We have airline tickets to use up and have never been to the NW. We thought we would fly in and out of Seattle and spend a week in the area. I've just recently started reading up on this area in these forums and need to make some decisions by tomorrow evening as to when and for how long as we just realized the vouchers will expire in 48 hrs.

We are thinking September as we will be newly empty nesters!

We enjoy great scenery, quaint towns the coastlines. We may like to try and take in a MLB game in Seattle the night before we leave. If we only have a week is it best to arrive mid week to mid week? Are there more things to do on the weekends that we might miss if we are flying on those days?

Does anyone care to comment on a list of must see things to do in the area that can be done in a week. We don't mind driving but don't want to spend the majority of the time in the car? I've quickly glanced at the San Juan Islands and they seen intriguing.

I look forward to any suggestions and meanwhile will go back to the forum for more research. The airline tickets are the priority at this time. When and what days should we book.

Thanks!!!

I would fly whenever is most convenient for you and offers good flight times and connections (if you aren't flying nonstop). I don't think weekend or mid-week arrival would make that much difference in the things to see and do here.

September is usually beautiful weather, so that's good timing.

For the San Juans you'd probably want to give them at least 3 days, because it takes a bit of time & effort to get there. With only 1 week I might suggest Whidbey Island instead (which is closer and easier to reach from Seattle)?

To get to the actual coast (beach/Pacific) that's about a 3 hour drive from Seattle. I like Ocean Shores, Graylands, Long Beach and that area myself.

Port Townsend might fit a number of things you're looking for.

Suze (in Seattle)

The only caveat on which days to arrive/depart is that the airport and in-town accommodations can be quite busy from Thurs-Sun due to cruise passengers coming and going. (Weekend departures/arrivals to Alaska are the norm.) This will be less of a problem after Sept. 10 or so, when the Alaska cruise season starts shutting down. Note too that Labor Day weekend is when a giant music/arts festival occurs at Seattle Center, so things in town are pretty packed. www.bumbershoot.org.

With a week you can do a day trip to Mt. Rainier National Park and (probably best with one or two overnights) a visit to the Olympic National Park and Olympic peninsula, for some excellent coastal scenery and interesting towns, take a day to visit Whidbey Island for more great scenery and cute towns, and of course spend plenty of time in our fair city.

The San Juans are lovely, but can be a bit of a time suck in terms of going and coming. I frankly think you could make better use of your time elsewhere, but others may disagree.

One other thought to consider would be arranging your flights as an open-jaw, flying into Seattle and out of Portland, or v.v. That way you could start (or end) with a drive through the Columbia Gorge, maybe stop at Mt. St. Helens en route to Seattle, and get the benefit of the great variety of landscapes offered by this part of the world.

Where are you coming from? Makes a difference in terms of arrival/departure times; e.g. Seattle/Portland to the east coast consumes an entire day due to time change.

Wow THANKS YOU for your quick responses, this is great information. We are indeed coming from the east, New York. We don't necessarily have to limit ourselves to a week, but this being such a last minute trip to use up these tickets and without ample time to throughly plan, I wasn't too sure how much time to allot. I also didn't want these "free" tickets to end up costing us too much in accomodations and such.

That being said, I like the suggestions of a day trip to Mt. Rainier National Park with one or two overnights, a visit to the Olympic National Park and Olympic peninsula, and a day to visit Whidbey Island for great scenery and cute towns and need to look into them tonight.

Would you recommend that itinerary over trying to take in the San Juan, Victoria, Vancouver area? I started investigating the Clipper vacation website for day trip ideas to Vancouver or Victoria. If this was your first time to the area would you choose the first itinerary or second that included San Juan, Victoria & Vancouver?

Once I narrow down the what to do, it may be easier to decide on the how long. With just 2 days to decide I really appreciate your recommendations.

When the reservations are made you can be sure I will be back to ask for more suggestions and recommendations. This forum has been a great resource for planning many of our trips.

They would all make for a nice 1st trip to the area. I think I'd pick your first itinerary mentioned.

Seattle, San Juans, Victoria, and Vancouver would need at least 2 weeks though, and even that's a bit tight. Because you're moving around by ferry and car each of these (except simply driving Seattle to Vancouver) has somewhat complicated logistics.

Or you can take a float plane to the San Juans. You can do Victoria as a day-trip from Seattle on the Clipper. You can train between Seattle and Vancouver. All kinds of options.

As a side note, hotels in downtown Seattle are all fairly expensive. Even the bargain basement motel type places are $100+/night.

If you're interest in B&B's there's several on Capitol Hill a pretty residential neighborhood 1-2 miles from downtown, for the part of your stay in Seattle.