Pacific North West: Coffee, beer and the great outdoors.

[Guest]

Hi folks.

I've not been on the Dibb for quite a while since we've not been to the States for a while either

And I'm sure since no one knows me on here you all won't have one iota of interest in my trip, but I really fancy a place to write it all down and I so enjoy reading about others amazing trips on here.

This time it's just two of us so we get to do what ever we like, no teens to have to plan around, though I'll miss my DD and she's amazingly jealous of heading over here as it's one of her bucket list places.

I'm Sarah and I'm 47, my Lovely other half is Paul and he's older and we love to go on trips, absolutely anywhere and anytime we can.

We've wanted to do this trip for a while and had just got back from a great week in Cyprus, searching flights for our next holiday, looked at Vancouver, thought we could return from Seattle, thought the price wasn't bad and booked it .

We'll have 16 nights in total and have more or less planned the route we're taking.

4 nights in Vancouver in an Airbnb ( hotels were absolutely extortionate ) train to Seattle, 2 nights in Seattle at the Ace Hotel right by Pike Place Market, then pick up a car and head East into the North Cascades. I've already booked 2 nights in a campsite near Newhalem so we can do some walking mostly, then we'll drive to the Methow Valley and have our eye on some funky cabins near Winthrop for another 2 nights. Then a long 5-6 hour drive to the Mount Rainier State Park where I'm waiting to here back about availability on some amazing cabins with private hot tubs and a spa I quite fancy ( we had initially thought about camping here too but since it's Labor Day weekend I've read horror stories of noisy and packed sites so that's my excuse for a cosy but slightly expensive alternative!).
After those 2 nights I've booked 2 nights in Portland at The Kennedy School which I'm very excited about and then our last 2 nights on the Oregon coast relaxing by the beach in a possible Airbnb.
We'll fly home from Seattle.

I'm very excited as I'm in love with good coffee, the thought of all those microbreweries, the great music and craft scene in this part of the world and some great food to boot, not to mention the amazing outdoors for hiking and kayaking.

I'll update when I have firm plans and bookings and a little more time.

[Melbatb]

We loved Vancouver and Seattle! Pike Place is great!

Looking forward to reading more about your trip!

[CrispyA]

Sounds great! I really fancy the Pacific North West, so I'm interested in how you enjoy it.

[anji]

Definitely interested! We did a road trip Seattle to San Francisco last year and just loved Washington and Oregon. We stayed in Seattle, Portland, then Columbia River Gorge before heading south. I did a full trip report if you want to check it out for some ideas. I'd love to do it all again using some different routes to see more. Have fun planning.

[Guest]

We know Seattle well - have friend who live at Bothell. It's a great city and the mountains - Cascades or Olympic are just stunning. Do visit the Mount Ranier area and possibly St. Helens. Portland is a neat little place and a great point to go exploring the Columbia River Gorge. The views of Mount Hood and Mount Adams are glorious. Snow capped all year round. Again, we have friends who live at White Salmon so know the territory. Beautiful cascading falls on the Oregon side.

A nice little place on the Oregon coast not far from Portland is Seaside. There is also Coos Bay and Gold Beach.

Have a read of our trip report:

http://DIBB.in/9823405 - especially days 1 to 4.

Sorry - all pictures are missing because of the recent Google Chrome security fiasco.

[Guest]

Hi Anji, have just read about your trip and it sounds great. Some tips in there for sure to take on board, esp regarding the motel on Hood River which has availability the 2 days we need. So that's very def in the mix. So good to read others experiences of places 😊. It's making me very excited.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by geoffa

We know Seattle well - have friend who live at Bothell. It's a great city and the mountains - Cascades or Olympic are just stunning. Do visit the Mount Ranier area and possibly St. Helens. Portland is a neat little place and a great point to go exploring the Columbia River Gorge. The views of Mount Hood and Mount Adams are glorious. Snow capped all year round. Again, we have friends who live at White Salmon so know the territory. Beautiful cascading falls on the Oregon side.

A nice little place on the Oregon coast not far from Portland is Seaside. There is also Coos Bay and Gold Beach.

Have a read of our trip report:

http://DIBB.in/9823405 - especially days 1 to 4.

Sorry - all pictures are missing because of the recent Google Chrome security fiasco.

See more...

Hi Geoffa. I have read your report in the past but might have a rerun of it now we're actually going. We are actually looking at Seaside as our base on the Oregon coast for our last two nights, but no definite booking yet.

Btw your trip reports are an inspiration. I love reading them 😊

[WileyCoyote]

Wow, sounds great, always been fascinated by Seattle and Portland. Look forward to reading along.

[Cannavar]

Hey!

We did a very similar trip last year. Its a stunning part of the US. We drove from Vancouver down through Seattle and on to Portland.

Happy to offer any advice we can!

Our top picks...

Walk around Stanley park while in Vancouver
Mt St Helens
Boeing Fields museum of flight
Woods coffee shops
Columbia river gorge
Portland zoo

Most important...plenty of coffee!

[Guest]

Hi there. I might just be picking your brain 😊.