You could either do a day trip from SEA to Mt. Ranier or, include it in the loop by avoiding I-90 in favor of SR 7, 708 and US 12 along the southen edge of the park and into the Yakamia Valley.

My thought would be to stick to Seattle and North, maybe go to the San Juan Islands and Vicoria on the Clipper. in Seattle, sign up for the Underground Tour (just a couple of hours but so interesting). Plan your touring so that any travel time has maximum value with scenry and sights. If you decide to head south into Oregon, maybe don't go any further south than Portland. Columbia River Gorge is beautiful.

You're flying into Seattle, but everything you mention doing is quite a long drive to the south. My suggesion (as already made above) would be to refocus and find things in WA state. Or change the plane ticket and fly in to Portland or Eugene or somewhere closer to your other interests.

I can't believe how much great information you guys have. Thanks I just bought the fodor travel guide and started to realize that my initial itinerary. I need to refocus and am considering one of two options of heading more east to the parks and maybe a little north. We will be arriving in Seattle about 1 pm so will probably stay in that area that day and head out the next day. Sounds like the coast will be pretty wet but we still want to take a look at it. What kind of weather would be at San Juan island. Love the idea of the wine county. mY husband likes to fish (so do I) think in we would be able to maybe salmon fish anywhere that time of year. I am reading as much as I can to help me come up with more questions. Can't thank all of you enough for so much great info. Ill be back soon with more questions as I narrow down our agenda. Thanx again.

You asked "What kind of weather would be at San Juan island" in mid October. Well it will probably be in the 60's and it may be overcast and it may have some drizzle. Or it may be sunny and it can be on the same day. The weather here can change a lot within any given day (and sometimes several times a day). It's more often overcast or foggy in the morning than in the afternoon. Do note that the SJ islands are in a rainshadow area and get less rain than Seattle and many other areas of Western Washington. You can get much travel info for the Islands at http://www.visitsanjuans.com/index.cfm and you can see the Ferry schedule at http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries/Sche...6&route=ana-sj