Road Trip - Los Angeles to Seattle

Corduroyboy

Evil Closet Monkey wrote:

good... I-5 in N Cal is ass until you get to Oregon.....

From Redding to Shasta is pretty nice, but after Shasta until the border is pretty beat. The state of Jefferson up there!!

Firecloud

Corduroyboy wrote:

From Redding to Shasta is pretty nice, but after Shasta until the border is pretty beat. The state of Jefferson up there!!

haha I just watched some Road Trip show last night about this - first I'd ever heard of the "state of Jefferson"! They take that shit seriously, too...

Cosmo

Be sure to check road conditions through Big Sur (if you are thinking of that route) because of the wild fire. U.S. 1 between Carmel and San Simeon is not the place you want to be in bad weather or road conditions.
Have a safe trip.

Firecloud

SDHSClassof82 wrote:

Yep, 'cept Shasta. I thought the central Oregon coast, Yachats, Florence, Cape Perpetua and there abouts, were gorgeous, natural beauty rivalling Big Sur. I found the stretch north from Cannon Beach pretty touristy and congested with traffic...and that was in October. That's a great idea to check out the latest fire locations. It's crazy this year.

I second the recommendation of the Olympic Peninsula. I moved here two years ago and I'm still awe-struck regularly.

The 101 seems to loop the Olympic Peninsula pretty completely, but what are the best sights/parks on the peninsula? The east canals look like they'd be pretty cool, and I'd imagine there's a lot of waterfront stuff to get down with - but what about places like Crescent Lake or Erickson's Bay? It seems the farthest into the Olympic National Park you can get by car is from the west.

Thanks again for all your help, we really really appreciate it.

Firecloud

Alright, we're leaving tomorrow afternoon! Revised plan is as follows:

Saturday - Drive from LA to my sister's in Berkeley, eat, smoke, laugh, rock out, sleep.

Sunday - Wake up at dawn, cross the Golden Gate, and ride the 101 all the way up to Crescent City or Brookings, Oregon, which is pretty close to the border.

Monday - Drive up the Oregon coast, get to Seattle Monday night. Sleep our asses off.

Tuesday - See downtown Seattle, UDub, Snoqualmie falls, etc.

Wednesday - Take the ferry from Seattle to Bremerton, then swing over to the 101 and take that up the west coast of the Olympic Peninsula. Go up and around, stay on the west end of the peninsula overnight.

Thursday - Complete the Olympic circle, head east through Tacoma and into Mt. Rainier National Park - drive through, sleep, and head home Friday morning.

Thanks for everybody's input/suggestions! They've been really helpful, and we're looking forward to the trip so much more because of you guys.

If anyone has any information about the fires in NorCal and whether or not they'll threaten coastal driving, please let me know. Also, any suggestions about locales for buds are enthusiastically welcomed. We'll have our own but would like to try out the local wares.

cha cha cha

Corduroyboy

Firecloud wrote:

Sunday - Wake up at dawn, cross the Golden Gate, and ride the 101 all the way up to Crescent City or Brookings, Oregon, which is pretty close to the border.


cha cha cha

Get ready for a long, long drive. Beautiful but long. Tons of hotels on the 101 soon as you get into Crescent City, but Brookings is a much nicer town. Don't forget to stop into Fred Meyers! Have a great trip, I'm envious right now!

Firecloud

Awesome! thanks! We're super amped right now... leaving in about 7 hours, once my gf gets out of work. What's Fred Meyers?

quasi

Firecloud wrote:

Awesome! thanks! We're super amped right now... leaving in about 7 hours, once my gf gets out of work. What's Fred Meyers?

Fred Meyer is just a Washington/Alaska based department store similar to Target. I call it the Northwest's Target.

Have a good drive up. It's a long one but if you break it up like you are, it'll be a blast. I've made the Seattle-LA drive four times myself and can't wait to do it again.

SDHSClassof82

Firecloud wrote:

The 101 seems to loop the Olympic Peninsula pretty completely, but what are the best sights/parks on the peninsula? The east canals look like they'd be pretty cool, and I'd imagine there's a lot of waterfront stuff to get down with - but what about places like Crescent Lake or Erickson's Bay? It seems the farthest into the Olympic National Park you can get by car is from the west.

Thanks again for all your help, we really really appreciate it.

The 101 Olympic Peninsula Loop has an incredible variety of awesome sceanery, but that will be two VERY long days. 101 is a highway in name only in these parts, more like Highway 1 in CA. Hoh rainforest, Lake Quinault, and Ruby Beach are highlights. I've not been to Crescent Lake or Erickson's Bay yet. They're on my list for this summer. And yes, best access to the park is from the west.

Hotel Recommendations: Port Townsend Inn or Harborside Inn in Port Townsend.

Have a great time, the weather is supposed to be really nice.

Firecloud

quasi wrote:

Fred Meyer is just a Washington/Alaska based department store similar to Target. I call it the Northwest's Target.

Have a good drive up. It's a long one but if you break it up like you are, it'll be a blast. I've made the Seattle-LA drive four times myself and can't wait to do it again.

Thanks! Anything you can recommend or advise against based on your journeys? There's always something from my past trips that I wish I'd done a little differently.... just looking to cut down on that this time around.

meme

Spent my honeymoon roadtripping from SF to Portland. Standouts were Bandon by the sea, Sausalito, and all the wonderful Oregon beaches we walked on. I don't think there is one dull spot on the whole drive, just stop whenever the whim comes. Have fun, I'm jealous

quasi

Firecloud wrote:

Thanks! Anything you can recommend or advise against based on your journeys? There's always something from my past trips that I wish I'd done a little differently.... just looking to cut down on that this time around.

Well, Fred Meyer can probably be skipped. Like I said, it's just like Target so nothing too exciting (but I always used to go there was little daily necessities). Astoria, Oregon is a nice little stop...it's right on the coast between Washington and Oregon. I lived in Eureka, CA. in northern California (right on the 101) and that is a sleepy little coastal town with a bit of charm. Arcata just north of it is a cool college town (very small...Humboldt University).

Sometimes, I don't really like to plan trips to a tee...just drive with a loose plan and discover things along the way that you can probably recommend to others.

Corduroyboy

quasi wrote:

Well, Fred Meyer can probably be skipped.

Fred Meyers is great and shouldn't be skipped! It's Walmart, Raley's, Best Buy, Home Depot, a low budget Macy's, and the Sports Chalet all wrapped into one. There's one right on the 101 in Brookings, you can't miss it. Stop in and buy some frozen New Castle mini burgers!!

Again, like others have said, plan, but don't over plan. It's a long drive and you wont get in as much driving as expected. You will want to stop 1,000 times along the coast for pictures. It eats up tons of time. Watch the wind, it can get crazy. And watch for great wind surfing at the mouth of the Pistol River just north of Brookings. Other than Hood River, the Pistol River area seems to be the mecca for wind surfers.

Firecloud

awesome, thanks so much guys. we're biting off big chunks each day in terms of ground we want to cover, but I think we can do it...
I'm not usually one for planning trips down to the detail, but this time I don't want to drive aimlessly. It's a perfect opportunity to hit a ton of spots we've never seen before.

And this Fred Meyers action seems too weird to pass up. If I see it, I'm stopping...