San Jose, CA to Seattle and back in around 7-8 days

[bayarean]

Hi, I am planning a road trip with my wife and 1 y/o son to Seattle and back this month end. I know I am too late in this but wanted some advice from the road warriors as to what are the best things to do and see along the route and if it is too less a time to do this trip.

Here is some background about us:
1. We will be leaving SJ on the evening of June 26th (7 pm) or early morning of 27th. We need to back by July 5th night (preferably) or July 6th noon.
2. We can take turns and drive whole day.
3. The only thing we know we want to do is crater lake.
4. Other than that I have absolutely no clue about the main attractions/pit stops in OR and WA.
5. We are not big winery fans though and being in bay area, we have already been to most northen california attractions. (Wineries, san francisco, point reyes, Mendocino, Eureka, yosemite etc.)
6. We will not be camping (little guy I think is too small for that) but are open to go for stroller friendly hikes.

Thanks,
Paul

[DonnaR57]

Welcome to RTA!

Along the way -- Mt Shasta, Lassen Volcanic National Park, Crater Lake, the Valley of the Rogue State Park in Oregon, Mt St Helens, Mt Rainier National Park -- with 7 days round trip, you can't see everything I mentioned, but some of these would be great to see.


Donna

[AZBuck]

Generally, the purpose of a RoadTrip is to enjoy a bit of time on the open road, enjoy some scenery, enjoy stimulating the mind with the occasional stop at a historical or other point of interest, enjoy some time communing with nature, and just enjoy not having to grind out each day. Note the emphasis on the word 'enjoy'. That's one of the reasons we simply cringe whenever we see comments like "We can take turns and drive whole day." There's almost nothing enjoyable about being cooped up inside a car for an entire day, no matter how pretty the scenery passing by the window is.

So my first bit of advice, before and above answering your questions, is to make time each day for the purpose, for the enjoyment, of the trip. Assuming you take the inland Interstate route in one direction and the coastal PCH route in the other, you're going to need to actually be driving for about 35 hours or so over the week you have - or about five hours every day. Now, with a small child that already doesn't sound like a lot of fun, but maybe that's what you want. So my second bit of advice would be to work out a destination for each day of your journey now and make reservations so that you are not having to waste precious time trying to find a place to stay each night or worse, being turned away by one 'No Vacancy" sign after another at what is, after all, the height of the tourist season.

AZBuck

[Lifemagician]

The things which jumped out at me is the thought of a 7pm start. Why would you want to start at that late hour with a little one. I know he will probably be sleeping through the evening, but only a few hours later you will wake up the little one only to try to get him back to sleep in a totally foreign place. It may not give you a good night's sleep to 'enjoy' the next day on the road. Stick with leaving on the morning of 27th. With 9 days in all, you should not have to leave excessively early.

Every couple of hours, look for a suitable stop for your son to let of his energy. Somewhere where he can run around for 5 mins, rather than have him go from car seat to stroller. It also pays to arrive at your destination in ample time for him to familiarise himself with the surroundings in which he will be going to sleep.

Lifey