HoneyMoon PNW

[gajeep2]

Okay, we leave texas to denver, to flagstaff, AZ. After coming across the Donner pass on my honey moon roadtrip/overland trip where do i go? i want to know what routes to take to maximize my honeymoon and overland experiance to the PNW. I want to do the carson pass, see the tree that cars drive through, and all the typical tourist/and non-tourist places to see. we will not be camping, wife is not a camper but enjoys riding. we wanna see what we can from N.Cali to seattle, washington. leaving washington we wanna come down through yellowstone through montana and whyoming back to texas. i know nothing of the PNW

 

[gajeep2]

Okay, we leave texas to denver, to flagstaff, AZ. After coming across the Donner pass on my honey moon roadtrip/overland trip where do i go? i want to know what routes to take to maximize my honeymoon and overland experiance to the PNW. I want to do the carson pass, see the tree that cars drive through, and all the typical tourist/and non-tourist places to see. we will not be camping, wife is not a camper but enjoys riding. we wanna see what we can from N.Cali to seattle, washington. leaving washington we wanna come down through yellowstone through montana and whyoming back to texas. i know nothing of the PNW

not to mention, where to stay and resturants we need try.

 

[USStrongman]

Thats a huge order to fill.
What are your dates of travel, and how long do you plan on being there? It matters.

So, so, so many options and places to see.

If you don't go anywhere in your entire travels while in Seattle, you absolutely, positively have to go to Dicks Burgers. 7-8 locations around Seattle Walk up service only. They've been around since the 30's and nothing has changed.

I lived in Seattle for 22 years but left in 2001. I traveled everywhere. My advice to your itinerary? If you are going all the way to PNW from Texas (I'm in LBK) go to Vancouver BC. Its amazing and a ton to see. Water, Ocean, forests, mountains all within 20 mins of downtown.

 

[gajeep2]

Thats a huge order to fill.
What are your dates of travel, and how long do you plan on being there? It matters.

So, so, so many options and places to see.

If you don't go anywhere in your entire travels while in Seattle, you absolutely, positively have to go to Dicks Burgers. 7-8 locations around Seattle Walk up service only. They've been around since the 30's and nothing has changed.

I lived in Seattle for 22 years but left in 2001. I traveled everywhere. My advice to your itinerary? If you are going all the way to PNW from Texas (I'm in LBK) go to Vancouver BC. Its amazing and a ton to see. Water, Ocean, forests, mountains all within 20 mins of downtown.

Vancouver sounds awesome.
The PNW is where my wife has always wanted to go, and I am into Overlanding, I have owned a FJ-40, Toyota Hi-Lux, Jeep TJ's, Ford Bronco (full size), and 9 Jeep XJ's. My next build is my dual purpose Ram 2500 4door. So, I have no time frame as we have not set a marriage date. I am surprising her with this trip. Just need points of interest and favorite places to eat. Other than that will incorporate diners-dives-&-driveins to my places to eat. But really want help knowing where to go to sightsee (points of interest) and how to get there.

 

[MrWilsonWJ]

Vancouver sounds awesome.
The PNW is where my wife has always wanted to go, and I am into Overlanding, I have owned a FJ-40, Toyota Hi-Lux, Jeep TJ's, Ford Bronco (full size), and 9 Jeep XJ's. My next build is my dual purpose Ram 2500 4door. So, I have no time frame as we have not set a marriage date. I am surprising her with this trip. Just need points of interest and favorite places to eat. Other than that will incorporate diners-dives-&-driveins to my places to eat. But really want help knowing where to go to sightsee (points of interest) and how to get there.

Man, that is a big question to ask! The PNW is great because there is so much to see and do but it really depends on your time frame, planned route and what you are into for sight seeing. If you take 101 up the coast from nor. Cal through Or and Wa there is tons of small towns and tourist things to do. Or if you want a faster route take I5 hitting the bigger cities and only jump off for point of interest. Or you can take a series of other highways and make your way north through the cascade mountains. I think you first need to figure out how many days of your trip you want to dedicate to exploring the PNW, then you can start planning your route to cover enough miles that you stay on schedule. Really if you've never been to the PNW it doesn't matter what route you take you'll be able to find plenty to keep you busy.

 

[Shakes355]

A lot of this depends on what you both like. If you want to hit cities and check out landmark restaurants, you can't miss portland. It's too cool.
If nature is more your style, I say prioritize highway 101 up the Oregon coast. I highly recommend Cannon Beach and Astoria. They are some of my favorite places to visit. If you skip the coast, I don't think you're doing your trip justice.

As for stops, we normally camp out on random forest roads. But Astoria has handful of great brew pubs; Astoria Brewing Company and Rogue Pier 39 being my preference.

The Olympic peninsula is blanketed by a stellar temperate rainforest. Working through the peninsula, you can grab a ferry in Port Angeles or Port Townsend, do some island hopping and land in Seattle to continue your adventure.

Cheers and good luck with your planning!

 

[oldmopars]

I think you could spend a month in both Oregon and Washington and still not see everything.
You may not know this, but Washington has the only rain forest in the USA, one of the highest mountains and is 2/3rds desert. Add to that the Coast, Puget Sound, too many State and National Forests to count and Washington alone will keep you busy for a long time.
The West side of Both Oregon and Washington are green and wet, wetter the farther North you go. The East/Central side are dry and desert type of landscape. All of this is divided by the Cascade Mountains. Countless lakes, rivers, forests, gorges, and mountains are all through the area.
The list of things to do outside the cities is near endless.
As for cities, Oregon has Portland and Eugene for its 2 largest cities. Portland is very interesting, and eclectic, hippy vibe, etc. Tons of restaurants and cool shops to visit, but the traffic will drive you crazy. The East side has Bend and it is a cool tourist town with lots of fun things to do. Skiing, rafting, Mountain biking, etc.
Washington of course has Seattle with so many things to see and do. Olympia is smaller, but also interesting. Skip Tacoma, it does not have much to offer other than crime and a very bad smell.
Keep in mind that the traffic from Olympia to North of Everett is some of the worst in the entire country. There are only 2 major roads I-5 and Hwy 167/I-405 that take you through the extremely densely populated area. Pack you patience if you travel through the Seattle/Olympia area.
Once East of the Cascade Mountains the traffic is near zero. Only Bend and Spokane will give you any issues at all.
Don't forget about Idaho, it also offers some spectacular sites to see and is worth visiting some time also.

A big thing to know is, do you want to stay on road and see cities, tourist areas, or do some off roading and get away from the cities.

As you can see, to give you any real advice, you would need to tell us when, how long, and what you want to see. Unless you have a year, you just will not see everything. I have lived in the NW since 1980 when I moved up from Cali. There are still things I have not seen and I travel a lot.

 

[gajeep2]

One possible change would be to delete Yosemite, Carson, and Truckee and do the coastal big Sur drive

 

[Shakes355]

Multnomah falls is very nice and just a short drive to Portland.

The museum of flight is an absolute blast. Walked in to spend a couple hours and ended up spending the whole day. I fangirl'd far too hard.

 

[gajeep2]

Okay, after some talking day one of planning here is what I have come up with as our main stops. What I want to know is where to go in-between and any safe off-roading (trail-riding where I can either meet up with one of you or go alone) and places to stop and see/eat between.

Leaving Houston to -
1. Flagstaff, AZ
2. Las Vegas, NV
3. Yosemite Village, CA
4. Carson City, NV
5. Donner's Pass (Truckee, CA)
6. Drive-True Tree, Leggett, CA
7. Eureka, CA
8. Rouge River, OR
9. Crater Lake, OR
10. Cape Meares, OR (Tillamook) -- day drip up the 101 to Cannon Beach by Shakes355 & MRWILSONXJ
11. Multnomah, OR -- ref by Shakes355
12. Mt. Hood
13. Mt. Rainier
14. Snoqualmie Falls -- Eat @ Dicks Burgers by USStrongmann
15. Flight Museum in Tukwila, WA - Plan whole day by Shakes355
16. Forks, WA
17. Olympic Nat park -- ref by shakes355 perfered Astoria
18. N. Cascades Park -- ref by shakes355
19. Burnaby Village, Vancouver, BC
20. West Glacier, MT
21. Old Faithful, WY
22. Cheyenne, WY
23. Denver, CO
24. Amarillo, TX
25. Abilene
HOME!!!

 

[oldmopars]

If you or your girlfriend/wife are into the movies, Forks might be OK, but there is really not much there other than a few tourist type gift shops and everything is named Twilight something or other. Never saw the movie and I felt it was not worth going. I was passing through so I didn't care.
You might was to think about adding Mt. St. Helens to the list, it is in-between Hood and Rainier. It blew its top in 1980 and there is a lot of cool history and regrowth that has happened.

 

[USStrongman]

13. Mt. Rainier - There is a circumnavigate road that leaves going clockwise out of Puyallup (pronounced Pew-al-up). Stop at the hotel on Paradise on the southside of the mountain. Its a full days drive with stops. The Whitaker brothers have a cabin/restaurant just outside the south entrance to the park.

13.a. Downtown Seattle/Pike Place Market/Space needle/-- Eat @ Dicks Burgers by USStrongman 7 or 8 locations around the greater Seattle area proper.

14. Snoqualmie Falls - Go about 1/2 mile past the lookout at the top of the falls and look for a parking area on your left. You can hike to the base of the falls across massive boulders. You can also hike from the main viewing area, but its straight up and straight down. Easier approaching it from the bottom.

15. Flight Museum in Tukwila, WA - Plan whole day by Shakes355 This place gets better all the time. If you go in August, the Seafair Festival may be happening. If so, Fat Albert and the Blue Angels will be in town for a week (first weekend in Aug every year)

16. Forks, WA - Take the ferry from either downtown or 25 mins north at the Mukilteo crossing. Downtown takes you through Poulsbo (awesome nordic town) or Mukilteo is a bit shorter route to Port Townsend, Port Angeles then onto forks. Entrance to the Olympic National Park is in between PA and Forks.

19. Burnaby Village, Vancouver, BC - Stanley Park is on the northside of downtown. Easy to find. Amazing totem pole park and a really nice place to walk around. If you like sushi, its hard to find bad sushi in Vancouver.

21. Old Faithful, WY - Anything in Yellowstone? Go early. Like at sunrise. Crowds are horrendous mid day. Dont try and eat at any restaurant at 9, 12 or 5. It gets PACKED! If you are staying in the park camping, hotel, etc... start making reservations asap. These will be tough to come by soon. Spent 2 months there last year. My favorite part of the park is the NE side. Lamar Valley. Moose, brown, black and grizzly, 3 different wolf packs, bald and golden eagles, and so much more. Cook City outside the NE entrance is a great little town with good food.

22. Cheyenne, WY - Not a lot to see here.

23. Denver, CO - Consider adding Rocky Mountain NP and Estes Park to this stop.

24. Amarillo, TX - 1.5 hours from me. Not a lot to see in Amarillo. No great food. There is a great brewery up there - Pondaseta Brewing.

25. Abilene - 2 hours from me the other direction. You will go through Lubbock going from Ama to Abi. Let me know when you're coming through and beer is on me at my wifes brewery here - The Brewery LBK.

HOME!!!

 

[gajeep2]

This is perfect, exactly what I was wanting! Thank you so much for your time. I have only been impressed since becoming a member here!!!

 

[USStrongman]

It was fun typing it and reminiscing about my former life. I/we will go back and spend time exploring. I could never live there again. Its changed too much for me to call it home. Its like eating your favorite burger from when you were a kid... only to find out later, it wasn't all that great!

 

[JCBigler]

Sounds like a great trip.

But, is this what you're new bride actually WANTS to do for HER honeymoon?

 

[Dilldog]

I have lived my whole 35years in Washington and still not seen everything I want to, just in WA. I would however recommend you hit the North Sound towns like was suggested above. I learned to ride motorcycles up there and so it holds a special place in my heart, but its amazing up there. My wife and I rip over to Bellingham any time we can. I think highway 20 (North Cascades Highway) is an amazing drive. I would also recommend trying to hit Banff in Canada, its not too far out of your way and an amazing place.

 

[472HemiGTX]

Some suggestions in Oregon starting from the south:

Oregon Caves - cave tour and stay at the Chateau
Crater Lake
Alvord Desert & hot springs

Central Oregon:
Fort Rock, Crack in the Ground, Hole in the Ground
Glass Butte - east of Bend for obsidian
Painted Hills
John Day Fossil Beds
Crystal Crane Hot Springs

Oregon Coast:
Sea Lion Caves (depending on time of year)
Fort Stevens - WW2 gun emplacements, Peter Iredale shipwreck


Eastern Oregon:
Hell's Canyon

Mt. St. Helens in Washington