From Orange County California to Seattle! Please help with your favorite stops!

[RachelKSmyth]

Hello! My husband and I are finally taking our honeymoon after 8 months of being married! We are either renting a car/small RV and driving up to Seattle from Orange County, then taking a cruise to Alaska and flying home. I will attach a picture of the route we thought about driving... If you know of any stops, things to do and see, beautiful views, offbeat attractions or whatever else PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE share them with us! We will take about a week to get up there but are planning on skipping everything until San Francisco since we have been there before. Thank you so much for taking the time to share with us! Excursions in Alaska are welcomed as well, we will visit Juneau, Ketchikan, Victoria (B.C.), and Skagway. Thanks!

Rachel

Roadtrip.jpg

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

It sounds like a wonderful Honeymoon you have planned. Whether or not you decide on an RV should be down to a 'Lifestyle' choice and whether or not you prefer to camp. If budget is of concern then the RV will be the more expensive option when you consider high fuel consumption, campground fees, possible mileage charges and as you are continuing on elsewhere at the end, you would need to hire bedding and kitchen kits. Car or RV will be subject to one way drop off fees in most cases.

Your map is just to small to get detail of what you have already planned to see along the way so it might be best to list your itinerary before we make further suggestions.

[Joe46]

I agree with Dave. Although it appears you're leaving the Oregon coast and heading to Portland? I might suggest you stay on the 101 and cross into Washington at Astoria. Both Ketchikan, and Juneau, are beautiful but small cities. When the cruise boats pull in they can get quite crowded. Take rain gear! Victoria, B.C. is also very beautiful. Remember your passports.

[Lifemagician]

In Skagway there is a rail tour to White Pass. It is supposed to be beautiful, but when I was there the clouds were so low, you could barely see anything at sea level, let alone up in the mountains. It was also pouring rain. For these reasons I would not book. I didn't. See what it is like when you are there, and then make up your mind.

Skagway is a lovely little old gold town, and even if you do no more than just walk around and in the shops, you will find it most rewarding. Pity you won't be going to Whittier, Homer and further north.

Lifey

[DonnaR57]

I agree with Lifey about Skagway, it's a lovely little town. Try to walk as far as you can AWAY from the cruise ship port, as the further you go, the less "touristy" it is.



Donna

[RachelKSmyth]

Hello everyone!

Thank you so much for your responses! We are so excited but don't want to miss something so we love all the ideas!! Thank you!

Our route is a little all over the place so that we can try to see a little of everything.. the coast but also the main cities in Oregon.

The places that we will stay overnight are Sacramento, Eureka, Eugene, Portland, Klamath Falls, and Seattle. Any suggestions are great though because we might re-adjust the route. Any one your must-sees are welcomed! Thanks again!

Rachel

[DonnaR57]

Though we really don't do "must-see" places here (one person's "must see" is another one's "must pass"), you might want to consider:

Crater Lake National Park
Mt Rainier National Park
Mt St Helens, Washington
Columbia River Gorge
Fort Clatsop National Historic Park

All can be found on the nps.gov site, I believe.

Donna

[Southwest Dave]

North of San Francisco you have Golden gate rec area, Muir woods, Point Reyes, Humblotd State park, Redwood NP to mention a few. Does the "seen everything before SF" include Yosemite NP, if not it is worth considering, it's certainly one of my favourite places !