Vancouver, BC to Portland / Oregon

Hi!

I'm new here - I'm looking for interesting tips and suggestions for a 4 day roadtrip vacation for 6 people in about 2 weeks, during the long weekend.

Let me begin with some information that is crucial to tips/suggestions:

4 days, 3 nights round road trip.
Starting point is BC, Vancouver, down to Portland, then back up.
We'll be carrying a good amount of money - that shouldn't be too much of a variable.

I was thinking of driving straight to Portland area first (I believe this will be the furthest we will go), then spend the last 3 days taking our time heading back up.

I've read this thread and would appreciate any extra information!

I would really appreciate it if people could put in their two cents about:

1) Places you highly recommend along this way
2) Restaurants that are scrumptious and reasonable
3) Hotels/Motels that are safe and cheap
4) Discount locations/coupons

I've got several locations on my list, but I want a large diversity so I can maximize the efficiency!

For a real random suggestion, based upon some past trips in this area for 4 days..

Day 1 -- Vancouver to Portland, with a side trip to Mt St Helens. The key here will be getting to Portland and exploring a bit for dinner. Lots of options on places to stay and very good restaurants -- although the beers and amazing number of local brews to try in Portland would be fun for the evening. (With reason of course!)

Day 2 -- Portland to Astoria, and start up the coast. I would highly recommend the Hoh Rain Forest as a stop. For an interesting place to stay that wasn't too outrageous in price (but outrageous for scenery) I'd recommend the Lake Crescent Lodge in the Olympic National Park. If you stay in the "motel" section, prices are very reasonable, and the scenery was incredible -- particularly sunset, watching the light across the lake and sipping drinks on the Veranda of the Lodge. There's also a very nice trail to a local waterfall just on the other side of the highway, leading in about a mile or so to a 80+' waterfall.

Day 3 -- to Port Angeles, and then via Ferry to Victoria BC. Depending upon your schedule you might make it to Hurricane Ridge near Port Angeles, which has very nice views of the peaks in the Olympic Pennisula. For the night, I'd pick one of the hotels in Victoria near the harbor -- there are some reasonably priced ones there. Dinner in Victoria.

Day 4 -- Visit Victoria, and perhaps somewhere like Buschart Gardens or the like on Vancouver Island. You do have time to drive up along the east coast of Vancouver Island to Naiamo before taking the ferry back to the mainland (which might be a long day, but you'll get back to Vancouver), or you can return via Sydney to Twassen (if I spelled that right).

That will give you 4 days of some widely varied natural scenery -- mountains, collapsed volcanos, apline peaks, mountain lakes, beaches/ oceans, rain forests, and ferries before coming back to Vancouver.

Thanks for the suggestion - I actually live in Vancouver, so taking a ferry trip would probably be another trip for me in the future. I really do appreciate your reply and definitely will help out for my planning!

Much appreciated!