Seattle/PNW advice

[Colleen27]

We're flying back from Alaska via Seattle and recently realized we've got a bit more time than we'd expected for our trip so instead of spending the extra time in Alaska (where we're already spending 3 weeks), we're thinking about taking the last week to explore the Seattle area and the Pacific Northwest more generally. It is the only west coast state we haven't been to, so it seems silly to fly there and not take the time to see a bit of it.

Right now, the must sees in the city that I've discovered so far are the Chihuly Glass Garden and Mo-Pop, and Pike's Place market. My daughter would like to check out Bainbridge Island, specifically the Japanese American Exclusion Memorial, and of course we're interested in the national parks in the area. Olympic and Mount St. Helens are musts, and my rough plan right now is to circle the Olympic Peninsula and drive down the coast as far as Astoria or Cannon Beach and then loop around inland to Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainer. We're going to be renting a campervan for a week, but will probably spend a night or two in the city either before or after the rental because I really don't like the idea of driving something that literally screams "vacation rental" (the company has "artistic" paint jobs on their fleet) in an urban area.

So my questions are: How long should I allow for the city, and is there anything else to add to the must-see list? Are there any particular stops, sights, hikes (within reason - we're moderately active day hikers, not hard core enthusiasts), or other attractions that are must-dos? I especially love places that don't necessarily come up on all the easy-to-find internet destination guides. And am I trying to pack too much into a week or so?

 

[Diznotyzed]

If you make it as far south as Cannon Beach, be sure to check out the view from Ecola State Park, just north of town.
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[moniqueand2]

Walking around the Space Needle area is fine, if you don't want to pay to go up. This is right by Chihuly Garden. Also, witihin walking distance of this area is the Seattle Sculpture Park. I think you can really do a half day in this area (space needle), or a major portion of one day.
Since you have a car, you may want to investigate if you'd like to do a Boeing tour, (not sure if that is going on right now).
Maybe drive to the Fremont Troll too.
IMO, there is really a lot to do and having a week is great. Especially, if you have a car for a portion and get split the sites between downtown and elsewhere.

 

[chickapin parterre]

what are the dates?

are you movie buffs?

 

[chickapin parterre]

on the community board here..click on to page 6...at the very bottom is a thread with a portion of your exact choices...it could be bumped upt to the top of page 7. part of the thread is californina, part washington. Also go to the californina travel section, they can give you suggestions. also

 

[chickapin parterre]

if your trip into oregon is late, gearhart or seaside will be closer, though it reads like you have explored Oregon...oh wait...you are camping....grassy private campground just south of seaside city limits.. and there is that campground south of Astoria, though I would go with seaside if not running late in the day. much to do at Seaside, no beach or ocean at Astoria...i think camp Relia...it might have a beach.

 

[chickapin parterre]

... and stay on the oregon side to travel to mt st. helens. that road has a wonderful high elevated view of the columbia river park area right on the higway.

 

[Colleen27]

what are the dates?

are you movie buffs?

We land in Seattle around 7pm on July 7, will have the campervan from the 8th to 15th and fly home on the 17th or 18th.

We're all huge movie buffs. The Goonies connection is part of why Astoria made the list - taking the kids to see it at the drive-in last summer was one of our best covid adventures.

I have explored a bit of Oregon, but only the south. I have an uncle who lived for many years near Grant's Pass, so we visited there and Crater Lake and some of the sites at the far southern end of the state when I was a kid. My kids haven't been, but we'll do that on another trip since DD19 goes to college in San Francisco and wants to take DD12 up the coast to see Avenue of the Giants on her fall break either this year or next.

Thanks for the reminder about the California forum. The folks over there were really helpful with planning my epic "moving the kid to California" road trip, but I didn't even think about it for this one because it obviously doesn't involve a stop at DLR like that trip did.

 

[bcla]

Mt St Helens is really far away. It’s really more associated with Portland than Seattle. It’s interesting, but it’s a long side trip if you’re mostly centered around Seattle.

 

[CynBeth]

In Seattle we enjoyed the Space Needle, aquarium, zoo, Chihuly glass, Great Wheel and Soarin’ type ride, sculpture garden, Museum of Pop Culture, Museum of Flight, hour sightseeing cruise, first Starbucks in Pike Place Market, Mariners game, and Pioneer Square with Smith Tower. I do not remember which hotel but it was close to the aquarium and most things we could walk to. We had to take a cab to the zoo and Museum of Flight.

 

[Colleen27]

Mt St Helens is really far away. It’s really more associated with Portland than Seattle. It’s interesting, but it’s a long side trip if you’re mostly centered around Seattle.

I don't really plan on being centered around Seattle for the most part; that's just where we start and end. The map I ran with the stops I have so far gives me a loop of about 700 miles if we go south as far as Cannon Beach before veering inland. I know there's some missing on that because Google Maps only takes me up to the point where the seasonal roads are closed at Mount St Helens and Mount Rainier, but that seems like a reasonable distance to cover in a week, assuming most of it is at semi-normal speeds ("normal" being more like PCH in central California than interstates, of course).

 

[flyingdumbo127]

The Columbia River Gorge area in WA/OR is beautiful! I've only really been to Southern, Oregon and that was years ago. Cannon beach is indeed lovely and in general I loved how green and forest-y Oregon can be. Have a safe and fun trip!

 

[Colleen27]

Walking around the Space Needle area is fine, if you don't want to pay to go up. This is right by Chihuly Garden. Also, witihin walking distance of this area is the Seattle Sculpture Park. I think you can really do a half day in this area (space needle), or a major portion of one day.
Since you have a car, you may want to investigate if you'd like to do a Boeing tour, (not sure if that is going on right now).
Maybe drive to the Fremont Troll too.
IMO, there is really a lot to do and having a week is great. Especially, if you have a car for a portion and get split the sites between downtown and elsewhere.

I have no desire to go up the Space Needle. I've done the CN Tower in Toronto and wasn't impressed, so it holds no appeal for me. Seeing it from the ground is enough and with its proximity to Chihuly Garden and Mo-Pop there's no way we could miss it.

How is parking in Seattle in terms of safety/crime and availability? I figured if it is anything like San Francisco, I'd rather not do much city touring while we have the van - not only do the rental company decals scream "tourist with all their stuff in here!" which just about begs for a break-in, I assume parking will cost an arm and a leg and/or be ridiculously hard to find pretty much anywhere worth going. I do want to see the Troll, though! Everything else we were looking at looks close enough that we could get by with a combination of a well-chosen hotel location and Uber/Lyft as needed.

 

[bcla]

I have no desire to go up the Space Needle. I've done the CN Tower in Toronto and wasn't impressed, so it holds no appeal for me. Seeing it from the ground is enough and with its proximity to Chihuly Garden and Mo-Pop there's no way we could miss it.

How is parking in Seattle in terms of safety/crime and availability? I figured if it is anything like San Francisco, I'd rather not do much city touring while we have the van - not only do the rental company decals scream "tourist with all their stuff in here!" which just about begs for a break-in, I assume parking will cost an arm and a leg and/or be ridiculously hard to find pretty much anywhere worth going. I do want to see the Troll, though! Everything else we were looking at looks close enough that we could get by with a combination of a well-chosen hotel location and Uber/Lyft as needed.

If you're willing to walk, there's actually free parking just a couple of blocks away from Seattle Center with the Space Needle, Pacific Science Center, Key Arena, etc. It might be like 4 hour metered parking where you can pay by a phone app if you need to extend it. I remember parking there on Sunday where parking was free on the street. There are also parking garages. But no it's not going to be quite like parking in San Francisco, although San Francisco isn't really that bad depending on where.

I've driven around my rental car and I never had a problem.

 

[Tink3815]

Are the protests near the Space Needle or any of the other tourist places that have been mentioned. Is the cruise port in a safe area?

 

[Colleen27]

If you're willing to walk, there's actually free parking just a couple of blocks away from Seattle Center with the Space Needle, Pacific Science Center, Key Arena, etc. It might be like 4 hour metered parking where you can pay by a phone app if you need to extend it. I remember parking there on Sunday where parking was free on the street. There are also parking garages. But no it's not going to be quite like parking in San Francisco, although San Francisco isn't really that bad depending on where.

I've driven around my rental car and I never had a problem.

Good to know. I've heard so many horror stories about car break-ins in SF. We haven't had any problems there, but I only had a car for one trip out of three and it was my own minivan which looks like it has been through 200K hard miles (and it has!) so it might not exactly scream "lucrative target". I have a friend who lost quite a lot of camera gear (along with the rest of his luggage but he didn't mind that as much) from a rented car in SF so it is something that's in the back of my mind when we're there. And I've heard Seattle compared to SF in terms of the homelessness situation so I wasn't sure if it would be similar.

The van we're renting isn't exactly subtle because they do things like this with their paintjobs:

 

[Nicolepa]

If you are going to see the troll, or even if you aren't, the Ballard Locks are one of our favorite places. My boys could stay all day and watch the boats going through. Also in that area is the Theo Chocolate factory. For $5 you can tour the factory and eat tons of yummy chocolate. Not sure if they are doing tours now though.

Before planning anything in Seattle you will need to check as the city it still pretty locked down. There is a good chance they will go back to phase 2 next week which means no indoor dining etc. Who know what July will be like, but they are in no hurry to open anything up.

 

[Colleen27]

Before planning anything in Seattle you will need to check as the city it still pretty locked down. There is a good chance they will go back to phase 2 next week which means no indoor dining etc. Who know what July will be like, but they are in no hurry to open anything up.

Right now, it looks like everything we'd want to see and do is open, though the museums are doing timed tickets and limited capacity so I plan to book those as soon as our dates become available. Unless the state plan changes, they'd have to walk all the way back to phase one to really be disruptive and I don't think that's likely to happen. I'll admit to planning this trip with a dose of optimism and the basic assumption that things will be better in July than right now, or at the very least no worse, because of increasing vaccination rates. And if some places do start imposing vaccine mandates, we should be in the clear - all of the adults in my household are already vaccinated, and with a little luck the Pfizer approval for DD12's age group will come in time for her to get hers before we leave as well.

 

[disneyhand]

Whidbey Island is a beautiful place to visit. Hiking, camping, beaches, forests, great seafood with countless places of interest to check out