124Spider

I can't help about where to stay, but I have one possible destination not previously mentioned. When I took my family camping on the Oregon coast, we stumbled on the Tillamook Air Museum
http://www.tillamookair.com/

If you like airplanes, it's a remarkable place to spend a couple of hours.

mikegarrison

Yeah, that's a good one. Also, of course, is Seattle's Museum Of Flight. There are also several other small collections of historic aircraft in the NW.

mikegarrison

OK, in Olympic National Park you really only have one destination. Hurricane Ridge. You can drive up to the visitor center there. Fun road. From there you can hike the ridge towards Mt. Angeles or even climb Mt. Angeles (easy for a climber, challenging for a hiker). Or you could drive another mile and half along the road and hike up to Hurricane Hill. That one is all on trail.

Mt. Rainier is another story. Drive to Longmire, then up to Paradise. Stop at Christine Falls and Narada Falls along the way. (Possible side hike to Comet Falls, probably not as good now as in early summer due to water flows.) Possible hike up to Glacier Vista from Paradise. Drive over to Reflection Lake. Hike up to Pinnacle Peak Saddle. (If there is one Paradise-area hike I would be sure to do, it is this one). Then continue down Stevens Canyon road. Stop at Box Canyon and check it out. Then drive out to the highway, swing left. If you have lots of time, drive up to Chinook Pass and check out the view. Otherwise contine N to the White River park entrance. Drive up to Sunrise. Hike at least out to First Burroughs Mt, though Third Burroughs has the best view. Then come back to Seattle via Enumclaw. That's a long day, from Seattle.

Don't speed much in the parks, though. Besides the radar-enforcement, you never know when some deer is going to step out in front of you.

mikegarrison

Well in that case you could always try and get reservations at The Herbfarm. http://www.theherbfarm.com/

You should try a lunch or two just grazing at the Pike Place Market.

Another place I really like is Kaspar's.

ps. I should have added that I've never eaten at The Herbfarm, but it's on my list. The other place that is usually cited as likely the best restaurant in Seattle is Rovers. Also a fixed-price dinner. Herbfarm is NW-themed, though, and Rovers is French.

124Spider

I've eaten at both (my wife's idea ). I liked the Herbfarm very much, except, for a 25th wedding anniversary, it was noisy. Great food, and quite a show. We stayed at the attached Willows Lodge, which was very pleasant and we felt pampered.

Neither one of us was impressed with Rovers, which has a great reputation. It was fine, but was very expensive and still did not compare to the great French restaurants we have eaten at in NYC (or the French Laundry, in Napa, where we ate while on a bicycle trip, and which remains our single most wonderfully memorable dining experience).

Smokee

Just a word of caution. It looks like you might be planning to spend lots of time on 101/1. I've driven the entire route from Canada to Mexico but never all at the same time. Unless you've got the right frame of mind, getting stuck behind endless slow moving large vehicles will eventually drive you mad. That is every RVers dream trip and by golly they're going to go slow enough to enjoy it all.

That said, I'm sure you know it's beautiful scenery, that is if the fog ever lifts.

Love 395 and the eastern Sierras.

No suggestions other than a pizza place on the south end of town in Sisters, OR. Nice little town to get out and stretch your legs too. If you plan to cross back over the mountains and head west from there, McKenzie Pass is a fun drive. No motorhomes allowed on that stretch.

Ratgirl

For a fab French restaurent try Campangna (sp = suspect) in the Pike Place Market. The BEST vegetarian place in Seattle is near the Woodland Park Zoo and it's called Carmelitas, it's on 73rd and Greenwood.

Also downtown the Daliha is a great choice.
happy trip to you! I hope you still fit in your little car when you are done

geppetto

My wife and I drove from Vancouver down to Southern California a couple of years ago. As soon as we hit Oregon, we took the 101 all the way. We really enjoyed a day in Gold River. We took a fantastic jet boat tour and explored the "cat houses". I have to say the rest of the Oregon coast was a little disappointing, as it was always foggy. The comment about the slow moving traffic is definitely right on, but it is worth it once you hit Cali. The view and the drive was beautiful. When we do it again, we are going to take the I5 to California and then cut down to the coast.

As for food, we found the food to be generally poor and the prices to be high. It was almost better to go to McDonalds Once you get out of the major centers (at least it was cheap).

We looked for the budget motels on the way down. If your anal about your car, avoid parking near the grass at the hotels. It seems that the water that the sprinklers spray is really hard or something. I had a tough time getting the water spots off the car.

On a side note, you should come on up and visit us in Vancouver, Canada!

Good luck

Sean

bizzo

Try these, if you have time. You won't regret it.

Looks like you are headed up to Yosemite from Sequoia, so probably via highway 41?
Take a little detour and drive Forest Road 81, aka Mammoth Pool Road (http://www.pashnit.com/roads/cal/Highway81.htm).
It's a dead end road, but that means you get to drive it twice. Great pavement, great views, twisty,
twisty, twisty. And almost no traffic! My friend and I saw maybe two cars when we rode it. Thank
God too, cause I blew one of the corners on the way back and ended up in the other lane.

From Yosemite to Lake Tahoe. If you are heading west out of Yosemite via highway 120, try this detour.
From west bound 120 out of Yosemite, turn right onto Cherry Lake Road (http://www.pashnit.com/roads/cal/CherryLakeRd.htm).
Very narrow and twisty. This road ends at Forest Road 14, aka Cottonwood Road (http://www.pashnit.com/roads/cal/CottonwoodRd.htm).
Head west to Soulsbyville. Smooth pavement, great views, twisty, no traffic. My friend was so overcome with joy after riding this road,
he sang the lords prayer in Finnish.