Road trip ideas/suggestions

[shakalaka]

So after being motivated by the best car for road trip thread, I decided that I am gonna do a road trip in my M3 later in June. The time is limited and I think what I am tentatively thinking is pretty much the higher end of what can be done in that much time.

Washington was suggested so I started looking at that and before that I was myself contemplating Vancouver/Victoria, which is what brought my attention to Seattle as I've never been there.

Looking on Google Maps it almost seems like it could be a circular road trip so to speak. I am starting my calculations from Calgary as we would drive to Calgary from Edmonton a night before we leave and also because Seattle/Washington is close from there.

For dates we are thinking of coming to Calgary on June 15th night and starting the journey on June 16th early morning (Friday) and would need to be back in Edmonton by end of the day June 20th.

This is all tentative and I am open to suggestions but I was thinking something along the lines of heading to Seattle on June 16th early morning and make it there by 8-9PM. Stay that night and the next on Saturday the 17th. Suggestions of what to do in Seattle?

Then, head out in the morning/afternoon on June 18th (Sunday) towards into Washington. Then stay the 18th and 19th (Monday) somewhere else in Washington. Suggestions of what to do/see, where to stay in Washington?

Start heading back early morning on the 20th (Tuesday) and this where there is a bit of a problem. It's a 14 hour drive from Washington to Edmonton and with a couple of breaks I am thinking it'll take at least 16 hours. So even if we leave Washington at 7AM on Tuesday we won't be in Edmonton until 11-12PM. Which obviously is quite late and there is work the next day.

So to try and cut short the last leg of the trip, I was thinking perhaps leave Washington on Monday the 19th afternoon/evening after spending a night and day there and stop somewhere else (Suggestions?) on the way back for Monday night so we are closer to Edmonton leaving on Tuesday morning.

All said and done I am probably looking around 3000-4000 km's I think but I haven't actually done the calculation. Anyway, any ideas, suggestions or perhaps some completely alternative options?

It doesn't need to be a circular trip by any means and if Washington has enough to see/do for these many days it can be just straight to Washington and back or just Seattle for the matter. Or I am open to suggestions for completely alternative trips that fit the timeline I have.

While nice roads and drive is obviously important, I think for the wife to enjoy there has to be some things to do and things to see etc. We aren't huge camping and sitting by the lake kind of people so once the plan is fixed I will look into booking hotels in the various places we will be staying etc.

Let's see if we can make this happen in such short time and almost a spontaneous decision.

[ercchry]

So many different route ideas going down into Washington...

I think you have to pick a few destinations and things you want to do there and then piece together good roads in between

Like...

Wine drinking in the okanagan
Sushi on grandville island
Beer in Portland
Boat day in whitefish
Etc

Then make sure you get some epic roads, like going to the sun road in there

Good resource for route planning down south of the border:

http://roadsnw.com/

Can plan everything out on google maps:

https://www.google.ca/amp/lifehacker...1440584988/amp

I have a pretty epic motorcycle trip down that way mapped out for the future, some great looking roads

[dirtsniffer]

man that sounds like way too much driving just to go to seattle. Maybe portland but it is even further.

I pick waterton - going to the sun road - whitefish or fernie - cowboy trail to highway 40 - canmore - highway 93 - Jasper - Home

4 nights and 3 great drives.

[rage2]

If you're looking to open up the car and get some high speed driving, Montana is a great destination. Not a lot of corners but speeding is pretty acceptable down there. I've driven back from Chicago twice, and rapid city (mt Rushmore) to Belle Fourche, and US212 to Custer's last stand is one of my favorite segments of road. There's a section where it crosses the NW corner of Wyoming with nothing in between, I drove thru the entire state on the limiter without worrying haha. After that section it rolls through some hills with some high speed corners and nice scenery. The only worry is that there is zero cell reception and zero gas stations, so make sure you're prepped. The area is completely deserted, I saw 1 other car on the road both times I drove through there.

If you've never been to Mt Rushmore, it's an awesome destination. Not a lot to do other than to take pics (it looks awesome at night) but it looks like you'll be spending most of your time driving anyways with your short schedule. The only downside is that you're not driving in a circle, and going back pretty much the same way.

[speedog]

Day 1 - Calgary to Nelson BC. 604km - day 1 Google Maps link.

Day 2 - Nelson BC to 100 Mile H0use BC. 650km - day 2 Google maps link.

Day 3 - 100 Mile House BC to Sun Peaks BC. 323km - day 3 Google maps link.

Day 4 - Sun Peaks BC to Edmonton. 819km - day 4 Google Maps link.

The end of every day will put you in a location that you should have no problem booking a hotel in.

Day 1 is a simple enough drive to Nelson, some fun roads with a neat city to explore and have a nice dinner in. You'll have some time to poke around in Crowsnest Pass if you wish - Frank Slide and xxx are worth a stop.

Day 2 is just a bit longer in distance but will be a whole bunch more fun for the driver and you might have a bit of time to have a bite in either Vernon or Kamloops - do take the little side trip to the viewpoint at Chasm. 100 Mile House will be the most boring place you stay over night but it'll be more than made up for by the drive on day 3.

Day 3 appears to be a short drive but it'll be a great driving day consisting pretty entirely of twisty 2 lane highways. An early stop can be made at Lone Butte to climb the butte and there are also some ice caves along Highway 24 to explore as well. The detour 'there and back' trip to Adams Lake just adds in more wonderful 2 lane goodness - maybe stop and have a picnic lunch at the lake and then follow the evening up in Sun Peaks at the Sun Peaks Grand Hotel as a little thank you to your wife.

Day 4 is the home stretch to Edmonton and won't be the most exciting but there is that little detour between Little Fort and Clearwater to break the boredom for a bit with another hidden 2 lane goody.

Over all this four day trip will be mostly on somewhat out of the way 2 lane highways - the Horse Lake Road bit in the 100 Mile House area and the Adams Lake detour will leave you wanting for more and a real nice dinner at Sun Peaks might be the ticket to convince your wife to double back and redo just those two sections. Lunch at Lac Des Roches Resort - quaint little place, know the owners well.

4 days all in Canada and plenty more to stop and gawk at above and beyond what I've already mentioned. Great on a motorbike as well. Another day 3 detour could be Judson Road and Bridge Lake North Road - I believe they are both paved as well and would be fun to drive, been a number of years since I've been up there.

[ercchry]

Drive all the way to Nelson, and skip the 3a? Booo

[speedog]

Crap, I did have the 3A in there in my first kick at the cat but did some playing around with things and didn't notice the routing change to the 3 - good catch.

Day 3 is the really fun day though and there are other wonderful 2 lane highways in the 100 Mile House area I didn't include. If the OP wasn't in a car designed not to really be on gravel/dirt roads, I'd suggest a mountain road up to an abandoned gold mine north east of Little Fort or the road that continues around the SW side of Adams Lake over to the number 1 highway.

[lasimmon]

I would take more time if going to the USA.

[speedog]

OP has 5 days - apparently I don't count very well. So an extra day for my 4 day trip - could include Kelowna and a couple of vineyard tours and I know of a quaint B&B on the bench above Oyama. Rework the route up to 100 Mile House to include the 2 lane West Side road starting at West Kelowna and heading up the west side of Okanagan Lake.

[JustinL]

Take a look at Sand Point Idaho and Coeur D'Alene. It's less urban than Seattle, but it's not too far from Edmonton and a beautiful drive.

[shakalaka]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I plan to sit down and do some figuring out hopefully later today to see which ones work. Road to the Sun has my interest somewhat as I have heard about it and what Speedog suggested sounds interesting too.

An issue that came to mind though, some of you might know about my front tires on the M3 form the other thread. I am still waiting to hear back from my dealer on the warranty claim for them. Without them replaced before then, I don't think it would be a good idea to drive long distances like I am planning on the current cracking tires. Which takes the M3 out and then it just defeats the purpose of the road trip. lol

[rage2]

Originally posted by JustinL
Take a look at Sand Point Idaho and Coeur D'Alene. It's less urban than Seattle, but it's not too far from Edmonton and a beautiful drive.

Make sure you spend a day at Silverwood on that route too. My only issue is it's hard to open the car up along this route aside from Radium <-> TC1, weather it's traffic, or over policing of the roads.

[cet]

You can keep an eye on the status of Going to the Sun here . According to the website it typically opens late June to Eearly July.
At the moment sections of it are still closed as they are plowing it. You can check out the plowing status here

I was hoping it would be open as I'm heading down that way this weekend. It's not even close though.

[mzdspd]

I have driven to Seattle (twice) and Portland (once) from Edmonton.

I have found that the drive to Portland is much nicer, but that is a lot of driving for such a short trip though. I normally go thru Crowsnest Pass and then thru Spokane. Then either I90 to Seattle or I84 to Portland. I much prefer this drive vs driving on HWY 1 which is always packed and shut down.

I have found both routes to be a nice scenic drive. Nice wide open highways with not too much traffic. Also the terrain changes a lot along the drive.

Drive there following I90 to Seattle and then drive back thru HWY 20 in Northern Washington and then into Osoyoos and then back to Edmonton (Split up this drive into two days).

Seems like a lot of driving for such a short trip, you also would not really get the full Seattle experience for such a short visit. The last time that my fiance and I went, we were there a week and then also took a ferry over to Bainbridge and then drove up to Forks. Really cool drive as well.

[shakalaka]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, I have a somewhat related question.

The road trip for 'just fun' plans sort of changed and now we are driving to Vancouver and picking up a new car then thinking of driving across the border to Seattle. I am curious how it would work driving across the border with a new car. I'll have the plate of my current vehicle on it which I wouldn't be able to register for the new car until I get back into Alberta. I'll obviously have the insurance for the new vehicle. I know I normally have 14 days to register the plate to the new vehicle but I am wondering if I am driving through the border into States will there be any issues that the plate won't be registered to the car I'll be driving?

I didn't want to start a new thread as it's somewhat a related question. People who have done this or have knowledge about this please chime in. Thanks.

[andyg16]

First things first...details on the new car??

[shakalaka]

Nothing special really. In fact, I am actually contemplating downgrading from the M3 and going with either a 440i xDrive Gran Coupe or a M240i. Leaning towards the 440 and have a deposit down on one with the M Performance II pack (exhaust, extra hp etc). Just don't think I use the M3 to its full potential and it's super uncomfortable to drive on these shitty roads so perhaps a balance of power/comfort is what I need. After having an AMG and 3 M's in a row, I am telling myself that there are cars other than AMG's, M, or RS' Haha. Anyway think 440i might be a better balance for what I would like cause it would suck going with M240i only to find it's ride quality and drivability is similar to M3 only smaller. The only thing sort of holding me back is the feeling of downgrading and getting rid of M, but I am trying to smarten up and not care about the badge as much...I think. Haha.

Anyway, don't want to derail this thread at least until my question above gets answered! Haha.

[dirtsniffer]

man you go through cars faster than I go through condoms..

[shakalaka]

Lol. I know I have issues. With this switch though I am getting into leasing. I am hoping this way I'll know to keep the car for at least a year or two before looking into switching. Won't have to worry about babying the car and avoiding putting mileage on it and shit and just enjoy them for a year or two then swap.

Anyway, doesn't look like my question above is getting much exposure here, so I gotta start a new thread.

[ercchry]

EDC ftw, soft, or softer? Than the 330 in comfort, then nice and stiff with the push of a button for fun driving!