hannes

We ( family of 6 ) are planning a tour from San Francisco to Seattle mostly thru state parks and then on to Crater Lake. From there we have 2 days to get to Seattle.
Please make suggestions on best scenic route - back to the coast or keeping inland ?
We prefer small towns and to steer away from big cities en route - please help !

NWWanderer

2 days, one night? It's a good 8 hours of driving by the fastest route to get from Crater Lake to Seattle, so you won't have a lot of time for getting off I-5 if you just have 2 days to do the drive. Add about 2 hours each way for getting out to the coast and back. You might want to consider continuing east to Bend then heading up to Mt Hood or Hood River for the night and seeing a bit of the Columbia River Gorge before heading to Seattle.

Fodorite018

Beckie's Cafe in Union Creek is well known, and their pies are a huge hit with everyone.

As for the route, it depends on what you like. Where are you from? Have you seen OR/WA before at all? Cutting over to the coast is nice, but staying inland near the mountains is great too. There are several options, so like I said it depends on what are wanting to do/see.

Personally, I love the high desert area. Around Bend there is so much to do and see. You might like Sisters, which is just past Bend. You could also go up towards Hood River and see the Columbia River Gorge. Beautiful area with lots of scenic spots and waterfalls.

Fodorite018

NWWanderer--Great minds

NWWanderer

Indeed ;-).

Michael

Go up the east side of the Cascades in Oregon (Bend, Madras, Mt Hood (the lodge is worth a visit as a piece of WPA construction). See part of the Columbia Gorge and rejoin Interstate 5 to get to Seattle. If you can spend the night near Mt. Hood, as an alternative you should have the time to drive by Mt. St. Helens to its observation point before going to Seattle. But the roads are slow to and from that eastern observation point.

The last 11 pictures in this set are of Mt. St. Helens:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...7622991196341/

hannes

Thanks you very much for your help - we have not been there before - this is our first time to USA - we are from South Africa. To save time, I think we will stick to the mountains as suggested - thank you very much for your help !

happytrailstoyou

You have a tough decision, but my choice would be to go via the Oregon Coast. My routing would be Crater Lake to Reedsport and then north to Yachats (small town) or Newport (bigger) for the night. From Newport I would drive to Astoria and then to Seattle via Raymond, Washington.

It boils down to if you are more interested in seeing the ocean or the mountains and river gorge.

HTTY