San Fran to Seattle
 

Hello friends,
I am flying in to San Francisco on June 30, 2018 (looks like PM), renting a car, and driving to Seattle where we will drop the car. I have to be in Seattle by the evening of July 6th for a cruise that departs on the 7th. I've never been to this part of the country before. I know this timeline isn't ideal for seeing everything, but I will be taking grad school classes and coaching right up until the time we leave. I am unable to extend the trip on the back end. I wanted to get some input on maximizing our efficiency and seeing the highlights.

I plan to spend July 1st in SF, so basically I have July 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th (as long as I get to Seattle at some point during the day) to plan. I want to drive up HWY 1 and then 101 for most of it.

As currently constructed, I have looked at Ft Bragg/Crescent City/Portland (2 nights) as the three primary stops along the way. I wouldn't mind spending most of July 6th in Seattle, especially in the event that the Mariners are at home. I am open to suggestions to change my itinerary, which is why I'm asking for your expertise!

Cost is a factor to consider. I'm not super cheap, but would generally rely on hotels between $50-$150 per night when possible. I have Hyatt/IHG points I can use along the way as well.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

I am also open to dropping the car in Portland and taking the Amtrak to Seattle

You will be driving most of the time, but you can see the Redwood forest in Northern California, Crater Lake, the Oregon coast,

>> I know this timeline isn't ideal for seeing everything,<<

It really isn't ideal for seeing much really :(

You can certain;y visit the redwoods and see some of the Oregon Coast and Portland. But it will be a long haul and you only have about 4.5 days all in. Maybe stretching that by a few hours.

Some other issues -- if you want to stick to a budget, the one-way rental drop off will probably be VERY expensive. $50-$150 is low on the coast. You should not have much problem finding things at the top end of that but there will be nothing near $50. You are traveling over the 4th of July when many places charge their highest rates of the year. PLus many places will likely require 2 or more nights booking over the holiday.

So SF to the Redwoods on the 2nd - but that is a long drive (5 - 6 hours w/o a stop sticking to 101 and a couple hours longer if you take Hwy 1) so you won't see much that day and will need the next day to explore some. So either another night or leave in the late afternoon for someplace like Bandon for night of the 3rd. Farther up the OR coast night of the 4th (but you run into it being the holiday). Portland night of the 5h. Seattle. PHEW!

No time at ALL for Crater Lake - that is a huge detour.

Somehow I missed this entire paragraph >>As currently constructed, I have looked at Ft Bragg/Crescent City/Portland (2 nights) as the three primary stops along the way. I wouldn't mind spending most of July 6th in Seattle, especially in the event that the Mariners are at home. . . .<<

Ft Bragg all the way up Hwy 1 is a 5+ hour drive without a stop so w/ all the photos Ops, Fort Ross, various state parks/beaches en route you are talking an all day drive. That is without exploring Mendocino or anything else.

I personally would not stay in Crescent city but for argument's sake . . . Ft Bragg to Crescent City is another 5 hour drive IF you don't do the Avenue of the Giants. W/ it (very highly recommended) add another 1.5 - 2 hours.

Crescent City to Portland via I-5 is another 6 hour drive w/o any stops. If you include any of the OR coast you are talking ALL DAY long.

Thanks for the feedback. I know I haven't left myself a lot of time but driving doesn't bother me. I wont get as much time to explore but driving through is appealing to me.

It looks like a one way rental is going to be around $650 for the week which is steep but I can swing it. You're right on the cost of hotels--I found a few places listed on the low end but I can make it work. Any specific recommendations for night of the 2nd or 4th as far as specific places to try and get to? Cities that would be possible targets to stay the night?

Is there an alternative worthwhile trip if I fly into Seattle, rent a car, and work my way back to Seattle? Some sort of a loop?

I don't see why you'd turn in the car and take the train. That will just take even MORE time out of your already crammed schedule.


To your new question, sure there are a few different loops from Seattle... north, east, or west!

>>Is there an alternative worthwhile trip if I fly into Seattle, rent a car, and work my way back to Seattle? Some sort of a loop?<<

ABSOLUTELY! I am dashing out so can't post a lot right now, but suze, Gardlyloo, kathie and several other Fodorites are in the Seattle area and can give you some wonderful ideas. I'd much rather do that than a mad dash up the coast too rushed to see the best bits.

Yes, I was going to suggest seeing SF, then flying up to Seattle to explore that area before your cruise.

Loving this site already! Y'all are awesome.

Ok Seattle folks: say a July 1-6 loop starting and ending in SEA. Got some ideas on best use of time to see some of the Pacific NW? Cover some ground and see new places but at a less breakneck pace.

Having done the Seattle - SF drive in both directions literally more times than I can remember, I'll throw in my few cents.

First, six days is ample time to drive via the coast. Using US 101 to the central Oregon coast requires roughly 12 hours wheels turning; call it 16 if you go via CA 1. From the central coast to Portland is roughly three hours, and from Portland to Seattle call it four counting some traffic slowdowns. So altogether you're looking at something in the neighborhood of 22-24 hours wheels turning.

Here's the route I'd recommend - https://goo.gl/maps/uNVgXRfj9VD2

You start with a drive through the redwoods, particularly the Avenue of the Giants, with an overnight somewhere in the Eureka area. You can stay in Victorian Ferndale, in Eureka itself, in Arcata, a college town just north of Eureka, or in the tiny waterfront village of Trinidad.

Continue the next day through more redwoods followed by the stunning southern Oregon coast. The first 60 or 70 miles after the state line is the most scenic part of the whole coast. Stay in Bandon, the nicest town on the south coast.

The next day, drive along OR 38 through a beautiful little canyon along the lower Umpqua River (look for elk just east of Reedsport at the reserve) and join I-5 near Cottage Grove. Rocket through the Willamette Valley and spend the night at McMenamins Edgefield, a remarkable hotel complex built from the remains of the Multnomah County Poor Farm. The complex has numerous bars, onsite brewery, distillery and winery, gardens, movie theater, spa... great fun. https://www.mcmenamins.com/edgefield

The next day (this is now day 4) head south and up to Timberline Lodge on the side of Mount Hood, then drive down through vineyards and orchards in the Hood River Valley to Hood River. Finish the day by driving along the Historic Columbia Gorge Highway back to Portland. You can stay at the Edgefield again, or at one of the hotels near the airport, or downtown.

The final day, either drop the car in Portland and take the train to Seattle, or else drive (around 3 1/2 hours) and drop the car at the Seattle airport or in downtown Seattle. The train ride is inexpensive and quite pleasant, even scenic in bits, and you'd probably save money on the car rental. On the other hand, taking the train to Seattle pretty much condemns you to staying in a hotel downtown, and in cruise season Seattle hotel prices will make your eyes water - London or New York prices. If you kept the car you could stay someplace out of the downtown area and save a lot of money. I'd just do the numbers before deciding.

I'm showing skipping the CA 1 coast, mainly out of the interests of time, but also because between the Oregon coast and the scenery you'll experience in SE Alaska on your cruise, you'll have LOTS of beautiful coastal scenery; the loop through the Mt. Hood/Hood River/Gorge area is going to offer a lot more variety in this trip.

Now if you choose to go with the loop idea, then you'd have to sacrifice the redwoods (which I think would be a shame) however you could substitute a loop around the Olympic Peninsula which is also worth its weight in gold, followed by a visit to Mt. Rainier (which will still have snow on the ground at elevation) something like this: https://goo.gl/maps/LJQs9HMNba32 . You'd see alpine scenery at Hurricane Ridge, maybe the lavender fields in bloom around Sequim ("skwim") and the incredible Hoh Valley rain forest. Visit one or more of the amazing beaches along the Olympic National Park coastal strip, then head south and east across to Mt. Rainier. See the mountain from Paradise, drive the incomparable Stevens Canyon Road to the Grove of the Patriarchs (giant trees) then back to town.

This is also a terrific trip. The car rental will cost less as it's a round-trip itinerary (no massive one-way surcharges) and there's less driving.

Whatever route you choose, booking accommodation early is essential as it's quite limited around the national parks and fills up early. This goes for both itineraries, especially along the Oregon coast.

Gardyloo: >>First, six days is ample time to drive via the coast.<<

BUT they don't <i>have</i> 6 days. They want to spend the 30th and 1st in SF and hopefully see a Mariners game. Even without the game they have just 4.5 days.

<i>BUT they don't have 6 days. They want to spend the 30th and 1st in SF and hopefully see a Mariners game. Even without the game they have just 4.5 days.</i>

Right. Here are the overnight locations per my plan -

30-Jun SF
1-Jul SF
2-Jul Eureka area
3-Jul Bandon
4-Jul Troutdale
5-Jul Portland
6-Jul Seattle
7-Jul Cruise

I was also going to mention that $50 - $150 per night is low for the cities, and also want to mention that the baseball schedule for 2018 won't be released for some time. The OP might have a better shot of seeing baseball in the SF Bay Area, as the SF Giants and the Oakland As tend to coordinate their schedules so that one team is at home while the other's on the road.

I think that lodging budget is way low unless they can camp out, rent a yurt, perhaps somewhere along the line? Even $150 is going to be near impossible in the cities like SF, Portland, or Seattle.

So I have the itinerary almost complete! Would love some help planning some necessary stops along the way

June 30: fly from Greensboro to Seattle; arrive 2:45 PM; drive to Corvallis and stay along the river (used IHG points)

July 1: drive to Crater Lake for the day; we are staying in Klamath that night in a cheap place 35 min out

July 2: drive down through and explore Avenue of the Giants; stay in Humboldt County

July 3: early morning departure for Bandon where we have a hotel booked on the coast at the Windermere

July 4: depart for Troutdale and spend the night at the Edgefield Hotel

July 5: depart for Portland and stay in the Hyatt House downtown (used Hyatt points)

July 6: stay in Portland most of the day and spend the night in Seattle

July 7: depart for cruise

July 14: AM arrival back to Seattle, stay the night there

July 15: back to NC

Seatac to Corvallis after flying across the country? Man, that's one <i>really</i> long day, and a dead boring one at that.

Can you clarify where you're staying after Crater Lake? Fort Klamath, Klamath Agency or Klamath Falls OR, or (I certainly hope not) Klamath CA?

Have you looked into flying into Portland and out of Seattle, renting the car in Portland and taking the train to Seattle? This would save a lot of (boring) road miles and maybe even some money.

I'm not in love with this itinerary but it's your trip.

>>July 1: drive to Crater Lake for the day; we are staying in Klamath that night in a cheap place 35 min out<<

You do realize that at least part of the rim drive will almost certainly be closed? The west rim usually opens by mid-ish June, but the east rim is seldom open before the middle of July.

And yes, you are staying in Klamath 'which' ????

>>I'm not in love with this itinerary . . . << Gardyloo isn't in love with it. Me on the other hand would hate it. :(

My family lives in Corvallis, I live in Seattle. We drive it often.

Lately it's a 7 hour drive at best. We used to be able to make it in 5-6 hours typically, but more recently there's always been something that slowed down the drive.

Doing that after a cross-country flights makes zero sense to me!!

The to Crater Lake - another 3+ hour drive. And Crater Lake to Klamath is 4+ hours more.

So basically you plan to drive at least 14 hours in the first 2 days of your itinerary?

This is why I booked everything as pay later. Easily cancelled as needed. As quickly as things were filling up I wanted to at least get some reservations taken care of.

Klamath Falls, OR is the July 1st spot. Help me understand the rim drive part and get a better option if needed.

When I looked earlier at a map to Corvallis from Seattle it did not give it that long of a drive time, but now that I'm looking at it traffic adjusted having gotten your feedback that isn't a great choice.

Obviously I need to tweak the front part of the trip. I did front load the driving part of the trip to the front in order to take our time a little more in Bandon and Troutdale. I'm going to check on the flight out of Portland and will report back.

I am telling you actual drive time between Corvallis and Seattle as of 1 week ago When my sister visited :-)

Both directions (north on Friday and south on Monday) took her over 7 hours, sticking to the freeway, not making a bunch of stops, and she is not a pokey driver!

Haha I meant to make that an agreement with you on the drive time :) I way underestimated it. I trust you and your sister completely!

Regarding Crater Lake, we have no idea what snowfall this coming winter might be like. However most years the full rim road around the lake is not open until sometime in July, and it's also very possible that the lake will be nearly invisible because of clouds and fog. It might be great or it might not, but you're taking a big gamble and spending a lot of hours on the road for an outcome that might be unsatisfactory.

This is in the context of there being so many other things you could do with the same amount of hours. Given your limited time, I for one would be looking at alternatives for those nights.

i know i know -haha- we're both just mad because we used to be able to make it a LOT more quickly between our two homes, and that doesn't seem to happen very often any more!

"This is in the context of there being so many other things you could do with the same amount of hours. Given your limited time, I for one would be looking at alternatives for those nights."

I scrapped the Crater Lake part. You guys were really helpful in that just like you've been so far with everything.

Working on a flight to Portland w/the train...hopefully that will be an option.

I will have all day upon returning on July 14th to explore Seattle some if I don't get to do so on July 6th--we get back to port at 7AM and will not fly out until the following day.

I am really looking forward to the Avenue of the Giants and want to keep that if at all possible despite the logistical problems that arise. That means that we would be going through the Avenue on the 2nd almost assuredly and stay north of there closer to Bandon. I know it will be a lot of driving, but honestly I grew up going on long car road trips and car time doesn't bother my wife and I.

What are some good locations to check on to fill in these gaps for the nights of the 30th, 1st, and 2nd from Seattle knowing that I would like to be back to Bandon by early afternoon of July 3rd?

Same question and dates if I can get a flight to Portland?

Here's what I'd try to arrange.

Fly into Portland. There's an early morning departure (AA) that gets you to PDX in the early afternoon. Get a car and hit the road south to Grants Pass. This is around 5-6 hours and given your east coast internal clock, is about as far as you want to get that night.

The next day, drive down US 199 to Crescent City, stopping en route at the Jedediah Smith redwoods right before the junction with US 101. Continue down US 101 to the Eureka area for the night. Look at Trinidad or Ferndale.

On Monday drive down to the Avenue of the Giants; consider taking the "Lost Coast Loop" - http://redwoods.info/showrecord.asp?id=3870 - for a glimpse of the last remaining coastal wilderness area in California. Back to Eureka for the night.

On Tuesday drive up to Bandon, stopping at various redwood groves or Oregon state parks and beaches.

On Wednesday return to the Portland area using SR 38 from Reedsport over to I-5 (it's the fastest and most scenic corridor from the coast) and back up to Portland.

Spend Thursday driving around the Columbia Gorge and Hood River Valley, including a drive up to Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood.

On Friday drop the car and take one of several trains up to Seattle. Info, schedules and fares - http://www.amtrakcascades.com/

Summary (overnight points listed)

Sat 6/30/2018 Arr. PDX, overnight Grants Pass
Sun 7/1/2018 Eureka
Mon 7/2/2018 Eureka
Tue 7/3/2018 Bandon
Wed 7/4/2018 Troutdale
Thu 7/5/2018 Troutdale
Fri 7/6/2018 Seattle
Sat 7/7/2018 Sail

Map - https://goo.gl/maps/MBffCDcwA6R2

You are step for step with what I was looking at. Looks like a United flight can put us in to Portland lunchtime with same cost as Seattle. I looked at Grants Pass as well with two nights in a row in either Eureka or Mckinleyville. Thought in the event of a mild winter it also left th door open for Crater Lake but I like your idea better. I can't tell you how helpful all of you are. I look forward to being an active member of the board to help people traveling through NC for the first time

>>Eureka or Mckinleyville<<

Neither one -- as Gardyloo suggests, look at <u>Ferndale</u> or </u>Trinidad</u>

Meant to underline both towns . . .

What's the benefit of those two janisj?

I was on a treadmill and missed the part clarifying not ACTUALLY Eureka. Applogies

Both Ferndale and Trinidad are attractive little towns off the main highway. Trinidad is set on a pretty cove north of Eureka, while Ferndale is a picturesque Victorian village south of Eureka. Many people find Eureka itself to be a little blah, but it's not terrible. Arcata, just to the north of Eureka, is a college town with plenty of motels located near US 101.

If you want cheap and a place to sleep -- then Arcata maybe. But Ferndale or Trinidad are much nicer places to stay.

Ended up going with the itinerary suggested by Gardyloo. I ended up with a room for the 1st and 2nd in Arcata. We really just need a place to lay our heads. Thanks for all of your help!

One last question: It seems Portland is easy to get around via public transportation. We should drop our car on the 5th upon arrival in Portland and rely on that to get around the city right?

The east end of the TriMet red line light rail is right outside baggage claim at PDX. You can't beat $5/day for access to light rail, bus and a streetcar.