Vacation ideas for Seattle or Portland

[Thalermade]

My wife suggested we investigate ideas for a family vacation in Seattle or Portland. She thinks they are close together.

Time Frame: Middle of July to Middle of August
Vacation duration: One week maximum.

Who we are:

This will be the four of us:
Me - up early and raring to go see and do everything. Likes to plan.
My wife - loves to sleep in, doesn't like to plan.
19 year old son- loves to learn and is quite the city adventurer
16 year old daughter - usually sleeps in, enjoys city adventure.
Coming from Cincinnati, we will have the 3 hour time difference.

Food - Sky is the limit for the other 3, I am the pickiest eater of the bunch (yeah pretty simple foods). We do enjoy going off the beaten path to experience interesting eateries (we try to be somewhat price conscious, but when we are on vacation....) PS. we are all coffee drinkers

Transportation - We will fly out there. Once there if we don't have to have a car, that will be great. Could see renting one for a day or two if necessary. (Background - a half dozen years ago we spent a week in San Francisco, bought the public transportation week long pass, rented a car for one day to go to Muir Woods and the Pacific Ocean.(GREAT VACATION)

Looking for a mix of sightseeing, museums, historic districts, gardens, archituecture, unique to the area stuff.

All ideas and thoughts appreciated

Thanks
Russ

[bruce hylton]

Call triple A travel in Olympia, ask for Jessica. One week by train, car or anything else does not give you enough time to see the main views between Portland and Seattle. About 145 mile between them. Less than two hours to coast, high desert or snow capped mountains. Most beautiful place in the world away from the cities. Good luck.

[bruce hylton]

If you can do it, spend at least one day making a run up the gorge from Portland on the Washington side of the Columbia river and come back on the Oregon side. At least as far as The Dalles, Oregon. Scenery is incredible.

[JR]

I hope you like fish!

I read a good article in the paper today about Drew Carey and his part-ownership of the Seattle Sounders MSL team. They have great fan involvement, including voting on whether the GM should be fired! As a condition of his participation in the venture he insisted that there be a marching band. Season ticket holders, who have 22,000 of the available 29,000 seats, each get a blue and green scarf, which they all seem to wear. It sounnds like fun!

JR

[dbhost]

If you go to Oregon, I HIGHLY suggest you take a day, and go to the Newport Wharf. At least if you like art galleries. LOTS of handmade woodcrafts by local artisans, and possibly the world's best Chowder House, Mo's for lunch. (If you go to Mo's send me some chowder stock will ya?)

Probably a good day jaunt would be come down I-5 to Highway 34 just south of Albany, hook over through Corvallis, and stop at the Myrtlewood Mystique Gallery, some friends of mine used to own and run the place back when I was in high school. Beautiful stuff. Keep going down 34 until you hit Newport and simply follow the signs for the Wharf.... If you are renting an RV, make arrangements NOW to camp at South Beach campground, and bring a camera!

I miss Oregon something fierce, but no jobs, and now isn't any better...

[LCHIEN]

I only spent a day there in Seattle before cruising to Alaska last year.
But it was very enjoyable.
You could spend a whole day at Fisherman's wharf, the sights and sounds plus all the sea food! A delight if you are a photographer, too. - colors, textures, colorful people.

I enjoyed an afternoon at the Boeing Museum of space flight. Since many plane early on were made of wood, there's an interesting woodworking aspect to part of the exhibit, plus some great planes from all over, not just Boeing, incluidng a SR71 Blackbird.

There's also the space needle and some other attractions, not to mention the beautiful surrounding area. When I was there a few years ago a ferry ride to Victoria and the Butchart Gardens was in order.

I'll bet I can find a half a week or a weeks worth to do in Seattle. Veyr nice city, just be prepared, it can rain quite a few days of the year, never too heavy, though.

[Hoover]

A trip to Seattle means you have to visit the Pike Place Market. Nothing else like it. Seattle has plenty to do and see. Be sure to wear comfortable shoes, and clothes. The International District and downtown Seattle have plenty of interesting shops, etc.

A must see place is Hardwick's Hardware on Roosevelt Way. It started in 1932, and still has that aura of old time business. A large assortment of tools and supplies. It takes several hours just to get it all in.

[Whaler]

In Seattle a must side trip is the ferry ride from downtown to Bremerton and back. No car needed, inexpensive, beautiful scenery and only takes a couple hours.
It's a great city and after 25 years I still haven't seen it all.

[Rand]

If you want to do city things - The Pike Street Market in Seattle is a must. The tour of underground Seattle is pretty fun/interesting too. City Center and the Space Needle are cool but don't bother eating at the restaurant on top of the Space Needle.

In Portland, a trip up the Columbia gorge to see the waterfalls is a must. There are several of them. Multnomah Falls is the largest and most famous but the others are well worth the short hike to see them. In Portland you might want to check out Powell's books. It sits on a square city block and has several floors - about 1.6 acres of bookshelves.

The Washington Park Zoo, OMSI, The Rose Gardens and The Japanese Gardens are all worth visiting. If you or your wife is into shopping you could spend hours on NW 23rd street and on Hawthorne.

The Oregon coast is beautiful. It's well worth spending a couple days there, spectacular scenery everywhere. Have a cup of clam chowder at Mo's.

[Mr__Bill]

In the area between, Mt Rainer you can walk on a glacier. Kind of like Ohio only on a slope. Mt St. Helens, devastation like you have never seen. (Mt Rainer is the highest peek in the lower 48) Plan on a day for either. There is a lodge and restaurant at Paradise on Mt Rainer.

Tacoma, several museums together, Museum of Glass, Washington Historical Museum, Museum of Modern Art. A zoo with Polar Bears. Both Seattle and Portland have Zoos too.

You may want to time the vacation to coincide with something going on. Seattle has lots of summer activities including very high speed races on the lake. There is also whale watching trips on the sound, two navy ports, Everett with an aircraft carrier if it's in port and Bremerton with the mothballed fleet and some ships in for repairs.

Bill

[cwithboat]

just be prepared, it can rain quite a few days of the year, never too heavy, though.

Wrong. It rarely rains in Seattle from mid July to after Labor Day.
Choose a hotel near Pike Place.http://www.hotels-rates.com/hotels/l...LogId=22856945
You will the be within walking distance of the Aquarium, The Market, the ball park, the waterfront, the mono rail to Seattle Center and the Space needle, Highway 99 Blues Club, Triple Door Jazz club, and Wild Ginger restaurant among others.
Enjoy!!

[Mr__Bill]

There is a thread on WoodCentral about the same thing, give it a look for more ideas.

Bill

[Kristofor]

In the area between, Mt Rainer you can walk on a glacier. Kind of like Ohio only on a slope. Mt St. Helens, devastation like you have never seen. (Mt Rainer is the highest peek in the lower 48) Plan on a day for either. There is a lodge and restaurant at Paradise on Mt Rainer.

Lots of good info in this thread. We've talked about a MN -> Yellowstone -> Portland -> Seattle -> Glacier -> MN 3.5 week trip next summer. If that's what we end up doing I'll be sure to revisit these suggestions for the city portions (we've done the parks before).

Also, minor note: While some may wish that California wasn't in the lower 48, the generally accepted highest peak in the contiguous United States is Mount Whitney.

[mskono]

a week?

Russ,

You have a week to see what could easily take a month...the two cities are beautiful, quite different and a day apart (the SEATAC Airport exit is around exit 155 on !-5 in Seattle, so arguably 160 miles between cities, anyway. A half day anyway to drive between the two, and much to see on the way.

I would stick to the major attractions/sites: the Puget Sound, downtown Seattle and a ferry ride to Poulsbo; Gig Harbor near Tacoma, the Mt. St. Helens visitor center is spectacular, the Columbia River Gorge, the Oregon Coast between Newport and Astoria, downtown Portland, the Oregon Wine Country in Washington County, downtown Portland...just this partial list of targets will require more than a week, for sure.

We lived in Seattle and Portland for 10 years each in the 80s and 90s...one of the most beautiful spots on God's Green Earth, for sure. If you can catch most of this list you can say you've seen the Northwest.

Best of Luck.

[sscherin]

One thing to remember.. It's 144 miles from Seattle to Portland..

Things to do in Portland.. (I'm not up on all the big Portland attractions)

Oregon Zoo
http://www.oregonzoo.org/

The Spruce Goose is about 1 hour west of Portland in McMinville.
http://www.sprucegoose.org/

2 Hours from Portland (on the same highway at the goose) you can visit the ocean at Linclon City.. Don't bother with the tourist trap junk.. Just walk the beach and maybe fly a kite


They make Seattle Easy..
Get a City Pass
http://www.citypass.com/city/seattle.html
Gets you into The Space Needle, Seattle Aquarium,an Argosy Harbor Cruse, Pacific Science Center, Woodland Park Zoo and your choice of the Experience Music Project or the Boeing Museum of Flight.

The Aquarium is on the Pier along with the Argosy Docks, walking distance to Pike Place Market and the Seattle Art Museum.

While on the Pier Eat at Ivars.. The outdoor Fish bar is good for lunch.. Go inside for some amazing seafood.
http://ivars.net/index.php?page=loca...acres-of-clams

Head over to the Crab Pot on Pier 57
Grab a hammer and smash some crabs. They literally dump a bucket of crab and clams on your table.
http://www.pier57seattle.com/restaurants.html

You can hop the sounder train down to Tacoma and visit the Museum of Glass
http://www.museumofglass.org/

There is way more to do that you have time for..

For any trip I only plan 1 or 2 Goals for each day.. That way you don't feel rushed and you have time to stop for the little things you find along the way.