My husband and I are planning on a trip to Washington from June 12-18,2005. Would love some advice on places to stay and things to do. We were thinking on spending our first night at Seattle, 2 nights at Mt. Rainier,and 3 nights at Olympic Natl Park. Does anybody have any advice and what would the weather be like in June? Thank you for any help.

I suggest you enter "gardylou" in the search box and you will get excellent information! He's the expert in this area.

I live here and can tell you that you can expect anything weather-wise during that time of year--could be sunny and pleasant or rainy and chilly. I hope you'll have great luck here, but as you know, we can't control the weather.

I would suggest getting reservations at Mt. Rainer at the Paradise Inn now if you can--this place fills up fast around that time and it's very special. Not fancy, but lovely and the setting is incredible.

Our summer doesn't begin until July--June can be OK, but it can also be cool. Your itinerary sounds good...not overly ambitious. Try to get a room at Paradise Lodge at Mt. Rainier and at Lake Crescent Lodge in the Olympic National Park.

Been doing a little more thinking and looking and am wondering is Rainier worth 2 nights or would one night suffice and instead add on the last night at Whidbey Island on our way back to Seattle? Any specific things we should try to see in ONP?

Oh, dear, I am sounding like a broken record answering all of these Rainier questions, BUT...June will be snowy/slushy at Rainier. The road will only be plowed to Paradise, so you won't be able to go further. One night should be enough unless you can fill two days with slogging around in 15 feet of snow. ONP has a variety of terrain-ocean, rainforest, mountains, etc, so even if, say, Hurricane Ridge is still snowy, you will have other destinations available.

christy has a good point about Paradise in June. I forgot how long it takes the snow to melt up there. It will be gorgeous, but might be tough hiking.

Hi mncrosses, Washington is a beautiful state.. have you ever considered going east? If you you have a car I would recommend driving east along I-90 (the interstate runs the entire length of the state). You can catch it right out of Seattle. In a few hours you will be in the most beautiful mountains you have ever seen and on the other side you'll find vinyards, sprawling fields, orchards, lakes, and lots of historical places (ever heard of Lewis and Clarck? ;0))... It's a totally different feel than the west side of the state. You'll find smaller towns and more places to roam and do outdoorsy things. Another option and one that I would highly suggest, would be to drive up to Everett and catch the 2 highway east though the mountains. On the far (east) side of the mountains (but still within them) you'll find Leavenworth. It's a modern town in the disguise of an old world bavarian village. There are no neon signs, The buildings look like they would be found in Europe, complete with paintings that cover entire builinds. Really it's something that you would have to see.. If you do go east, keep in mind that the climate changes quite a bit from coast to inland. The mountains stop alot of the moisture so our days are dryer and sunnier in the summer. I'd say that it would probabbly be in the 70's or maybe 80's by June and really nice weather. If you chose to you could drive the length of the state on I-90 or the 2(it takes anywhere from 6-8 hours straight through) and head to Spokane (both highways go through there). It was the site of the 74' world expo. There is a great park in the middle of downtown with a river running through that. There's even a waterfall in the middle of downtown with gondola rides going over it. June is a very good time to visit Spokane. If you head up to the South Hill you will find whole orchestras giving free concerts in parks. There is always something going on during the summer. There is also Spokane international airport that you could fly out of either back to Seattle (about 45min) or back to your home town. Well I could go on and on about Spokane but...Hope this helps some and you decide to check out the less traveled and (in my humble opinion) the best side of the state. Watever you do I know you'll love the Evergreen state!

June weather could go either way. Sometimes we get a very early warm sunny spring (this winter has been fairly mild) even a surprise heatwave in May... sometimes it rains until after the 4th of July.

I like the idea of heading east but Spokane is too far on a 5 day trip. Snoqualmie Falls and stay at the Salish Lodge maybe (that's less than 1 hour from Seattle).

The Mt Rainier and onto the rain forest sounds like a good combination. Both are amazing. Although I think 1 day at rainier would be fine.

Susan in Seattle

I did this trip last year, and it was awesome. Flew into Seattle, spent 1 day at Rainier (too little time, but there was still a lot of snow on trails) then drove that night to Aberdeen to sleep. The next day went up the coast visiting some of the beaches and hiking the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic NP. Spent the next 2 nights based at Port Angeles...one day trip over to Victoria, B.C. and one day hiking Hurricane Ridge in Olympic NP. The next day visited Sequim, hiked the Dungeness Spit, and spent the next 2 nights in Port Townsend. Finally traveled over to Whidbey Island...did some hiking along the coast there, and spent the night in Mukilteo. Next day back to Seattle and home. Great trip.

P.S. Just wanted to add--this year is incredibly dry--very little snow--terrible ski season, so Rainer may not be slushy then...