Budget Queen

[Alaska_2012]

Budget Queen,

 

While searching for info on car rental in Vancouver, I read a post of yours where you said you made it to Mt. Saint Helens when you had a late flight.

 

Our flight is at 10:30pm out of Seattle. I am wondering how manageable it would be to make it Vancouver-Mt. Saint Helens-Seattle before our flight. I know you are much more familiar with the area and that might make all the difference to fitting it in.

 

Thank you for your time. :)

 

ETA: Looking at a map it looks like Mt. Rainier is a little closer to Seattle. Would like your opinion on both.

[mapleleaves]

The drive from Seattle to Johnson Ridge Observatory at Mt St Helens is about 4 hrs. So it's do-able. It's pretty incredible to see the devastation and the re-growth.

Mt Rainier is a bit closer but by the time you drive up to Paradise it's 3 hrs from Seattle.

Something to consider ... your chances of seeing either mountain is similar to seeing Mt McKinley; they're only visible 30% of the time. Would you make the drive if it was cloudy and/and raining? Both places have web cams so it might be worthwhile to check the cams and weather reports before heading out.

You might want visit the Washington forum of tripadvisor and do a search. Just type in the word 'helens' next to SEARCH IN to bring up threads about visiting Mt St Helens, then sort by date.

http://www.fs.usda.gov/mountsthelens/

[Putterdude]

I drive by Mt. Helens at least twice a year. It is an absolute minimum of a 6 hr drive from Vancouver and make it closer to 7 or 8 if you are delayed at the border....add to that a 4 hour drive back to SEA and it makes for an extremely long day....but I guess you could do it, it just isn't anything I would care to do. I would be more inclined to focus on Mt. Ranier or Mt. Baker.

[Alaska_2012]

Thanks for your replies. I am trying to find things to do to kill time before our late flight. I wasn't sure how long of a drive it would be, but from Putterdude's description it sounds like to would be a bit much to try and cram in. We may be better off sightseeing around Seattle. :D

[scottbee]

Budget Queen,

 

While searching for info on car rental in Vancouver, I read a post of yours where you said you made it to Mt. Saint Helens when you had a late flight.

 

Our flight is at 10:30pm out of Seattle. I am wondering how manageable it would be to make it Vancouver-Mt. Saint Helens-Seattle before our flight. I know you are much more familiar with the area and that might make all the difference to fitting it in.

 

Thank you for your time. :)

 

ETA: Looking at a map it looks like Mt. Rainier is a little closer to Seattle. Would like your opinion on both.

 

If you're going to head to Mt St Helens, PDX/Portland is a lot closer than SEA/Seattle. Can you leave from there instead?

[Alaska_2012]

scottbee, I've already purchased our airline tickets out of Seattle. We are fine with touring Seattle for the day. We have never been to this part of the country before and it's hard to get a grasp on the location of some things. I just wanted check and see if it was doable. I really appreciate everyone's input.

[Putterdude]

The more I think of it, I am not even sure I would care to do Mt. Rainier as it is several hours SE of Seattle. You may want to just consider Mt. Baker which can be accessed east of Vancouver and is on the way to Seattle. A couple of other thoughts is to get off the I-5 freeway south of Bellingham and drive the Chuckanut Dr. and then carry on down through the Skaget Valley to Anacortes and La Conner.

 

 

http://chuckanutdrive.com/

 

http://www.anacortes.org/

 

http://www.laconnerchamber.com/

[mapleleaves]

It would be a VERY long day in the car; not just getting there but also driving to the various viewpoints. But you're the only one who can decide whether it's worth it.

Are you looking for a way to spend the day between disembarking in Vancouver and your flight out of Seatac? If this is a Saturday count on a delay at the border crossing of at least an hr.

The easiest option would be to spend the day in Vancouver then take a train or bus to Seattle.

If you would prefer a drive ... take the scenic route thru Whidbey Island instead of taking I-5 to Seattle. Around Burlington, detour onto hwy20. You cross Deception Pass bridge with beautiful views,and a lovely park below. The island has outstanding views of the shipping lanes and Olympic Mtns, rural areas, wineries, lovely old communties, and a couple of very old military installations at Ft Ebey and Ft Casey where there are still old guns mounted on the walls, and a lighthouse. At the south end of the island you catch the Clinton-Mukilteo ferry to the mainland (20 minutes), and pick up I-5 just north of Seattle. At this point you're about 1 hr from SeaTac, so you should probably catch a ferry around 5pm or so. This would be a very full day but would allow time for sightseeing along the way.

Or .... drive to Anacortes and take an orca viewing trip. There are 2 vendors there who offer 5-6 hrs trips starting around noon. In addition to the sealife viewing the scenery is stunning.

[Chenega]

A St. Helens trip makes for a very long day. Something else to consider is traffic on I-5. One delay or slowdown and you could miss your flight. Take the 2 hour in advance check-in time at Seatac seriously. They often have very long TSA lines especially during the tourist season.

[Alaska_2012]

Mapleleaves,

Yes, it will be a Saturday so I need to plan for delays. I've ruled out Mt. Saint Helens and Mt. Rainer. I was just curious how far away we would be.

 

The train won't work since the evening train would not get us to Seattle in time for our flight. I've thought about doing the bus, but I don't want to have to fool with luggage storage. I figured with renting a car we would have a place to keep our luggage and be able to sightsee.

 

I appreciate all of the suggestions!

[Cruise_More_Often]

If you would prefer a drive ... take the scenic route thru Whidbey Island instead of taking I-5 to Seattle. Around Burlington, detour onto hwy20. You cross Deception Pass bridge with beautiful views,and a lovely park below. The island has outstanding views of the shipping lanes and Olympic Mtns, rural areas, wineries, lovely old communties, and a couple of very old military installations at Ft Ebey and Ft Casey where there are still old guns mounted on the walls, and a lighthouse. At the south end of the island you catch the Clinton-Mukilteo ferry to the mainland (20 minutes), and pick up I-5 just north of Seattle. At this point you're about 1 hr from SeaTac, so you should probably catch a ferry around 5pm or so. This would be a very full day but would allow time for sightseeing along the way.

I was just going to recommend the trip down Whidbey Island and the Mukilteo ferry back to I-5. I used to live on Whidbey, and that would be a gorgeous drive.

[silkismom]

Adele, by any chance did you know Romily Cassiday who lived on Whidbey until she died of cancer several years ago? She was my room mate in college and we only re-connected a year before she passed.