San Francisco to Seattle September 2017

[MrAndMrsCulshaw]

Hello one and all
We are Ronnie and Andrea and we are visiting the US for a road trip in September for our honeymoon
We are flying in from the UK to JFK and spending 4 nights in New York before flying over to San Francisco, where we will stay for a further 4 nights before picking up the car.

The original plan was always to go with a Mustang Convertible but after reading plenty of good advice on here about luggage capacity and sometimes ending up with a Sebring depending upon availability, we have gone for an average sized SUV.

So from San Francisco our first stop is over the Golden Gate bridge to stay for a couple of nights in Sonoma at the Ledson Hotel so we can enjoy some of the amazing Zinfandels you guys keep for yourselves.
From there we are going to be heading to Shoreline Cottages, Fort Bragg, CA after hitting Highway 1 to head up to Elk / Mendocino / Fort Bragg area

Next stop is going to be Thunderbird Lodge, Redding, CA for a vist to Shasta Dam

We venture onto Running Y Ranch Resort, Klamath Falls, OR for Klamath Lake or even Crater Lake – still up for debate

Time to head back to the Oregon coastline now to stay at Windermere On The Beach, Bandon, OR

We then head up Highway 101 to the Sandcastle Beachfront Motel, Lincoln City, OR to admire all the fantastic beaches, lighthouses and rock formations along that spectacular looking coastline

We’ll then loop around through Tillamook to visit the creamery (Andrea has a delicatessen back in the UK) to stay at the Hotel Modera, Portland, OR for a couple of days – even if it’s only to take in Voodoo Doughnuts

Now we can head up to Canon Beach and book into the Atomic Motel, Astoria, OR so that Ronnie can fulfil his Goonies obsession and maybe even do a Truffle Shuffle outside the Goonies House.

Next off we head up towards Mount Rainier to have a bit of solitude at the Almost Paradise Lodging, Ashford, WA.

We’re hoping to get some good views of Mount rainier as we use the tiny Route 123 to navigate from Paradise round to the Salish Lodge, Snoqualmie, WA to fulfil another trip highlight staying at Twin Peaks’ Great Northern and visiting the Double R Diner for some damn fine coffee and cherry pie

A last short hop takes into Seattle to return the rental before staying at the MarQueen Hotel, Seattle, WA for a few days.

A quick flight down to Las Vegas to stay at the Bellagio Hotel, Las Vegas, NV for cheesy fountain pictures and the opportunity to lose all our remaining money before flying back to Manchester the next day.

So if any of you good readers have any must see’s or improvements to that route feel free to offer your sage advice.
Our interests, in no particular order, are:-
Trees, Music & Vinyl Records, Doughnuts, Wine, Guy Fieri's Triple D, Architecture, Goonies, Twin Peaks, Big Hills, Architecture

As we post this it’s only 134 days to take off – not that were counting or anything!

[jm98]

You have very good plan. How much time you have to go up and down to Seattle area?

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and a belated welcome to RTA ! (Apologies you were not responded to earlier you seemed to have slipped through the net )

Here are some initial thoughts.

Between F. Bragg and Redding I would continue on CA1/ US101 up through Humboldt Redwoods and drive the fantastic 'Ave of the Giants' through the giant Redwoods.

I would recommend a visit to Crater Lake.

While in Portland you could visit the spectacular waterfalls along the Historic Columbia river Gorge.