Planning a trip from SF to Seattle. Input requested.

[nolanfan34]

Clark,

Here's a trip report with a few winery ideas for you. I would certainly recommend stopping in the Willamette Valley for an afternoon if you're interested in checking out some of the wineries there. I have a few reviews and links in my report. It's not that far from I-5 to get to these places, so it could easily be done in an afternoon.

Based on what you said below I would consider dedicating a day in Seattle to take a ferry out to one of the islands. For example another option would be to take a ferry to Bremerton, and drive up to a B&B in Port Townsend for a night.

For downtown Seattle, IMO you can really see most of the city in a day just walking around downtown. Stuff like Pike Place is worth walking around, as is the waterfront, and you can pretty easily park and spend an afternoon doing that.

And I'm not sure if your GF likes sports, but catching an M's game at Safeco is pretty fun.

A few ideas to consider at least.

[SomethingClever]

Crater Lake



Mt. Hood



Canon Beach



Smith Rock



Mt. Shasta (and lake Shasta)




Yosemite



Joshua Tree

[JaBlue]

Hey Clark,
Me and a friend drove from SF to Vancouver last summer. We stopped along the way at Ashland, Portland, and Seattle.

If you're going to drive up, you should know that there is absolutely nothing in California north of Sacramento. Even just north of San Francisco gets to be pretty rural. Expect a long drive with little to nothing to see or do until you get to the Oregon border.

Once you get to Oregon, why don't you stop by Ashland and catch a play at the shakespeare festival? We missed out on this because we got there too late at night, but I would think it'd be cool. Also the town itself is nice and lots of fun to walk around.

Other than that I have very few recommendations for what to do because my friend and I didn't plan our trip at all and ended up not really doing much though we had a blast.

If you're going all the way to Seattle, why not go the 2-3 hours more to Vancouver? Cool city and there is a HUGE public park on an island. Forgot the name of it, sure someone will know though.

Also you might want to consider staying in state parks along the way. I wish my friend and I would have done that. Dunno if you and your girlfriend are into camping or not and its probably requiring you to bring too much gear but there are plenty of state parks along the route from SF to Seattle to check out and I'd think that might be fun.

[turnipmonster]

the oregon coast is lined with amazing state parks. if you enjoy camping sort of stuff but don't want to lug around a bunch of equipment, I highly recommend staying in a yert in a state park camping ground. they also have cabins you can rent in some parks.

if you are interested in hiking and stuff, the oregon coast is a great place to do it, just leave yourselves plenty of time to travel, as most cars on the road are going to be sightseeing and stopping off for scenic viewpoints and/or trails.

[Ray Zee]

i do the trip every year. 2 or 3 days and its going to be wasted driving on the intersate or looking out the window for the trip. spend at least 5. then you can drive the coast all the way up.
redwoods for sure. do the ave of the giants and jedadiah simth grove.
three days on the oregon coast for sure. this is a trip you will remmeber forever dont rush it. i never did a trip and after it was over said boy i am glad i got home quickly.
when you go pm me for places to stop and eat.

[Clarkmeister]

[ QUOTE ]
i do the trip every year. 2 or 3 days and its going to be wasted driving on the intersate or looking out the window for the trip. spend at least 5. then you can drive the coast all the way up.
redwoods for sure. do the ave of the giants and jedadiah simth grove.
three days on the oregon coast for sure. this is a trip you will remmeber forever dont rush it. i never did a trip and after it was over said boy i am glad i got home quickly.
when you go pm me for places to stop and eat.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks Ray.

So can I hit the Redwoods on the way up? That would help. I could see myself doing something like:

Friday, land, drink, sleep.
Saturday, alcatraz, knock around, good meal, live music
Sunday, wineries
Monday, Redwoods on the way up
Tues-Thurs, knock around Oregon
Friday-Arrive at friends in Seattle
Saturday, see Seattle
Sunday, chill at friends, fly home

More time than I had planned on spending on that part of the trip. I'm so ignorant of Oregon though, I've got a lot of homework to do in order to do a sensible itinerary.

[JaredL]

Clark,

Do you like camping and/or hiking? If so I would highly reccomend going to Diamond Lake and hiking around the trails there and then going up to nearby Crater Lake. Others have posted the pictures above. There are also a number of falls and small hikes along the North Umpqua River, which you can hit on the drive to Diamond and Crater Lakes.

This is a very roundabout way, but to go but I think you will like the Oregon Coast Highway (I guess it's 101) drive through Southern Oregon. There are plenty of excellent places to stop along there. Maybe spend the night around Bandon or so, and the next day get on highway 138 headed East. According to google it's about a 3 and a half hour drive to Diamond Lake, but I would reccomend several stops for short hikes (I used to mountain bike all the time around the North Umpqua so if you do this let me know and I can give you more specific things to do along this area). Basically, it's incredibly nice forest with the river, mountains, and some amazing viewpoints. I can't reccomend it enough, nor frankly miss it much more now that I'm in Pittsburgh. If you get to Diamond Lake in the afternoon, there is plenty of time for some nice hiking or just a relaxing walk around the lake, or you could go straight to Crater Lake. Some trails around Diamond Lake are easy hiking trails and offer some absolutely amazing views over the lake, the nearby forestsand of the two nearby mountains (Thielsen and Bailey)

I would reccomend going to Crater Lake in the morning so you can spend as much time as you like there. Some people, I'm one, can drive around it and look at the lake and outside for a long time while others, despite being very impressed get bored. I would strongly reccomend at least going around to the lookouts. Among other things you can see the top of Mount Shasta, over 100 miles away.

Depending on time I would reccomend going to Eugene after this. There are a number of wineries there if you haven't gotten your fill in California. I would then suggest driving over to Florence, again on the coast, and going north again on the Oregon Coast Highway. Come back into Portland, where there are a number of things you can do (others will have better advice than me here since I'm from Southern Oregon).

Feel free to ask more questions. I really miss Oregon and didn't appreciate it nearly enough when I was there, so I'm happy to post about it.

[Clarkmeister]

Camping is out. Mild hiking is in, but nothing super strenuous.

Crater lake is definitely of interest.

[JaredL]

Something that just now occurred to me, as I've never done it, is that you can stay in the Crater Lake Lodge. I think it's actually pretty nice. The lobby at least is good, and the views must be absolutely oustdanding as the lodge is pretty close to the rim and IIRC should give you a good view out as well. Not sure how early one has to book in advance, how crowded, or how expensive it is (edit: just looked and I guess there are several options ranging from a little over a hundred to 250 a night, link). Being able to stay around there would make it a lot better because it's fair drive to get there. Well worth it, but it would be quite a day to drive there for 5 hours, see it for a couple and drive another 4 hours to a hotel.

As for the hiking, all of the stuff I'm reccomending is on established hiking trails and not too bad at all. There are several stops along the drive to Crater Lake that have nice views or nice waterfalls and only require 10-20 minutes of walking on trails to get there.

Jared

[Clarkmeister]

Now that sounds like a day well spent.