My wife and I are thinking about doing a trip to the Pacific Northwest with our two children (aged 18 and 20) this summer. We'd probably have about two weeks to work with (most likely in August). We started out thinking about visiting both states, but the more I look at it, I've begun to wonder whether it makes sense to just focus on one state or the other for this initial trip, and to do it with some degree of thoroughness, as opposed to trying to do both, and doing each very partially.

Your thoughts?

And what would you say are the abolute Don't Miss This-es, or the It's-not-as-well-known-but-it's-really-great's, that you would suggest we see?

It occurs to me it might be helpful to add something about our interests, and the things I've focussed on so far.

I'm a photographer, so I love the National Parks, as do my children. We all like to do the occasional hike. We'd plan to spend some time in cities like Seattle and Portland, but probably just a couple of days each.

My existing ideas were:

Washington:
Seattle
San Juan Islands
Olympic National Park
Less sure about Mount Rainier
Would love to see Palouse Falls, but it seems to be a long way and the water flow in August would presumably be low

Oregon:
The coastal drive
could be tempted to continue down into Northern California to see Redwoods National Park (the one near the Oregon border)
Crater Lake
Klamath Falls?
Portland (Powell's Books!)
The Columbia River Gorge

Mt. Rainier is a thrilling sight and there are two waterfalls within the park. Snoqualimie Falls, near Seattle, is more worth a visit--more so, perhaps, than Palouse Falls.

Crater Lake is off the beaten path, but it is at the top of some peoples' "must-see" list. If you're going to go away from your original plan, go the the redwoods instead.

HTtY

I answered your other thread with a loose plan for about 8 days in Oregon and 6-7 in Washington.
I can give more specifics for Oregon if you would like.
Flying into PDX is simpler than into Sea-Tac as far as getting into the city is concerned.
If you visit the parts you like of both states, you can decide what you missed and have to come back to see on the next trip.

The satisfaction with "a couple of days in each" for Seattle and Portland assures you can cover both states sufficiently in a couple of weeks.

The farther you live from the area, the more you should do in one fell swoop.


To begin, the San Juan Islands seem a tad remote for a first trip to the area, at least if you're coming from far away.

I'm inclined to set-up such a window of opportunity as follows:

Land in Seattle... do your first two days (here), and cover what you can, knowing that you'll have to miss plenty.

Then go north, and travel the North Cascades Highway toward the town of Winthrop and beyond... Brewster and on to Coulee Dam...(Dry Falls) Soap Lake... Moses Lake... Othello... Washtucna... Palouse Falls... Richland... The Dalles... Portland (for your two days there)... Sandy... Madras... Bend...Crater Lake... Port Orford...Bandon... Yachats...Cannon Beach...Astoria...Toutle, WA... Mount St. Helens...Morton, WA... Mount Rainier... and back to Seattle to fly home.

... or even add more time to visit Olympic National Park.


I just plugged most of that into MSN Maps, and because it only allows 25 stops, I had to end it at Greenwater, WA (just after Mt. Rainier)... and by then it had tallied 33.5 hours of driving and 1741 miles, for what you could call "10 days".

(minus the two in Portland and in Seattle)

Is it "too much" - some might say so... but it is thorough, and there would be time for some good photography along the path.

(Clarity: many of those little spots I mentioned are only to clarify my route of choice - nobody cares whether you ever see Washtucna )

Cutting out Palouse Falls doesn't take too much from the total time/mileage (assuming/using "Vantage, WA" as the only spot between Soap Lake and Richland).

Who knows whether your kids could endure so much... and perhaps the weather east of the Cascade Mountains will be such that to ride in an air-conditioned car is the most comfortable activity one might want to endure.

Just a vision for you to contemplate...

Thanks very much, Northwest Male. We wound up not going last year, but I'm starting to plan the trip for this summer.