Drive-Vancouver to Seattle on a Wednesday?

[stacieps]

Should we expect long delays to cross the border on a Wednesday in July?

 

We are cruising on Carnival (SB 7/4-7/11), we have rented a van (6 of us) and plan to drive to Seattle (hotel reserved for Wed & Thurs) for a couple of nights before flying home to NH on Friday.

 

Any advice on sights to see along the way? Or how best to time our travel for shortest delays?

 

The group will be me, DH, kids 7 and 10, and my parents, so wide range of ages.

 

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.

[Gardyloo]

There's really no telling how long the border wait will be; it ought to be okay, but I'd advise tuning the car radio to one of the (several) Vancouver stations that do periodic border traffic reports. There are two principal crossings near Blaine WA - one on the BC99/I-5 freeway, the other the so-called "truck crossing" - called "Pacific Highway" crossing on the Canadian signs - that's located a mile or so east of the main freeway point. Anybody can use the truck crossing, although buses and trucks have to. Note the truck crossing has NO comfort facilities on the approach, while the Peace Arch (freeway) crossing has some located in the lovely park that straddles the border. If you don't take precautions before hitting the road, and select the truck crossing and discover that there's a big backup, and nature is calling.... well, you get it.

 

As for alternate routes, there are several east of Vancouver - at Lynden, Sumas... that connect to WA Highway 9, which is a pretty country road. Or, if you cross at Blaine, you can cut over to the pretty Chuckanut Drive (exit to Fairhaven, Bellingham's scenic "old town") which runs along the shore through some nice scenery.

 

If you're very ambitious, you can travel down I-5 to WA Highway 20 and go west toward Anacortes, then over Deception Pass (beautiful) and onto Whidbey Island, taking the island road all the way to the south end of the island (don't miss the cute towns of Coupeville and Langley) then back to I-5 via the Mukilteo ferry, past the Boeing widebody plant (biggest building in the world) and into Seattle. The Whidbey detour adds about 2 hours, maybe 3, to the conventional freeway drive between Vancouver and Seattle (which is around 3 hours plus border most days.)

[Sopwith]

On a Wednesday in July I would plan on 60-90 minutes at the border, and if it turns out to be less (which is quite possible), consider it to be a bonus.

 

The truck crossing is usually faster than the Peace Arch. Take Exit 276 just before the border and follow the signs.

[Budget Queen]

 

If you're very ambitious, you can travel down I-5 to WA Highway 20 and go west toward Anacortes, then over Deception Pass (beautiful) and onto Whidbey Island, taking the island road all the way to the south end of the island (don't miss the cute towns of Coupeville and Langley) then back to I-5 via the Mukilteo ferry, past the Boeing widebody plant (biggest building in the world) and into Seattle. The Whidbey detour adds about 2 hours, maybe 3, to the conventional freeway drive between Vancouver and Seattle (which is around 3 hours plus border most days.)

 

I most always drive this. So very scenic and enjoyable for me. :)

 

I also have taken the Boeing factory tour, and most always do a gift shop stop. They now take reservations which a few years ago they didn't and you had to essentially camp out for passes. :)

[stacieps]

Thank you for all the info.

 

Does anyone have an opinion on if there is a better time to get to the border - should we spend time in Vancouver and cross in the afternoon or should we start driving ASAP off the ship and get across? I know it varies, just looking for opinions. Depending on how the kids are doing after all the traveling we'll have done, I may want to try to time it when we'll have the smaller wait time. We're coming from NH and we don't usually have much of a wait at all to cross to/from Canada from here!

[LeftcoastBC]

Southbound..earlier the better until later in the PM or so and then it gets better.

 

Tune to AM 730 or 1130 for info.

 

If you go East out of Vancover on HWY#1 as far as Abbotsford you can almost guarantee only a 15-20 min wait southbound at Sumas then after a bit of backtrack to Lynden Wa. it's a straight shot south to i-5 at Bellingham. The crossing at Lynden/Aldergrove is closer to Vancouver but lately has had longer lineups for some reason or other. Likely people coming out of Vancouver I guess.

 

Listen to the radio...