We're currently planning trip to the Northwest with our two kids (5 and 2.5). We'll flying into Sea-Tac and are spending about 4 days in Vancouver and then a week on the Sunshine Coast.

After the Coast, we'll have about 3-4 days remaining in our trip. We were thinking about working our way down to Portland and flying home from there.

We'd like to check out Mt. Ranier, St. Helens, and the Columbia River gorge on our way. Is 3-4 days enough time to accomplish this?

Any suggestions for where to stay along the way? What to do/avoid given the kid situation?

Any advice is appreciated!

Jon

I'm afraid you are going to wear yourself out - skip Oregon this time around and concentrate on the Seattle area along w/ Ranier & St. Helens. You'll have more than enough to do and will spend less time just frantically driving from site to site.

I agree with the above, though not great distances, it takes a fair amount of driving to get to Rainier and St. Helens. With kids that age, you likely won't be doing a lot of hiking but there are a number of sights to be seen that don't require a lot of mobility. Stay a night if you can in the Paradise Lodge at Mt. Rainier, it is a very old building and quite unique.

There a number of things the older child might enjoy, both Seattle and Tacoma have nice zoos, Northwest Trek wildlife park, and Enchanted Village theme park (my kids enjoyed that when they were younger).

If it's any help, St. Helens is an only hour north of Portland. And you could do a highlights of the Columbia River gorge tour in a half day.

Go for it. I think that's enough time to see those sights, since you'll be limited in what you are able to do there.
Paradise Lodge is closed for remodeling, though Longmire at Mt. Rainier is open.

With kids that age & all the driving - I would personally opt to either do Mt. St. Helen's OR Mt. Rainier. That's the way we discovered our 2 year old could get carsick. After weaving around turns for a couple of hours strapped in her carseat - she went "blech." Ever after, we keep a small tupperware pitcher in the back of the van for emergencies!

I think that 3-4 days is plenty of time to see Rainier, St. Helens, and the Columbia Gorge. The kids will like seeing snow on Mt. Rainier, up around Paradise. You could do that, then stay in a motel near Interstate 5, near the roads to Mt. St. Helens.

While this is somewhat out of the way, I would recommend a visit to Ape Cave on the south side of Mt. St. Helens. This cave is over a mile long, and can be traversed by kids, with a little help here and there. You can rent lanterns and flashlights. Our kids still remember their trip to Ape Cave when they were about the same ages as your two.

The kids will also like a visit to a dam on the Columbia, which tends to have nice museums and kid-friendly activities. There are several nice lodges in the Gorge, such as the Inn at White Salmon.

There is a place near the Ape Caves where lava surrounded full height Douglas Fir trees, then burned the trees to ash. The tubes left behind are stamped with the bark imprint and are amazing. Kids love it and it takes little additional time to visit. You'll see it on local visitor maps.

Thanks for the advice folks--I'm starting to think splitting the difference--driving from Vancouver to Portland, and doing day-trips from there. Skip Mt. Ranier, but do the Gorge and Mt. St. Helens

IMO Rainier is the highlight of the three places you mentioned. I wouldn't skip it.

When are you coming? Some places are only worth visiting in the non-rainy/snowy season. Also, how well do your kids tolerate long drives and long days? Some kids can sleep anywhere. Some unravel.

Assuming summer, I, like christy1, would put Mt. Rainier at the top of my list, but you've gotten a lot of good suggestions for the Gorge and Mt. St. Helens.

We'll be doing the trip in early August. The kids are pretty good travellers; we spent 2 weeks in BC last summer as well. However, it was the case that by the end of the trip they were clearly ready to end their vacation. It's tough to accomplish everything in one trip. I guess that's why we keep coming back!

In early August, the wildflowers at Rainier will be in full bloom.

If you'll be in the Portland area, Mt. Hood will provide much of what you would see in a quick trip to Ranier. Timberline Lodge is a nice place to visit, and they have downhill skiing nearly year-round. Also in the Portland area are some nice wineries. What time of year will you be traveling?

Another vote for some kid friendly activities (mostly based on my childhood memories) such as the Woodland Park zoo in Seattle, the Aquarium in Seattle, Northwest Trek (a personal favorite), Point Defiance in Tacoma (the zoo, the gardens, the nature trails, the rock beach and a fine place for a picnic). There are also nice children's museums in Olympia and Portland that we've visited recently with our 2 year old. Also in Portland is a terrific Science Museum with lots of hands-on activities. The outdoor activities, exploring Mt Ranier etc, can be great but very slow going with little ones. I still remember a one hour, one mile hike with my five year old niece - who knew a person could walk so slowly (she refused to be carried on the hike out and refused to walk on the hike back). I remember loving the beaches (Ocean Shores?) and camping in the Hoh rain forest. I think I had a very early (7 or 8) birthday at Enchanted Village - it is a very small amusement park. My last piece of advice is limit the number of hotel changes. Our toddler seems to travel better when we are able to settle into one place for awhile (3 night stays minimum) and we arrange our travel times around midday to encourage car naps. The portable DVD also helps for long drives. Have a great trip the PNW is gorgeous.