Pacific Northwest

[glorious]

We're off to the Pacific Northwest in late May/early June and planning our itinerary around Vancouver/Seattle/Portland. We'd like some countryside in there too though, and I can't decide what to go for. It's just me, DH and 4 year old DD.

DD isn't great at all in the car so we don't want any driving days longer than 3-4 hours. Other than that she travels extremely well and is happy doing most things, though obviously serious day-long hikes and the like are out, not least because it's bound to be fairly cold and wet! She can cycle (without stabilisers) so that's an option if we could find a small enough hire bike or tag-along anywhere (her bike has 14" wheels as she has quite short legs).

I was wondering about the San Juan islands. The other obvious option I've seen so far would be the Mt Rainier area but I think it's going to be too snowy.

Any ideas? Also any tips on the cities would be great.

I suggest you buy the Lonely Planet Guide to Washigton, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest immediately. Far too many suggestions to write about here. However, for a four week tour, they suggest, Vancouver and Victoria, Seattle, Orcas Islands, Olympic National Park, Mt Rainier NP (roads open mid May) and there is a 5 hour drive, Portland, Columbia River Gorge, Mt Hood, Crater Lake National Park, the Oregon Coast. There is so much here it could take a very long to do the itinerary you are suggesting.

They also sugggest a 2 week island hop, a 2 week Portland and Oregon loop, and 2 weeks Seattle and Washington. The Seattle and Washington tour includes Port Townsend, Lake Quinault, Olympia, Mt St Helens, and the San Juan Islands. It really depends how much time you have and how much driving you want to do. They also list 25 must do or must see in the area. I do not think their advice can be bettered. Happy holidays!

There is a thread I started (identical title) a little further down the page. We going in the summer so weather will be better and our DTs will be 5 - but they did do a few 5-6 mile walks last Summer when 4.

We only have 16 days but we're planning to do Seattle, Portland, Mt Rainier, Mt Hood, Yachats (as base for Oregon Coast) and Forks (as base for Olympic NP). We really wanted to do San Juan Islands too but we were just struggling to fit everything in.