5 day summer road trip, where to go? [Archive] - Beyond.ca - Car Forums

taemo

06-19-2012, 09:41 AM

Kansas City is far, might as well drive to Cali or Vegas if you want to drive 20hrs+

if your wife has never been to Seattle, then maybe take her there, then at least you have the option to go to Portland too.
You could also do the PCH drive.

Last year in 7 days, we drove to San Francisco(2nights), Pismo Beach(1night), LA(2 nights), Vegas(1night) and I regret not doing the PCH drive. It's on my to do list for sure next time we get a week off.

Cos

06-19-2012, 09:43 AM

AzNxHyDrA

06-19-2012, 09:55 AM

I'm going on a 5 day family trip to check out yellowstone national park. If you're into that sort of thing I hear it's pretty nice there.

Jeff TYPE R

06-19-2012, 10:12 AM

Originally posted by Cos
Going to Kaslo area. The roads around there are great. Cool little towns (New Denver, Nakusp) isn’t far from home and my Aunt and Uncle live across from Kaslo on the lake. I used to live around there. Best roads I've ever driven in Canada.

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&cp=11&gs_id=7&xhr=t&q=highway%2031a&qscrl=1&nord=1&rlz=1T4DBCA_enCA234CA235&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1440&bih=691&ion=1&wrapid=tljp1340122215198010&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=iw&ei=faTgT_S4J8nU2AWg5Iz4CQ

Cos

06-19-2012, 10:13 AM

cancer man

06-19-2012, 10:33 AM

First of all i hate the states.
Do south and east Alberta fantastic road trip so much to see and do.
If you go to the states bring me back 100.00 worth of nickels.

Cos

06-19-2012, 10:34 AM

clem24

06-20-2012, 10:30 AM

Originally posted by cancer man
First of all i hate the states.
Do south and east Alberta fantastic road trip so much to see and do.

I love the states. Gas, food, EVERYTHING is cheaper. Their highways are nicer, has better rest stops, etc...

For 5 days, I'd do Seattle and/or Vancouver. Depends really what you want to do. Does your wife like shopping, seeing cities, or doing sight seeing, etc?

I just took a 6 day trip to Seattle, came back via the Stevens Pass. It is FANTASTIC. If you can afford the time, I'd go via the Stevens Pass (if your wife likes tourist traps like my wife, she'll love Leavenworth). Then come back via the Columbia River Gorge (borders Washington and Oregon). Or do just 1. Columbia River Gorge has the highest concentrations of waterfalls in the states I think and most of them are accessible via 1-2 minute walks right off the old highway (fantastic twisty road too BTW).

Just to add: KC is WAY too far for 5 days. When I bought my Subaru in 07 from OKC, I spent 5 days just one way coming back (but taking in the sights along the way and stopping in Denver for 2 days). Otherwise you'd just spend 2 days straight driving there, stay 1 day and have to drive back again. Not worth it. You need at least 2 weeks for that kind of trip.

tch7

06-20-2012, 08:58 PM

5 days is ideal for Nelson, Kaslo, and that whole area. That's what I'd be most inclined to do.

The other good one if you're into nature is a loop around Waterton, Glacier, & Whitefish. If you're not into nature, then yes, 5 days would be a bit much.

yellowsnow

06-25-2012, 12:46 AM

I drove from Kansas City to Calgary. I swung by Mt. Rushmore on my way back, and did a short hike up that. i didn't notice anything else along the way there. It was a pretty uneventful drive.

C_Dave45

06-25-2012, 07:41 AM

Cos, not sure what your interests are for road trips...but if you like exploring different towns and you decide to do the Seattle trip, then take a short trip and spend a night at one of any number of gorgeous B&B's on Whidby Island (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whidbey_Island). It's just west of the I5 and you get onto it by a huge bridge with an amazing view (https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=Whidbey+Island,+Island,+Washington,+United+States&hl=en&ll=48.408889,-122.645376&spn=0.014187,0.042272&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&geocode=FURl3AIdsbiz-A&hnear=Whidbey+Island&t=m&z=15&layer=c&cbll=48.408889,-122.645376&panoid=4OV5VuUKrn2TfFTA6NUHRw&cbp=12,253.55,,0,19.55) of Deception Pass. There are tons of B&B's that are right on the water. You can get fresh seafood and explore all the old little towns. There's Fort Ebey (http://www.visitwhidbey.com/camp-grounds/Fort-Ebey-State-Park.html), a really cool place to spend a day and bbq/picnic. You can explore the old ruins and guns. The towns on the whole island are like little fishing towns. Really interesting stores and shops to explore. Beautiful parks. And then at the very bottom of the island you take a ferry and then a quick drive and you're right back onto I5. Here's the route (http://goo.gl/maps/HnjZ)

Some images from Whidby Island:

Deception Pass
http://blog.oregonlive.com/terryrichard/2008/01/large_DeceptionPass.jpg

http://washingtondnr.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/whidbey-island-from-fort-ebey-state-park.jpg

http://usforting.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/fort-casey-battery-trevor-00.jpg

artillary bunker at Fort Ebey

http://cdn.c.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000XggDSdwvivs/s/900/900/20110222-Whidbey-Island-3405Bunker-Fort-Ebey-State-Park-Whidbey-Island-WA.jpg

Coupeville. Some great seafood around here
http://pics4.city-data.com/cpicc/cfiles18582.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2425/3568494867_90e97c8aaf.jpg

Mukilteo Ferry back towards Everett

http://www.adamslawyers.com/files/2011/06/mukilteo-ferry.jpg

Cos

06-25-2012, 08:54 AM

speedog

06-25-2012, 10:30 AM

#22 down to Crowsnest, #3 into BC, #93 south into USA - take #93 all the way to Twin Falls, Idaho stopping to see Craters of the Moon. Keep going south and then SE over to Bonneville Salt Flats, work your way around the east side of The Great Salt Lake up into Soda Springs (SE of Pocatello) and then the back way into the Grand Tetons and Jackson Hole and then up into Yellowstone. From there, stop to see Lewis & Clark Caverns and then head back home.

An alternative going down there is to skip BC and go into the USA near Waterton and go over Logan Pass to Highway 93 and to shorten the trip, skip the Bonneville Salt Flats - go straight over to Soda Springs from Twin Falls. Note that most of this route can be done on two lane blacktop instead of the Interstate system making for a much more interesting and scenic drive.

megavolt

06-25-2012, 11:05 AM

+1 for Yellowstone.

First trip I spent 6 hours in there (when I only planned to stop for 1 hour).

Second time we went we spent 3 days just around Yellowstone and didn't see everything.

Planning a third trip for a week.

Truly amazing place.

Mibz

06-25-2012, 11:13 AM

Originally posted by speedog
#22 down to Crowsnest, #3 into BC, #93 south into USA - take #93 all the way to Twin Falls, Idaho stopping to see Craters of the Moon. Keep going south and then SE over to Bonneville Salt Flats, work your way around the east side of The Great Salt Lake up into Soda Springs (SE of Pocatello) and then the back way into the Grand Tetons and Jackson Hole and then up into Yellowstone. From there, stop to see Lewis & Clark Caverns and then head back home.

An alternative going down there is to skip BC and go into the USA near Waterton and go over Logan Pass to Highway 93 and to shorten the trip, skip the Bonneville Salt Flats - go straight over to Soda Springs from Twin Falls. Note that most of this route can be done on two lane blacktop instead of the Interstate system making for a much more interesting and scenic drive. If you hadn't said it, I never would have believed that all of that was so close to us here. I've been missing out. I need to look at a godamn map once in a while :P

megavolt

06-25-2012, 11:20 AM

You can see a lot if you're willing to drive a couple of hours every day.

Cos

06-25-2012, 12:38 PM

Justin-88

06-25-2012, 12:59 PM

Originally posted by Cos

Drive to White Fish but not sure what else to do from there and not sure we could spend 5 days in White Fish.

Thoughts?

-1 on white fish. went there last new years to do some snowboarding with the family, tons of local assholes it seemed, the hotel we stayed at was also retarded, getting fed up with some shit we decided to just go to Great Falls to hit up some shopping, which turned out to be even worse. Some of the drives through the national park were pretty cool and scenic, but nothing crazy.

I always wanted to drive to Seattle, i hear its really nice.

ExtraSlow

06-25-2012, 01:37 PM

Yellowstone is a good choice.
Washington state is cool too. state hwy 20 crosses east to west and is stunning most of the way, two lane though, so expect a slower pace than the interstate. five or six mountain passes too.

sputnik

06-25-2012, 01:50 PM

I would go to Seattle too, but I would venture off to Port Townsend and Port Hadlock for a day or two.

clem24

06-25-2012, 03:39 PM

Originally posted by speedog
#22 down to Crowsnest, #3 into BC, #93 south into USA - take #93 all the way to Twin Falls, Idaho stopping to see Craters of the Moon. Keep going south and then SE over to Bonneville Salt Flats, work your way around the east side of The Great Salt Lake up into Soda Springs (SE of Pocatello) and then the back way into the Grand Tetons and Jackson Hole and then up into Yellowstone. From there, stop to see Lewis & Clark Caverns and then head back home.

Only problem with this is that in 5 days, this is a LOT of driving. This is basically the pure definition of a road trip because you really will be spending most of your time in a car. I like the driving part, but I also like the vacation part where I can stay in one place for a few days to chill out. Dunno, maybe just me...

hurrdurr

06-25-2012, 03:59 PM

I think we're going to go to Glacier this weekend, do some golf lessons, and spend a night in Whitefish

Cos

07-02-2012, 08:24 PM

Xtrema

07-02-2012, 08:44 PM

Originally posted by Cos
Great idea guys thanks! We are torn now between a seattle/whidbey island trip or flying to New York with some friends.

Ill let you know what the wife decides and what I get to do. Haha

New York IMO isn't a great summer destination. Fall and Spring only.

Just came back and we are pretty much grounded during the east coast heatwave. 93 on the surface, up to 104 in the subway. Pretty insane. Many tourists got hit with heat exhaustion and has to be carried out of subways.

Originally posted by taemo
Last year in 7 days, we drove to San Francisco(2nights), Pismo Beach(1night), LA(2 nights), Vegas(1night) and I regret not doing the PCH drive. It's on my to do list for sure next time we get a week off.

PCH is fun but only north to south. South to North is less so. Also better if you have a competent car and minimize your passenger load. When I did it, passenger are getting car sick from a 1999 Ford Taurus and we have to pull back onto to I5 (?)

speedog

07-02-2012, 09:52 PM

Someone's blog (http://acornpies.blogspot.ca/2010/06/craters-of-moon-national-monument.html) about the Craters of the Moon National Monument (with pics). Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons - lots of picture blogs on the web, so much to see. Just the tram ride up to the top of Jackson Hole is quite something - vid (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BFhL_QrIic). Yellowstone - a place worth visiting at least once in one's lifetime, Old Faithful - huge, but there many more smaller geysers that you can get much closer to. Some Yellowstone info here (http://www.nps.gov/hfc/cfm/carto-detail.cfm?Alpha=YELL#) - Mammoth Hot Springs is spectacular as are so many of the little side stops one can make.

Jeez, now I'm gonna have to plan a trip back down there as the wife and kids have never been to any of those places.

tirebob

07-03-2012, 02:34 PM

If you end up going to Seattle, absolutely make a point of driving state route 20! It is such a beautiful drive... Takes you through Winthrop (old western town) and past Diablo lake etc. It is bar none one of the nicest roads I have ever driven!

black300

07-06-2012, 06:13 PM

Seattle would be nice especially for your wife because women love shopping.

Premium outlet malls are insane with the amount of stuff they have and for the $.

Went in October last year, quite neat did a lot of shopping and the town's nice, downtown is beautiful.

Pacman

07-06-2012, 09:14 PM

For those that have done the Seattle road trip.....where in Seattle were you staying?

We are going to do a road trip over 10 days to Seattle and then a few days in Victoria to see my parents.

We have never been. Are there some areas that are more desirable to stay in than others?

We will have a 3 month old baby with us, but would like to be in a lively part of the city where we can go for walks, shopping, restaurants etc.

Thanks
pac

npham

07-06-2012, 09:32 PM

We stayed at the Pan Pacific Hotel(Priceline bidding ftw) last year while in Seattle. It was a really great hotel that happened to be above Whole Foods(best fucking grocery store ever). It was not the best location, but we had a rental car, so it was pretty easy to get around. I think we paid $10 for a cab to take us to Pike Place Market. But it was walking distance to lots of places, restaurants, parks, etc.

Also, the harbour tour is great if the weather is nice. Just sit outside and enjoy the hour long ride, learning some stuff about Seattle and so forth. The aquarium sucks donkey dick ironically.

Here are some of the restaurants I can recommend:
- Red Mill Burgers - Bugle encrusted onion rings, solid burger
- Crab Pot - novelty, but the food is actually decent.
- Toulouse Petit - Dungeness crab eggs Benedict was probably one of the best things I've eaten.

Premium Outlet mall was good, if you have been to one, you have been to them all, though this one had Burberry. It was the first Subway that I've been to, to have avocado(turkey, bacon and avocado sandwich mmmmm). Nordstrom's/Macy's/etc downtown was good shopping as well.

Cos

07-06-2012, 10:16 PM

Stealth22

07-16-2012, 12:45 PM

Originally posted by Pacman
For those that have done the Seattle road trip.....where in Seattle were you staying?

We are going to do a road trip over 10 days to Seattle and then a few days in Victoria to see my parents.

We have never been. Are there some areas that are more desirable to stay in than others?

We will have a 3 month old baby with us, but would like to be in a lively part of the city where we can go for walks, shopping, restaurants etc.

Thanks
pac
I'm in the process of planning a trip to Seattle, first timer as well. I did quite a bit of searching for hotels...shoot me a PM if you want.

AzNxHyDrA

07-16-2012, 01:13 PM

When I went to yellowstone we just stayed in Motels. Unless you book quite far in advance its hard to get rooms inside Yellowstone and they're fairly expensive. My family took a 5 day trip so this is how it went:

Day 1: Drive down into Montana and stayed in Great Falls. Saw the Ryan Dam and the fish hatchery there. Decent place to stay in, a good half way point between Calgary and Yellowstone.

Days 2 & 3: Drove into Yellowstone taking the west gate. Most of the geysers and hot springs are much closer to the west gate so we stayed in West Yellowstone for 2 nights at a motel about 10 minutes south of West Yellowstone. Saw Old Faithful which erupts every 1.5-2 hours. This is the only geyser with predicted eruption times which you can see at the visitors centre by Old Faithful. The other geysers erupt every couple hours to a couple days so those you will have to be lucky for. We also took the hike by the lower falls which was pretty nice.

Day 4: We drove up to the north side of Yellowstone and looked at all attactions there. North side is farther from the geysers/hot springs but it has a better view and more wild life. We saw a herd of bison by the river and we were able to walk right up to the other bank of the river. We also saw a grizzly bear and a wolf from pretty far away. You'll know its a bear/wolf if the park ranger is there because they prevent you from getting close to the animals. In the afternoon, we drove over to Bozeman and stayed the night there so we would have a shorter drive the day after.

Day 5: We drove straight back from Bozeman and it took about 8.5 hrs.

Few Notes:
- Lots of highway construction when we went, this definitely made driving between locations take longer than it should have.
- Driving in Yellowstone is pretty slow because people constantly pull over to see wildlife or take scenery pictures. Don't try to go too far in one day especially if you're travelling within the national park.

If I remember anything else I'll try and add to this.

clem24

07-16-2012, 02:50 PM

Originally posted by Stealth22

I'm in the process of planning a trip to Seattle, first timer as well. I did quite a bit of searching for hotels...shoot me a PM if you want.

I always stay in Bellevue only because it's a.) cheap (we're talking $50/night for a 3 or 3.5 star) and b.) it's totally safe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellevue,_Washington

LOL Yup, 6th highest per capita income in the state and top 25 safest cities in the US.

I booked a Sheraton one time in downtown for my parents for $50 as well through Priceline. Good place they say but parking was a pain unless you wanted to pay for it (plus you had to park on the street).

About a 15 minute drive from downtown Seattle.

BTW Whole Foods is NOT the best grocery store in the world; it's a fucking rip-off. It's fun though and the cooked foods section is cool and my wife loves the supplements section but otherwise, you're paying an arm and a leg for the same groceries as a normal retailer.

Stealth22

07-16-2012, 03:29 PM

Originally posted by clem24

I always stay in Bellevue only because it's a.) cheap (we're talking $50/night for a 3 or 3.5 star) and b.) it's totally safe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellevue,_Washington

LOL Yup, 6th highest per capita income in the state and top 25 safest cities in the US.

I booked a Sheraton one time in downtown for my parents for $50 as well through Priceline. Good place they say but parking was a pain unless you wanted to pay for it (plus you had to park on the street).

About a 15 minute drive from downtown Seattle.

BTW Whole Foods is NOT the best grocery store in the world; it's a fucking rip-off. It's fun though and the cooked foods section is cool and my wife loves the supplements section but otherwise, you're paying an arm and a leg for the same groceries as a normal retailer.
Yeah, we looked at quite a few options. I pitched the Priceline idea, but because its with family and family friends, the conclusion was that we preferred the flexibility of choosing the hotel, plus the ability to change or cancel should the need ever arise.

For anyone else planning a trip to Seattle any time soon, everything I looked at (I was only looking at decent hotels...good reviews, free breakfast, free internet, etc) was 180+ for within Seattle, and 120+ for outer areas like Bellevue and such...and that's all before taxes, although its what I expected for this time of the year. Eventually, for what we're getting, I'm alright with the ~$150 (with taxes) price tag that I paid.

If you don't mind the longer drive (especially in rush hour, which I didn't want), the Hampton Inn & Suites in Federal Way is VERY highly rated (and looks like a nice hotel!), and I saw it on Expedia for $110/night before taxes, compared to $140-150 through Hampton directly. Expedia rate was non-refundable though. That part I didn't mind so much, but the traffic to/from Federal Way would suck. Eventually, we paid a little bit more to be closer to Seattle.

Cos

08-02-2012, 04:18 PM

Unknown303

08-02-2012, 04:26 PM

Cos

08-02-2012, 04:48 PM

speedog

08-02-2012, 06:05 PM

Originally posted by Cos
Ok so things have changed considerably. We only have 3 days now and am not sure where to go. At first I thought Sandpointe and Coeur d'Alene but I am surprised how far SW you have to go. Anyone have anything straight south that is alright? Something like Great Falls? I googled Great Falls and it doesnt seem that interesting. :rofl:

The other thing we were thinking of doing was Drumheller and Cypress Hills area.

Or the other thought is to go Calgary->WhiteFish have lunch -> White Fish ->Coeur d'Alene and spend the night. The come north and stay in Cranbrook or something. If you're going to do Cypress Hills, then a side trip to Red Rock Coulee would be interesting (link (http://asecondaryhighway.groundfloor.ca/category/red-rock-coulee/) and link (http://www.albertaparks.ca/red-rock-coulee.aspx)) and if in Medicine Hat, check out the Medalta Museum (http://medalta.org/museum) in Medicine Hat's Clay District and even check out some local oval racing at the Medicine Hat Speedway (http://www.medicinehatspeedway.net/). Could also try to hook into some Walleye or Pike at Rattlesnake Reservoir (link (http://www.gowalleye.com/resmap.htm)).