Seattle - is this doable?

If my flight arrives at 10:45am on a Thursday is this plan doable ??

 

Pick up a rental car and drive to Olympic National Park ( Hurricane Ridge ) using the Bainbridge Ferry. Spend the day driving around the park then staying over night in Port Townsend. In the morning head south towards Tacoma and around back to Seatac to return our car and get to Amtrak for the 6:45pm train to Vancouver.

 

Any suggestions on what to stop and see along the way?

Any place to return the car closer to the train station?

 

 

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From your post I'm sure what you're trying to do. Are you taking a cruise? Do you leave from Seattle or Vancouver? Is this pre or post cruise?

 

Roz

Thoughts:

1. Good that it is Thursday and not Friday or weekend.

2. I don't recall (if stated in previous thread) the month but May-July are long daylight so Hurricane Ridge would be light pretty late.

3. 114 miles - 3.5 hours in light traffic - not sure if Bing maps included ferry time so add 1 hr wait and 1 hr transit.

4. Add an hour baggage and car rental so total time 6.5 hours (plus Seattle traffic) so arrive at end of Hurricane Ridge road at 5pm or so.

5. Maybe picnic dinner.

6. Morning is better lighting but evening back-light is OK too,

7. Port Townsend is nice but if getting late Port Angeles or Sequim :D are options too. PT is a little out of the way.

8. Return to SeaTac options are two routes - 101 along Hood Canal and all the way around the Sound or Hood Canal Bridge to Poulsbo and Hwy 3 and Hwy 16 to Tacoma. 101 is more scenic but MUCH longer and MUCH slower.

9. Option off Hwy 3 at Silverdale - divert and lunch at Scenic Beach State Park. Great view of Olympic Mts. above Hood Canal - if clear.

10. Instead of Tacoma consider the Southworth-Fauntleroy ferry which unloads close to SeaTac and might be way faster to go that direction on a Friday.

11. Cab to King Street Station in Seattle after returning car (due to luggage).

 

Yes, doable. Somewhat rushed but doable.

Edited September 9, 2016 by Sequim88

Very end of April for a cruise from Vancouver. We are spending all day Saturday there and the ship leaves on Sunday.

 

 

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Sunset in Seattle is 8:21 PM on April 30th. So a few hours of light at Hurricane Ridge. In April there is still a chance of snow around there. Not sure when the road opens for 7 days a week. Winter it is just Friday through Sunday. By late April it should be open every day depending on conditions at the moment. Downside of April is that is still one of the rainy months so the view could be impacted. But the drive up through the semi-rainforest (edge of the rain shadow) is pretty.

 

Hurricane Ridge Info

 

Plus side to going over that way... the Olympic rain shadow. Often sunny in Port Angeles and Sequim when it is rainy all over the rest of the area. You can see cactus growing along the roads near Sequim.

A couple of notes...

 

While the road up to Hurricane Ridge ought to be open by the time you're traveling, don't assume conditions up there will be spring-like. There will probably be snow on the ground but hopefully not on the roads.

 

Returning via Tacoma is for the most part pretty tedious and trafficky. I have two alternate suggestions, one minor, the other not so much.

 

Minor - Take the ferry in the morning from Port Townsend over to Whidbey Island. Visit picturesque Coupeville and scenic Deception Pass, then return on SR 20 to the mainland and visit equally picturesque La Conner before returning to Seattle on I-5.

 

You could make things easier on yourselves (also maybe cheaper) by renting your vehicle from a downtown location rather than the airport (lower taxes) so you wouldn't have to go through a nasty scrum returning it on Friday afternoon.

 

Major - Keep driving. In late April you'll be ahead of the punishing cost of one-way rentals between Seattle and Vancouver. I just checked, and the price of a one-way rental car, Seatac airport to Vancouver airport, is around $5 more expensive than returning the same car to Seattle then adding the price of two one-way train tickets to Vancouver. When you add in the cost of extra gas, taxis or train rides in either/both cities, it will be cheaper simply to keep the car.

 

If you did, that would give you almost an entire extra day to explore the Olympic Peninsula, Whidbey Island, or take the "scenic" route to Vancouver.

 

Going from the above, you'd still take the ferry to Whidbey and visit Coupeville and Deception Pass, but then you could take WA Hwy 11, aka "Chuckanut Drive" along the water up to the historic Fairhaven district of Bellingham. There are lots of shops and cafes in Fairhaven, then you'd continue up to the border at Blaine, then zip into Vancouver.

 

Maybe you could stop in Vancouver's little fishing port of Steveston (used in the TV series "Once Upon a Time") for fish and chips on the waterfront before heading into town. You could drop the car at YVR, or, since you'll have paid for 24 hours anyway, drive to your hotel and return the car in the morning, maybe at a downtown (Vancouver) station of the rental car company. Or, if you rent from one of the companies that have stations there, even at Canada Place.

 

In budget terms I expect it would be a wash or cheaper than your current plan, in convenience terms there's no contest.

 

Map - Seattle - Seattle: https://goo.gl/maps/jiLkinzsaxS2

Seattle - Vancouver: https://goo.gl/maps/3MUHqeDm1Vy

 

By the way, this is what Deception Pass looks like. At tide change the water flowing through the gap between Whidbey and Fidalgo Islands (below the bridges) is nothing short of scary.

 

 

(Looking from Deception Pass toward the Olympics.)

 

Edited September 9, 2016 by Gardyloo

If i went striaght on to Vancouver is there a goof place to stay along the way for a night?

 

 

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If i went striaght on to Vancouver is there a goof place to stay along the way for a night?

 

 

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Sure, numerous places in Bellingham (including Fairhaven) from chain motels to waterfront 4-star places. From Bellingham it's around half an hour to the border, and from the border around 45-60 min. into Vancouver per se (more like 30 to the airport.) No telling on the border wait; usually it's pretty quick (<20 min.) going into Canada, a bit longer coming back.

 

You could also cross the border and stay in White Rock BC (some fun fish and chips places along the water) or there are plenty of affordable hotels (with free parking) near YVR airport. That way you'd miss any border delays in the morning.

So i guess i will toss another option out there.

 

Fly in on Thursday morning and drive to Vancouver the way you suggested through Deception Pass. Stay somewhere near Vancouver that night and on Friday drive to Whistler for the day. Drop the car either at Canada Place or the airport and then spend 2 nights at Blue Horizon. Saturday Capilano Bridge and Sunday morning before the cruise check out Stanley Park.

 

 

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So i guess i will toss another option out there.

 

Fly in on Thursday morning and drive to Vancouver the way you suggested through Deception Pass. Stay somewhere near Vancouver that night and on Friday drive to Whistler for the day. Drop the car either at Canada Place or the airport and then spend 2 nights at Blue Horizon. Saturday Capilano Bridge and Sunday morning before the cruise check out Stanley Park.

 

 

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I think that's an excellent option particularly in April when the weather can be iffy. Treat Whistler as a "weather-depending" option - it's a beautiful drive up the "Sea to Sky" Highway, but if the weather's poopy there are better ways to spend the day. It's not impossible that you'd hit rain on the way, turning to sleet or crud once you're there. Probably not, but worth checking.

 

Here's a route map - https://goo.gl/maps/PRcYkdvswWu . From Seattle you take I-5 north to WA 526, the "Boeing Freeway," which will take you to Mukilteo (cute lighthouse) for the ferry over to Whidbey. (It's called the Boeing Freeway because it passes the Boeing Everett plant, home of the 747/777/787s and the biggest building in the world.)

 

Once on Whidbey your first stop is the very cute waterfront village of Langley, full of galleries and cafes. Farther up the island, stop at Coupeville, then Deception Pass before returning to the mainland on WA 20. From there continue up to Fairhaven via Chuckanut Drive as I suggested above.

 

I am not much of a fan of the Capilano Bridge which I find to be something of an overpriced tourist trap. Instead, the nearby Lynn Canyon suspension bridge (in a park of the same name - http://lynncanyon.ca/ ) is quite spectacular on its own, and the price - $0 - is very right.

 

Along the same lines, many people have heard of Butchart Gardens near Victoria and make a bee line there when stopping in Victoria on port calls (usually Seattle departing cruises stop in Victoria on the way back.) But for Vancouver-based cruisers, the gardens at Queen Elizabeth Park right in central Vancouver, provide a fabulous garden experience, in the same league (well, to me) as Butchart, but with no price tag. You can visit the Bloedel Conservatory (small fee) in the park with its tropical plants and birds flying around... it's a terrific attraction right in the middle of town. Late April ought to be spectacular at QE Park.

 

http://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/queen-elizabeth-park.aspx

http://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/bloedel-conservatory.aspx

I am from buffalo the weather won't bother me

 

 

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Saturday Capilano Bridge and Sunday morning before the cruise check out Stanley Park.

 

I agree with Gardyloo about the Capilano Bridge. But if in that area the ride up Grouse Mountain is spectacular if the weather happens to be clear. The Observatory Restaurant at sunset can't be beat for the view and has been great food when we've gone there - albeit pricey like any place with that sort of view. Might be worth having it as a contingency plan if the weather is nice. Late April chances are small for clear skies but it happens.

 

So many places, so little time - ain't planning fun! ;)

If my flight arrives at 10:45am on a Thursday is this plan doable ??

 

Pick up a rental car and drive to Olympic National Park ( Hurricane Ridge ) using the Bainbridge Ferry. Spend the day driving around the park then staying over night in Port Townsend. In the morning head south towards Tacoma and around back to Seatac to return our car and get to Amtrak for the 6:45pm train to Vancouver.

 

Any suggestions on what to stop and see along the way?

Any place to return the car closer to the train station?

 

 

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Hi there

 

I don't have suggestion about the first part of your plan, but we took the Amtrak train to Vancouver. It was a nice trip. We took the train (light link) from the airport to King Street Station which is just down the street from the Amtrak station.

 

What I did want to bring up was that our other option was to drive to Vancouver. There is car rental return at the port in Vancouver. There might not be extra charge for one way car rental. Since you already have the car, you have the option of just keeping it for the extra day and not taking the train. It would allow you to rearrange your day touring the Seattle area (possibly not as rushed) and to find a hotel north of Seattle so you would be closer to the border. Initially I thought you were taking the morning train, but this way you would also be able to spend a day around Vancouver.

 

don't know if it would work for you

but thought you should consider

Edited September 15, 2016 by Nic6318