8/2 Arrive Portland around 4:30 – get rental car. Decided to drive because day was over
Dinner at Shari’s Restaurant – this was good and we got free pie Wednesday.
Stop by Mount St Helens on way to Seattle (couldn’t see much do to smoke but would definitely do again – pretty awesome. Visitors center was closed but would have been great to go there)
Lodging Seattle: LaQuinta in Lynnwood, WA ($155.84) (clean, no frills no complaints)
8/3 Tour Seattle:
Space Needle (Brandon’s wish list...smoke again made visibility difficult. Expensive – could have passed on this personally!)
Chihully Gardens – bought ticket with Space Needle, it’s right next door. Very cool! Beautiful glass work museum by artist Chihully
Walking around Pike Place, downtown and by wharf.
•Gum wall
Daico – Japanese dollar store – did this alone, fun inexpensive shopping!
Lodging Seattle: Same as before
8/4 Drive to Vancouver (2 hours?)
Granville Public Market – like a Gardner’s Village on steriods – very fun! Could have spent more time there. Plan to eat there!
Stanley Park – rented bikes there and rode around. Beautiful! A highlight!
Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge and hike – actually had a fun spot we could have swam and cliff jumped if we had wanted to.
Drove to Whistler (2 hours?)
Walked around village
Swimming at Resort
Lodging Whistler: Westin Resort ($240.97 CAD on Hotline) (very very nice – expensive, a splurge. There weren’t many hotel choice, all very expensive. I would try a VRBO next time as it seemed there might be lots of choices that way)
View from window
8/5 A Day in Whistler
Kayaked in lakes at Whistler – very fun!
Other options that we didn’t do: hiking, watching bike races, actual mountain biking down slopes or biking on trails. Peak to Peak – didn’t do because of intense smoke, zipline, bungee jump)
Hotel let us shower in Rec area
Drove to Hotel south of Vancouver
Visited temple about 15 minutes away – nighttime it was closed.
Lodging S of Vancouver: Best Western Country Meadows in Aldergrove ($210 CAD) (can’t remember quality, think it was fine, but there was nothing to Aldergrove that we could find! Ate at an A&W)
8/6 Sunday:
Long drive (5.5 hours) down through the San Juan Islands.
Ferried from Edmonds to Kingston. Dad enjoyed the drive, but honestly, by this point we had seen forests and forests so this was nothing new and the drive was long. It was fun to ferry over though! If it wasn’t Sunday we may have chosen a different quicker route on Freeway and other stops)
Fun village Port Gamble
Stopped at some naval yards
Lodging Olympia: Hampton Inn in Olympia – brand new and very nice
8/7 Drove down Oregon Coast
Astoria - awesome little town, climbed the column. What a view from the top!
Seaside Village – fun tourist town and huge beach (cold!)
Cannon Beach – walked on beach out to the rocks. Watched men making huge soap bubbles!
Ate fish and chips
Lodging Oregon Coast: Tradewinds Motel in Rockaway Beach. Older, but fine. We didn’t care because we were right on the beach, we could leave our sliding door open all night and listen to the waves. Awesome!
8/8 Drive to Portland
Visited Tillamook Farms – yummy ice cream for breakfast
Drove through Tillamook Forest – beautiful
Started 4T Hike at the Oregon Zoo (Trail, Tram, Trolley, Trax). Hike was beautiful, hot (they were having a heat wave). It took us 1.5-2 hours I believe. We ended up at a university medical center and took the Tram down for free. Then we picked up a little Trolley (streetcar which really was almost like Trax) to the Downtown and ate at the streetcars at 9th and Alder. Brandon had a double decker grilled cheese, I had stonefired pizza and Dad had Indian Curry. Then walked to Voodoo Donuts for the highly acclaimed donuts. Nothing special in our opinion and way overpriced. Then Trax back to the Zoo and home.
Lodging Near Portland: Fairfield Inn in Lake Oswego (drove around this city centered around a beautiful lake!)
8/9 Last Day
Temple in the morning (2 minutes from hotel)
Hike Multnomah Falls – beautiful hike!
Stopped at a Truck stop for a sponge bath
On to the airport and home!
Consensus: even with smoke this trip was awesome. Highlights: Stanley Park, the beach and all of Whistler.
Dinner at Shari’s Restaurant – this was good and we got free pie Wednesday.
Stop by Mount St Helens on way to Seattle (couldn’t see much do to smoke but would definitely do again – pretty awesome. Visitors center was closed but would have been great to go there)
8/3 Tour Seattle:
Space Needle (Brandon’s wish list...smoke again made visibility difficult. Expensive – could have passed on this personally!)
Chihully Gardens – bought ticket with Space Needle, it’s right next door. Very cool! Beautiful glass work museum by artist Chihully
Walking around Pike Place, downtown and by wharf.
•Gum wall
Daico – Japanese dollar store – did this alone, fun inexpensive shopping!
Lodging Seattle: Same as before
8/4 Drive to Vancouver (2 hours?)
Granville Public Market – like a Gardner’s Village on steriods – very fun! Could have spent more time there. Plan to eat there!
Stanley Park – rented bikes there and rode around. Beautiful! A highlight!
Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge and hike – actually had a fun spot we could have swam and cliff jumped if we had wanted to.
Drove to Whistler (2 hours?)
Walked around village
Swimming at Resort
Lodging Whistler: Westin Resort ($240.97 CAD on Hotline) (very very nice – expensive, a splurge. There weren’t many hotel choice, all very expensive. I would try a VRBO next time as it seemed there might be lots of choices that way)
View from window
8/5 A Day in Whistler
Kayaked in lakes at Whistler – very fun!
Other options that we didn’t do: hiking, watching bike races, actual mountain biking down slopes or biking on trails. Peak to Peak – didn’t do because of intense smoke, zipline, bungee jump)
Hotel let us shower in Rec area
Drove to Hotel south of Vancouver
Visited temple about 15 minutes away – nighttime it was closed.
Lodging S of Vancouver: Best Western Country Meadows in Aldergrove ($210 CAD) (can’t remember quality, think it was fine, but there was nothing to Aldergrove that we could find! Ate at an A&W)
8/6 Sunday:
Long drive (5.5 hours) down through the San Juan Islands.
Ferried from Edmonds to Kingston. Dad enjoyed the drive, but honestly, by this point we had seen forests and forests so this was nothing new and the drive was long. It was fun to ferry over though! If it wasn’t Sunday we may have chosen a different quicker route on Freeway and other stops)
Fun village Port Gamble
Stopped at some naval yards
Lodging Olympia: Hampton Inn in Olympia – brand new and very nice
8/7 Drove down Oregon Coast
Astoria - awesome little town, climbed the column. What a view from the top!
Seaside Village – fun tourist town and huge beach (cold!)
Cannon Beach – walked on beach out to the rocks. Watched men making huge soap bubbles!
Ate fish and chips
Lodging Oregon Coast: Tradewinds Motel in Rockaway Beach. Older, but fine. We didn’t care because we were right on the beach, we could leave our sliding door open all night and listen to the waves. Awesome!
8/8 Drive to Portland
Visited Tillamook Farms – yummy ice cream for breakfast
Drove through Tillamook Forest – beautiful
Started 4T Hike at the Oregon Zoo (Trail, Tram, Trolley, Trax). Hike was beautiful, hot (they were having a heat wave). It took us 1.5-2 hours I believe. We ended up at a university medical center and took the Tram down for free. Then we picked up a little Trolley (streetcar which really was almost like Trax) to the Downtown and ate at the streetcars at 9th and Alder. Brandon had a double decker grilled cheese, I had stonefired pizza and Dad had Indian Curry. Then walked to Voodoo Donuts for the highly acclaimed donuts. Nothing special in our opinion and way overpriced. Then Trax back to the Zoo and home.
Lodging Near Portland: Fairfield Inn in Lake Oswego (drove around this city centered around a beautiful lake!)
8/9 Last Day
Temple in the morning (2 minutes from hotel)
Hike Multnomah Falls – beautiful hike!
Stopped at a Truck stop for a sponge bath
On to the airport and home!
Consensus: even with smoke this trip was awesome. Highlights: Stanley Park, the beach and all of Whistler.
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