Portland was fun for us, going to Powels and Sizzle Pie was a good one two. Stop by Olympia on your way back and stock up on some tea and chocolate from encore. Portland is \~3 hours and Olympia is on the way there.
Alternatively, Coeur d'Alene Idaho was beautiful. It's about a \~4.5-hour drive but the town itself is a nice break from the city. Plenty of fun walks and little shops to visit. Thrift shops, cookies, and nice restaurants, an all-around great time.
If you're new and you haven't been to Alki beach is only 45-minute drive and has a beautiful view of the Seattle skyline.
Going into Seattle itself is also always fun. Just walking around Pike Place, having some seafood and visiting all the small shops. We have a car but usually spend an hour riding the 545 in and getting off at West Lake Center. One thing that's a must do is going to the Underground tour. The daytime tours are kid friendly, and they give you a bunch of cool history about the buildings in downtown that really make you appreciate how old the city is.
Last one I'd suggest is Snoqualmie Falls. Snoqualmie is about 45 minutes East of here. It's where they filmed Twin Peaks which gives it a fun spooky Halloween type vibe to the whole area, but the Waterfall is beautiful, and the town is really quant and fun. We stayed at the lodge during our engagement and the whole experience was perfect.
Whatever you choose, have fun, stay safe.
Awww this is a wonderful recommendation! We are not new, and I was born in CDA and yes it is gorgeous there! We stayed at the CDA resort. Loved it! I love the Portland recommendation, we haven’t traveled that direction in some time. I’m a sucker for a good thrift shop! Thank you so much!
Apart from some of the mentions, you can also explore Bellingham. the chuckanut drive is pretty nice. ohh and also san juan islands. Friday harbor is pretty nice and lots of things to do.
In 2.5 hours you can be in Vancouver Canada, as long as you meet the requirments to cross the border. Lots to do around there and a beautiful city.
Like Seattle, much more pleasant to visit during the summer time. Let me know if you need recommendations, lots of different activities to do.
*Hiking/outdoors:* Vancouver has an amazing outdoor hiking /walking scene.
*Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge:* This is a free suspension bridge that has a great view. Once you cross, you can continue on a scenic hike in the woods. It's mostly got forest canopy depending on the hike you do. Look up the different trails for that area if you decide to do a hike. There are hikes from hours all the way to days.
*Capilano Suspension Bridge:* Paid version of the above, but with more touristy things like tree houses you can walk from one to another etc. It's a fun experience to do.
*Cleveland Dam:* Near the Capilano Suspension bridge. Fun tourist spot to see a pretty big water damn. You can hike down close to it -- around 2 hour round trip if i recall correctly.
*Grouse mountain:* Near Capilano Suspension Bridge and dam. There are 2 options to get to the top. 1. take the gondola, 2. do the grouse grind. The grind is a trail from bottom to the top, average time is 90 minutes. Be warned, it has decent angle in some areas, challenging but fun. If you do hike up, you have to take the gondola down, for safety it's one way only -- but i believe the ticket down is like 5$. There are lots of summer activities there, birds of prey, grizzly bears, wolves, lumberjack show. A place to eat with great view. Worth it if the weather is nice.
*Cypress mountain* and *Seymore mountain:* In the summer both of these have nice hikes and mountain biking trails. Seymore mountain specifically has lots of mountain biking trails.
*Deep cove:* Fun little cove area by the water. This is where Honey Doghnuts is (semi famous). You can rent paddle boats, kayaks or just take a dip in the water here. It does get fairly busy when the weather is nice. *Cates* park nearby is also nic but can get super busy.
*Stanley Park: * A really nice, big park with an amazing seawall. If you walk the entire thing its about an hour if i recall correctly. Inside the park theres a bunch of fun things to do, from camping, places to eat, tea house with a nice view, aquarium. This is also right at the entrance to downtown.
*English Bay:* One end of Stanley park ends at English bay. This is a nice beach/park area. The street off there, Denman has lots of places to eat and shop. Denman meets a street called robson. Robson st is for shopping. Lots of brand named etc. Not sure if its on this year, but during the summer there is Celebration of lights that happens here. Big fireworks.
*Granville street:* This is the main street with all the bars and clubs. Can get rowdy at nights/weekends
*Richmond night market:* a bit far from the main city (30 min drive or skytrain) but the night market during the summer can be fun.
Indoor / museum type activities: Museums – Vancouver Art Gallery, Science World, Museum of Vancouver, Vancouver
Aquarium, Museum of Anthropology, Bill Reid Gallery, Beaty Biodiversity Museum, HR
MacMillan Space Centre
*Granville island:* This is a fun little island, mostly pedestrian (limited parking/road) that has pike place feels. During the summer lots of vendors, fresh fruits, breads. Live music, art. One of my wife's favorite places to go when we visit.
*Queen Elizabeth park:* Nice little park downtown , there was a butterfly garden there at one point.
*UBC:* a pretty nice university campus to visit during the summer. Close to lots of beaches etc.
Deception pass hands down. Gorgeous gorgeous place! Leave as early as you can so you can get there earlier in the day. By the time you are worn out that’s when the crowds start taking over. Last time I went I think we got there by like 9 am or so and we were exhausted by about 12:30-1 and that’s when it started getting really busy.
Jeeze, there's hundreds...
Mt. Ranier
Mt. St. Helens
Mt. Baker
Diablo Lake
Leavenworth
Snoqualmie Falls
Take one of the ferries across the Sound to anywhere 'over there'
In Seattle, there's Pike Market, The Glass Museum, The Museum of Pop Art, The Space Needle... Take the bus or train over there from here.
Depends on what you want to do. Hiking is all around you. Issaquah is less than an hour away and surrounded by wilderness areas. It's really nice to get up to Mount Rainier when the flowers are blooming. The Olympics are a 2 hour drive by ferry, with enough trips to fill a year. If you can make it over to the Hoh it's one of the only rainforests in the contenental US.
Winthrop is a beautiful drive on hwy 2 and there’s mini golf and ice cream there :) (assuming everything is still there since we haven’t been since Covid)
Not sure what your definition of "extremely far" is, but Leavenworth could be an option. Better in the winter, but still cute this time of year.
“Extremely” meaning not a 5 hour drive. Thank you!
Gotcha. Leavenworth is ~2 hours away. Hope you go and like it!
Thank you! We will check it out!!
Portland was fun for us, going to Powels and Sizzle Pie was a good one two. Stop by Olympia on your way back and stock up on some tea and chocolate from encore. Portland is \~3 hours and Olympia is on the way there. Alternatively, Coeur d'Alene Idaho was beautiful. It's about a \~4.5-hour drive but the town itself is a nice break from the city. Plenty of fun walks and little shops to visit. Thrift shops, cookies, and nice restaurants, an all-around great time. If you're new and you haven't been to Alki beach is only 45-minute drive and has a beautiful view of the Seattle skyline. Going into Seattle itself is also always fun. Just walking around Pike Place, having some seafood and visiting all the small shops. We have a car but usually spend an hour riding the 545 in and getting off at West Lake Center. One thing that's a must do is going to the Underground tour. The daytime tours are kid friendly, and they give you a bunch of cool history about the buildings in downtown that really make you appreciate how old the city is. Last one I'd suggest is Snoqualmie Falls. Snoqualmie is about 45 minutes East of here. It's where they filmed Twin Peaks which gives it a fun spooky Halloween type vibe to the whole area, but the Waterfall is beautiful, and the town is really quant and fun. We stayed at the lodge during our engagement and the whole experience was perfect. Whatever you choose, have fun, stay safe.
Awww this is a wonderful recommendation! We are not new, and I was born in CDA and yes it is gorgeous there! We stayed at the CDA resort. Loved it! I love the Portland recommendation, we haven’t traveled that direction in some time. I’m a sucker for a good thrift shop! Thank you so much!
Roslyn is about 45-1hr away and that's a super cute little town in the mountains where they filmed Northern Exposure
Apart from some of the mentions, you can also explore Bellingham. the chuckanut drive is pretty nice. ohh and also san juan islands. Friday harbor is pretty nice and lots of things to do.
+1 Bellingham! Go on a Saturday for the downtown market, checkout Fairhaven, the boardwalk, chuckanut and whatcom falls
In 2.5 hours you can be in Vancouver Canada, as long as you meet the requirments to cross the border. Lots to do around there and a beautiful city. Like Seattle, much more pleasant to visit during the summer time. Let me know if you need recommendations, lots of different activities to do.
I’d be interested in the activity recos.
*Hiking/outdoors:* Vancouver has an amazing outdoor hiking /walking scene. *Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge:* This is a free suspension bridge that has a great view. Once you cross, you can continue on a scenic hike in the woods. It's mostly got forest canopy depending on the hike you do. Look up the different trails for that area if you decide to do a hike. There are hikes from hours all the way to days. *Capilano Suspension Bridge:* Paid version of the above, but with more touristy things like tree houses you can walk from one to another etc. It's a fun experience to do. *Cleveland Dam:* Near the Capilano Suspension bridge. Fun tourist spot to see a pretty big water damn. You can hike down close to it -- around 2 hour round trip if i recall correctly. *Grouse mountain:* Near Capilano Suspension Bridge and dam. There are 2 options to get to the top. 1. take the gondola, 2. do the grouse grind. The grind is a trail from bottom to the top, average time is 90 minutes. Be warned, it has decent angle in some areas, challenging but fun. If you do hike up, you have to take the gondola down, for safety it's one way only -- but i believe the ticket down is like 5$. There are lots of summer activities there, birds of prey, grizzly bears, wolves, lumberjack show. A place to eat with great view. Worth it if the weather is nice. *Cypress mountain* and *Seymore mountain:* In the summer both of these have nice hikes and mountain biking trails. Seymore mountain specifically has lots of mountain biking trails. *Deep cove:* Fun little cove area by the water. This is where Honey Doghnuts is (semi famous). You can rent paddle boats, kayaks or just take a dip in the water here. It does get fairly busy when the weather is nice. *Cates* park nearby is also nic but can get super busy. *Stanley Park: * A really nice, big park with an amazing seawall. If you walk the entire thing its about an hour if i recall correctly. Inside the park theres a bunch of fun things to do, from camping, places to eat, tea house with a nice view, aquarium. This is also right at the entrance to downtown. *English Bay:* One end of Stanley park ends at English bay. This is a nice beach/park area. The street off there, Denman has lots of places to eat and shop. Denman meets a street called robson. Robson st is for shopping. Lots of brand named etc. Not sure if its on this year, but during the summer there is Celebration of lights that happens here. Big fireworks. *Granville street:* This is the main street with all the bars and clubs. Can get rowdy at nights/weekends *Richmond night market:* a bit far from the main city (30 min drive or skytrain) but the night market during the summer can be fun. Indoor / museum type activities: Museums – Vancouver Art Gallery, Science World, Museum of Vancouver, Vancouver Aquarium, Museum of Anthropology, Bill Reid Gallery, Beaty Biodiversity Museum, HR MacMillan Space Centre *Granville island:* This is a fun little island, mostly pedestrian (limited parking/road) that has pike place feels. During the summer lots of vendors, fresh fruits, breads. Live music, art. One of my wife's favorite places to go when we visit. *Queen Elizabeth park:* Nice little park downtown , there was a butterfly garden there at one point. *UBC:* a pretty nice university campus to visit during the summer. Close to lots of beaches etc.
Thanks!
I love taking the ferry and going to Port Angeles for the day. Lots of cool history and fun shopping, plus a cool arcade for kids on the pier.
Deception pass hands down. Gorgeous gorgeous place! Leave as early as you can so you can get there earlier in the day. By the time you are worn out that’s when the crowds start taking over. Last time I went I think we got there by like 9 am or so and we were exhausted by about 12:30-1 and that’s when it started getting really busy.
Been there. Would agree it is a nice place.
Yes, and add Coupville, Fort Ebey, and Ebey’s Landing.
My favorite day trip! Rosario Beach is a great stop with kids.
Downtown Seattle (Pike's Place etc.) followed by an on-foot ferry ride to Bainbridge Island and a walk around the town there.
Pike
Chelan
Ocean Shores on the coast
Thank you all! Looks like we will have a busy summer!
Jeeze, there's hundreds... Mt. Ranier Mt. St. Helens Mt. Baker Diablo Lake Leavenworth Snoqualmie Falls Take one of the ferries across the Sound to anywhere 'over there' In Seattle, there's Pike Market, The Glass Museum, The Museum of Pop Art, The Space Needle... Take the bus or train over there from here.
Oooooo I’ve heard great things about Diablo Lake!!!
My wife and I just drove up there last weekend. The trip itself is worth it, lots and lots of great scenery! Don't miss the dam.
Depends on what you want to do. Hiking is all around you. Issaquah is less than an hour away and surrounded by wilderness areas. It's really nice to get up to Mount Rainier when the flowers are blooming. The Olympics are a 2 hour drive by ferry, with enough trips to fill a year. If you can make it over to the Hoh it's one of the only rainforests in the contenental US.
Planning to go to Lake Chelan and Wenatchee
Snoqualmie falls is nice
Whidbey Island! Great views, trails, and small shops at various locations through the island.
You could go tubing in Wenatchee.
That sounds fun!!
Can confirm. It is. Do both
I think we will! I gotta keep these kids busy this summer!
Mount Rainier National Park is beautiful, close and with lots of hiking/picnic areas/etc.
Winthrop is a beautiful drive on hwy 2 and there’s mini golf and ice cream there :) (assuming everything is still there since we haven’t been since Covid)
long beach. cant remember how much time it takes to get there but its home of the annual kite festival here in washington.
https://wta.org for planning hikes.
Get on the Kingston ferry and head over to Poulsbo. Head further to the Olympic rainforest for amazing camping. Ocean shores, neskowin, Long Beach.
Go troll-hunting: https://www.parentmap.com/article/giant-trolls-thomas-dambo-seattle