Sailing from Seattle but would like to fly in 5 days sooner and drive up the coast?

We are sailing from Seattle August 8, 2015 to Alaska with three young boys (ages 7, 7, 6). We would like to fly in a week earlier and drive up the west coast….not sure where would be the best place to fly into?

I'm looking for ideas, pointers, tips, suggestions. We are flying from Texas and I would like to see some points of interest along the way. If there are suggestions of places around Seattle that would be much appreciated as well. Thanks in advance.

if you flew into lax and drove up 101.....lots to see along way. Santa Monica pier, Santa Barbara, solvang is a cute town, Carmel, monterey has a great aquarium, Santa Cruz is wonderful, San Francisco, the redwoods, Oregon coast had lots of cute Towns, canon beach has haystack rock (iconic photo of Oregon beach), seaside is great.

Not sure you could do that all in five days but it depends on what you were thinking of wanting to see.

You could fly into SFO and just do northern Calif like redwoods and Oregon coast.

since I live in WA, you are better to do the Oregon coast then Washington coast.

Not much to do fun wise in Oregon that is not on the coast unless you do Portland.

I've traveled most of the west three states so if you had a specific question I might be able to answer.

Around Seattle my Rainier is gorgeous. Mt st helens is historic. Don't forget the Space needle and pike place market in Seattle.

Sent from my SGH-T959V using Tapatalk 2

With only 5 days, I would recommend starting at SF. Northern CA along 101 is very scenic and you would see the Redwoods. The Oregon Coast is beautiful. I would cross over to I-5 at Portland as the highway along the WA coastline is mostly inland without much to see. Then you could go to Mt. St. Helens which is right off I-5 north of Portland. Very interesting.

We are sailing from Seattle August 8, 2015 to Alaska with three young boys (ages 7, 7, 6). We would like to fly in a week earlier and drive up the west coast….not sure where would be the best place to fly into?

 

 

 

I'm looking for ideas, pointers, tips, suggestions. We are flying from Texas and I would like to see some points of interest along the way. If there are suggestions of places around Seattle that would be much appreciated as well. Thanks in advance.

Great idea! We've driven the coast many times and it is beautiful. If you start in San Francisco, you can drive Hwy 1 up to the Oregon Coast and see Mendocino and then the Redwoods along the way. The drive along the Oregon coast north is ruggedly pretty. Cross over the Columbia at Astoria and keep hugging the coastline to the Olympia National Forest in Washington to see the Hoh Rain Forest. Then up to Vancouver. This trip is very long but very scenic. I wouldn't suggest starting further south than San Francisco if you only have five days because you wouldn't have any time to stop and enjoy the scenery.

I agree with everyone about the highlights and starting from SF, BUT, with young boys, this may be too much driving. For adults who are happy to be in a car and see the beautiful scenery along the way, the drive is beautiful! I'm also from Washington, and it would be possible to spend 5 days doing a beautiful loop from Seattle. Mt Rainier, Mt St. Helens, over to the coast for time at the beach, up to the Ho Rainforest, Port Townsend, and back to Seattle. And then there is a couple of days worth of sights in Seattle as well.

If you do drive from SF, it may not be quite on the route, but the boys would love the Oregon Caves in southern Oregon.

Sounds like a great trip!

If you do Astoria, we did a nice tour there of Fort Clatsop where Lewis and Clark ended their adventure. Also we toured a maritime museum dedicated to the rough water rescue by the Coast Guard. Also at the maritime museum was a light ship that we went inside. I had no idea that they used light ships posted in the sea at locations where they could not build a lighthouse.

Another idea if the coast drive doesn't work out. Look at Clipper Vacations. The Clipper ferry has a 3 hour ride up to Victoria. We stayed at the Magnolia in Victoria and then did lots of fun things there in Victoria. We took a water taxi around to Fisherman's Wharf for fish and chips at Barb's and the kids fed the seals right off the dock there. Also we took a horse and carriage ride. I believe you can book a whale watch trip here too. There's a few other things to do here too. It was just a neat little town.

Also in Seattle we did the Aquarium. It was nice. We stayed at the Pan Pacific. Right beside it was Tutta Bella Pizza, and right under it is a Whole Foods (we went down the elevator to get gelato in Whole Foods). If you do decide on the ferry, get your boarding passes the evening before to avoid standing in the long line the next morning. You have to check all your luggage as there is not much room for carry on (except a small purse or camera).

Have fun!! That scenic drive sounds really neat.

SFO would be a great trip for adults, but with young kids, it might be too much car time.

I'd suggest flying into Portland, go to Cannon Beach for 2 nights, then follow 101 into WA and do a loop around the Olympic Peninsula. Visit Ruby Beach and Kalaloch.

Or if the coast isn't your total priority, spend a few days at the OR beach then go inland .... visit Multnomah Falls nr Portland, spend a night a Mt Rainier so the kids can hike and play in the snow, visit Mt St Helens.

Too bad you weren't sailing out of Vancouver ... Stanley Park would be a great place to end your road trip! The kids would have a blast peddling around the park all day. Check arymays photojournal; at the start there are photos of their visit to Stanley Park.

I'd suggest borrowing some travel books from the library to help with your planning.

totally forgot that not everyone loves car trips or are car people when I gave my suggestions lol. we only do road trips so my kids are used to being in the car and we just go go go.

but I really think your best two options are flying to San Francisco and driving up the Oregon Coast cutting over to Portland and possibly seeing one of the mountains before heading into Seattle. there are lots of areas to see that you could really pick and choose depending on what your interests are. but you only do this if you were interested in seeing the Redwoods in California and/or possibly the sea lion caves in Southern Oregon, or really wanted to drive some scenic coast. otherwise....

the other option is flying into Portland heading over to Astoria/Cannon Beach/ seaside area to see the beaches and then back over to i-5 to see the mountains or stuff in Seattle or do the full 101 loop.

Do you have real mountains from where you are from? not just a hill that's called a mountain;-) taking the kids up to Mount Rainier is a really great experience. Especially if they're not used to seeing mountains.

Sent from my SGH-T959V using Tapatalk 2

with only 5 days and likely a big drop off charge for a rental if you book car in SFO I would fly into Seattle and do day trips from there. tons to see in the area

If you do the north Oregon coast, stay in Seaside with kids over Canon Beach. Seaside is totally family oriented. Don't miss stopping at Canon Beach though, it's a must see. Another stop along the Oregon coast is Newport, lots to do with kids there too. The Oregon Coast Aquarium is great. North of Newport you also have the Tillamook Cheese Factory.

my input/idea: fly into Portland--do what the kiddos would like the most there--beaches, parks, whatever.....next, take Amtrak up to Seattle and spend some pre-cruise days there--the Aquarium, underground tour, duck tour :D ...from SF, it sounds like a long road trip for the kids.....unless, you really know they like the long road trips :D

My input is avoid the hassle of one ways and just visit the Olympic national park and Mt Rainier. Take the car ferry from Seattle to the west near the park. In the park, you can see rain forest (I thought more lush then in Ketchikan), go in the hot springs (if you don't mind the sulphur smell), see a pretty part of the shoreline at Kalaloch, continue loop of the park and see southern side with trees and saw Roosevelt elk, banana slugs and stayed at a 1920 family lakeside resort that had some kid activities. You could then loop down and see Mt Rainier and if national park hotel is still there, stay part way up the mountain. My kids were 7&9 at the time and enjoyed this trip, time to run around and be kids, especially if going on boat later. Easily filled 5 nights and as others mentioned also things to do in Seattle. We stayed at small hotels/cabins and very kid friendly. This was back in 2001 so my data is a bit dated. You also will love Alaska, just got back from there last Sunday.

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

Traveling via US 101 on the coast, San Francisco to Seattle is around 18 hours "wheels turning." Over four or five days, that's not an excessive amount of time in the car. You could drive, for example, from SF to Eureka via the "Avenue of the Giants" on the first day, Eureka to Bandon, Oregon (cutest town on the southern Oregon coast) the second, passing through more redwoods and the spectacular southern Oregon coast, then to Astoria the third day (more scenic coast, visit Cape Disappointment at the mouth of the Columbia River) and into Seattle the 4th day, with no more than 5 or 6 hours' drive in any one day (more like 3-5). Yes, the rental car cost would be quite expensive due to the one-way rental.

Or, you could fly to Seattle and do a five-day loop that would include the Columbia Gorge and Mount Hood, then a clockwise loop around the Olympic Peninsula before returning to Seattle for the cruise. This would probably be my recommendation - shorter days in the car, incredible diversity of scenery, and no one-way car fee.

We are sailing from Seattle August 8, 2015 to Alaska with three young boys (ages 7, 7, 6). We would like to fly in a week earlier and drive up the west coast….not sure where would be the best place to fly into?

 

I'm looking for ideas, pointers, tips, suggestions. We are flying from Texas and I would like to see some points of interest along the way. If there are suggestions of places around Seattle that would be much appreciated as well. Thanks in advance.

On our last Alaskan trip we were thinking the exact same thing. We LOVE road trips and touring this great country. Once I saw what the rental charges would be to fly into LAX or SF and drive to Seattle and leave the car there, it quickly changed our minds.

But we did better. we flew into Seattle, rented a car and quickly hit the road driving first north, into the Cascades, I believe , then turning south spending a few days in the Columbia River gorge area. It was truly a fantastic week. We drove up to Mt St Helens, hiked a bit around Mt Rainer, drove a while to Mt Hood and just saw some absolutely magnificent country.

You don't need to spend a lot of time in some of these places, but just driving and viewing is magnificent.

Entering the Cascades

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/new%20alaska/alaskamain003.jpg

We drove to Leavenworth, a town that sort of reinvented itself into a Bavarian town, lovely place.

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/new%20alaska/alaskamain039.jpg

Mount Hood in Oregon

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/new%20alaska/alaskamain087.jpg

The Columbia River gorge is just amazing, with waterfalls galore

One of the best, Multnomah Falls

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/new%20alaska/alaskamain176.jpg

The drive up to Mt St Helen's is awesome. The trees that were knocked down are all still there, like matchsticks, all down in the same pattern.

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/new%20alaska/alaskamain193.jpg

And the Jewel is Mt Rainer St Park

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/new%20alaska/alaskamain262.jpg

If you are considering this, and you want more info, please let me know, and I'll fill you in on many of it. We took a week to explore, but can easily be done in 5 days.

Check out the link to some of our pix on the bottom of this post.

Cheers

Len