Travelling back from San Francisco

[pinkhousesarebest]

We will be in San Francisco visiting our ds,who is a student there. I haven’t booked our flight back yet and was thinking of stopping over in Vancouver for a few days ( we also have student dd). Or flying to Washington and then home. We are big nature devotees. Would anyone have any kind advice, or even alternatives?

Vancouver would be good. Lovely city with a beautiful setting and a short ferry from there to Vancouver Island for bear, dolphin, whale watching etc. - in Tofino especially.

Not sure of you budget but I would consider taking the coastal train service to Seattle then the empire builder train to Chicago stopping off at glacier national park. It's a really scenic trip. I've not taken the train but I've driven both

Washington state? That’s where I live, so I would obviously recommend WA over Vancouver. What time of the year would this be?

Thank you for your great suggestions. It would be in May. Slightly dubious about Vancouver because of the homeless/ drug problem.My dn was therein the summer and found it really upsetting to see so many vulnerable people abandonned.

Well, I'll be in Vancouver in May myself - and I've been a couple of times before. Seemed OK to me.

I love Oregon and Washington states - so much gorgeous stuff to see! How much time do you have? I'd drive from SF to Seattle, visiting some of the towns, national parks and national monuments en route (Napa/Sonoma, Lassen Peak, Mt Shasta, Bend, Crater Lake, the Columbia River valley, Mt St Helens, Mt Rainier) and then have a couple of nights in Seattle, which is a lovely, laid-back city with some nice museums and an amazing view over Puget Sound. You'd probably need a week or 10 days to do that justice, but it would be a lovely trip.

That sounds amazing!

I loved Portland, OR too, but like many other west coast cities it seems to have been blighted lately by drugs, violence and an influx of homeless people. I have fond memories of the Portland Art Museum, the Pearl District and Powell's Books - all of which I'm sure are still there. The Seattle Asian Art Museum is well worth a visit too, if you like a bit of culture and there are Japanese gardens in both Portland and Seattle.