I have read with interest several postings about travel around the Pacific NW (Seattle, Portland, Mt. Hood, Olympic NP, Mt. Rainier) that are mostly driving, but I'm not clear about the best spots to stop and spend some time soaking up the sights with hikes/walks. My girlfriend and I are fairly active (day hikers, rafting, etc.) and we are taking 8 days in July to check out the Northwest. Any suggestions for an itinerary that would mix things up a little (some sightseeing, a little city viewing, some hiking, canoeing/kayaking), but not too rushed? We don't have to see everything, but want to get a varied view of the area. Or perhaps recommendations of NW trip organizers that don't charge an arm and a leg. Hard to comprehend thst these "$2500, 6-day tours on a bike" are enough to really get a flavor of the area. What about Portland vs. Seattle? Don't have time to do both justice, but one now and one later. Can a Seattle visit including Olympic meet the criteria? Will it be inundated with tourists (such as myself) at that time of the year, and are there accomodation recommendations that might still have openings, or websites to check?

They are different places with different vibes. I prefer Portland to Seattle myself, but that's purely personal taste. Seattle has its own champions.
Will you trip to the NW be over July 3 and 4? If you are a nature lover, then perhaps you would like to head to the beach to see the amazing tide pools. On certain dates this summer, the NW coast will have some of the lowest tides in nearly 20 years, with some fascinating finds in the tide pools.
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We recently moved back to the Portland area from Seattle, so know both well, and we are outdoor enthusiasts. With that said...I would choose the Seattle area. You can see the city and then are so close to all the outdoor stuff...closer than in Portland. In WA there are tons of great hiking trails off the Mountain Loop Hwy that just have amazing views! The Olympics are another favorite spot...as well as Mt. Rainier. Just so much to do up there! I do like Portland, but if this were my trip based on what I know from living on both places, my choice would be the Seattle area. Either place will not be overrun with tourists...but of course the 4th of July weekend there is always more people out and about.

I would say that there are two alternatives, somewhat mutually exclusive, given your desire not to drive, drive, drive.

First I'll call Portland-Gorge-Volcanoes: Based in Portland, with outings and/or overnights so you can see, hike, whatever the areas of the Columbia Gorge - hike up canyons behind waterfalls, windsurf at Hood River (world center of same), like that. Then visit Mts. Hood, Adams, and St. Helens, all doable as day trips from Portland, all offering marvelous up-country walking. Or check out a very nice little lodge, the Flying L Ranch, http://www.mt-adams.com/ - a great base for exploring this gorgeous and IMO under-visited area of the Pacific NW - Mt. Adams itself, the wonderful (and amazingly unknown) Klickitat Canyon, Maryhill Museum, the Goldendale Observatory...

Check out www.mcmenamins.com for possible accommodations at the Edgefield - in Troutdale (OR) at the west end of the Gorge; a very fun place (former County Poor Farm converted to hotel/brewery/golf/winery/restaurant/cinema complex. Or also look at their Kennedy School complex in Portland itself - converted elemenatry school also now hotel/brewery... Otherwise Portland is excellent Priceline country. See www.biddingfortravel.com if you're PL newbies.

The second alternative I'll call the Seattle-Pacific-Olympic loop, basically looping from Seattle around the Olympic Peninsula. There are countless hikes up the rainforest valleys on the coast (Hoh, Quinault); fabulous hikes on scenic beaches, then around on the north side of the peninsula there are hot springs (think about the Sol Duc Hot Springs lodge at the NW corner of Olympic NP), beautiful Lake Crescent, Hurricane Ridge at Port Angeles - again, umpteen day hikes. Take a day ferry over to Victoria BC if you feel like it, or explore the lavender fields around Sequim ("Skwim") which will be in fill bloom in July - it ain't Provence but it ain't bad. Then back to Seattle via Port Townsend and Whidbey Island. The toughest time you'll have re accommodation is out on the Pacific coast; if you schedule that part of the trip for mid-week your chances will improve.

There will be tourists but nothing like densities found in other places - the country is so big it swallows them up. The exceptions will be at scenic attractions with limited visitor facilities - Paradise Lodge on Mt. Rainier, for example, or Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood (which you should see anyway.) Otherwise I wouldn't sweat the hotel scene. For Seattle, hotel prices downtown will be high, so think about staying at one of the places along the Lake Union shore, often obtainable cheaply through Priceline.

I think you could do either of these itineraries with 3 or 4 days in the boonies, then 3 or 4 in the big city, which ought to do you fine.

First of all, thanks so much for the info, particularly your specific recommendations, Gardyloo....Extremely helpful. I'm going to throw a wrench into the works now, though, with my significant other mentioning that she would like to see Vancouver Island/Victoria. Would it make more sense to fly into Vancouver, and do the Canadian thing, with trips radiating out from Vancouver City to Victoria and maybe Olympic NP, or to fly to Seattle and try to do a ferry to Victoria for a day or two and use Seattle as the base of operations? Does Vancouver offer the hiking/outdoors options that Seattle area does?

Actually, I would say Vancouver has even more hiking possibilities than Seattle. Grouse Mountain is right next door. Stanley Park also has great walking trails. And 90 minutes away is Whistler, which abounds in outdoor activities year round.
You will find at bookstores and nature stores throughout the Northwest wonderful guides to hiking in specific regions. For example, when we lived in Eugene, OR, we picked up a copy of 50 Old Growth Hikes in the Willamette National Forest and followed many of them. You will find similar guides for each of the national forests in the NW. The map/guides are detailed and very helpful. By the way, don't hesitate to stop into an open ranger station for info. They don't do it anymore, alas, but rangers at the Willamette National Forest used to give free tours in their pickup trucks. When I was working on a story about the poaching of yew tree bark (in the early 1990s), I spent an entire day in the forest with a ranger showing me so many things I didn't know about the forest ecosystem. The rank and file national forest personnel are very dedicated to "their" forests and very helpful to visitors.

Of course it does, some even better.

Day trips from Vancouver city to Victoria are pretty time consuming unless you fly on the (frequent and reasonable IMO) float plane services from Canada Place in downtown Vancouver to the Inner Harbour in Victoria. See www.harbour-air.com. Otherwise you have to drive to an out-of-town ferry port, wait for the boat, spend a couple of hours crossing, then drive into Victoria; it seldom takes less than 4+ hours each way. There are buses, but personally I find them really annoying.

If you base in Vancouver, you could do day trips to some pretty wonderful places that are too far to visit from Seattle - the beautiful "Sea to Sky Highway" to Whistler; the "Sunshine Coast" north of Vancouver on the mainland, other fab places. Note that driving back and forth over the border in the summer, though, is a serious pain, with long delays always possible.

But to include Vancouver/Victoria with any of the other destinations, such as the Olympic Peninsula, Cascade loop, Columbia, etc., runs the risk of spoiling your "less driving" aim - things aren't that close together.

Hmmmm. So doing a Victoria/Vancouver Island day trip from Port Angeles is less time consuming than a day trip from Vancouver, unless you take the sea plane? Makes Seattle look like a better choice for starting the trip. Any recommendations/thoughts/comments re cruise via Bellingham (http://www.whales.com/daycruise.html) through the San Juan Islands to Victoria, returning the next day? 4 hours long, plus the drive up from Seattle. Fun? Boring? Are the accomodations on Victoria unreasonably expensive? I found a place in Seattle on Lake Union...Silver Cloud Inn. Decent? Others? I have not dealt with priceline before and am a little cautious/perhaps too anal to take a chance. I appreciate all the help in getting this trip together.

PA to Victoria is the quickest crossing from the US to the island, plus it has the advantage of landing right opposite the Empress Hotel (and others walkable) in the middle of Victoria, rather than out of town. Getting from Seattle to PA, on the other hand, requires 3 hours more or less, so in terms of total travel time, it's not that much faster than the San Juan Islands ferry. In both cases, the wait for the (car) ferry can be extreme; the car ferry from PA does not accept reservations, so if you miss it, phht. There's also a high-speed passenger-only ferry from PA to Victoria in the summer; that's the fastest of all.

Haven't taken the route from Bellingham; it ought to be quite nice. I assume it too goes straight to the Inner Harbour.

The drive to Bellingham is nice enough - takes around 90 min. The ferry terminal is in the old Fairhaven district, on the south end of the city - an attractive "old town" locale with good restaurants, B&Bs, things like that, close to Western Washington University. The most scenic route to take to Fairhaven follows "Chuckanut Drive" (SR 11) alnog the coast north from the Mt. Vernon/Burlington area.

The Silver Cloud (or Residence Inn or Couryard) on Lake Union are just dandy - across the street from several restaurants ranging from Sushi to Hooters and an excellent Thai restaurant partly comprising old boxcars, the big NOAA research boats moored at the agency's Lake Union center, and all the houseboats (not Tom Hanks' - that's across the lake) along Fairview Ave. Bus at the door to downtown.

If you're spooked by Priceline go visit www.biddingfortravel.com (website behaving badly today) for pointers, hotel lists, and previous bidders' results on PL - try it once and you'll be hooked.

Gardyloo, you need to write a tourbook! Thanks. I'm thinking of flying in to Seattle, and immediately driving to the Olympic area to stay "somewhere" out there (I will bet also that it will be tough to find accomodations)for a few days, then maybe Port Angeles for a few days (taking the passenger ferry to Victoria...I don't need to drive there), then back to Seattle (lake Union area) for the latter part of the trip and perhaps Rainier. Any rec re lodging in Port Angeles, or websites that might act as a clearinghouse?