LA to Victoria, Canada via Seattle

[ElijahMay]

Hello! First timer here.

Planned to go to Victoria, Canada. We are starting from LA to Seattle. On our way to Seattle, we would like to stop by Sacramento and spend a night there before heading to Seattle to take ferry from Port Angeles (Seattle) to Victoria.

Coming back to LA, we would like another route (not through Sacramento anymore).

Any suggestions for our trip is highly appreciated. This is our first time. We need all the tips and tricks to do this.

Thank you.

[DonnaR57]

Welcome to RTA!

First off - how much time were you planning to take for the trip north and then the trip south?

LA to Sacto is just under 400 miles -- a nice comfortable day's drive on I-5. Then it's another 800 mi up to Victoria via the ferry -- another 2 day drive, including that ferry ride.

If you have at least 5 days, you could come down the coast all the way from WA down to LA. If you don't have that much time, you could do part of it on the coast and part of it inland.

Do you have maps, or are you trying to plan this from online mapping programs or a GPS? I highly recommend paper maps.



Donna

[ElijahMay]

Thank you Donna. We have 2 weeks for this trip, LA to Victoria and back.
From Sac to Seattle, considering we have an 11-year old boy, which city would you recommend for us to spend the night, stop and maybe visit a place/places that our son would like.
I planned to use GPS but since you recommended paper maps, I'll buy one. Thank you.

[DonnaR57]

You can get a good atlas at most big box stores, or a good book store. If you're a member of AAA, maps come "free" with your membership, just request them.

On the way up, on the first day, you could swing into Crater Lake National Park (southern Oregon). You could spend a few hours there, then spend the night in Roseburg. (Introducing children to national parks is a great thing, IMHO.) On the way up the next day, drive through Mt Rainier NP. Or, if you can spare a day for either one, it would be (IMHO) time well spent.


Donna

[AZBuck]

If you plan to get from L.A. to Victoria in three days with a stopover in Sacramento, then I'd suggest that perhaps Eugene OR is a reasonable lace to spend your other over-night. There are a couple of things you need to take into account and balance. If you are staying with friends or family, or have another significant reason for stopping in Sacramento, then you probably won't get a terribly early start and so need to cut down a bit on the second day's driving goal. On the other hand, you absolutely have to leave time for getting to the ferry a bit early (Make reservations!!!) and you'll want the crossing to be in daylight hours so that your son can really enjoy it. At just under 500 miles from Sacramento, Eugene is possible even on a slightly shortened day. Then it's only about 350 miles from Eugene to Port Angeles to catch the ferry, meaning you should easily be able to catch the 5:20 PM sailing to Victoria.

Note: It is not necessary to go through Seattle to get to Port Angeles, if fact it would be out of the way. Better would be to leave I-5 at Olympia and take US-101. Be careful here - I'm not sure how it is marked, but this section of US-101 is actually the tail end of the highway after it has hooked around through the Olympic Peninsula and so it may be marked as US-101 South(!) even though it's headed north. But this will be a far more scenic and less congested drive than heading up I-5 thorough Tacoma and Seattle . Indeed, if you went all the way to Seattle, you'd have to take another ferry across Puget Sound to get to Port Angeles.

For the drive home along the coast, you'll need four days at a minimum. Five would be better, there's so much to see. Highlights for an 11 year old boy would include Fort Clatsop outside Astoria OR, Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, Redwood National Park, Point Reyes National Seashore, and Monterey's Aquarium as well as many other smaller coastal state parks and historic sites.

AZBuck

[ElijahMay]

Thank you Donna and AZBuck for the tips. A lot of information to digest for a first timer but got me excited at the same time.

And yes, we are staying/visiting a cousin in Sacramento, that's why it's included as our stopover.

Yes, we like national parks.

Now I have to get that paper map.

If there's anything that I need to know, please. Thank you.

[jm98]

Hint: You can avoid Seattle traffic by just taking 101 from Olympia, WA to Port Angeles.

[ElijahMay]

Thank you.

AAA has maps?

[ElijahMay]

On our way back, taking the coast (101), which cities would you recommend we spend the night considering we have 4 days spend stopping at the national parks, etc.

[glc]

AAA has maps which are free for members.