West Coast Trip - Suggestions?

Hi all,

Am currently planning a trip to the West Coast in August and looking for ideas. The plan is for this to be a pretty chilled holiday, nothing too crazy. Looking to visit a few nice places and do a mixture of city and nature tours. Starting in Seattle to visit friends, but don't know where else to go from there. Portland? Las Vegas? Ideally something less than a 2.5h flight from Seattle that is still worth visiting in 2-3 days.

Any recommendations?

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Likewise. I went there for a quick vacation stop on the way back from a business trip in December of 2021. Was really shocked to see the sheer number of them and how it differed block-by-block. I'm no stranger to SF so I figured it'd be around the same, and just did the same drill - you know, don't make eye contact with 'em, don't give 'em a reason to even talk to you. Portland just seemed to be another level above SF, at least for my recent visit. 

It'd be interesting to see local economic statistics on how the presence correlates to sales. I saw mom-and-pop stores that probably sold great products everywhere, yet it seemed like people would avoid the stores just since they had to walk past a sea of homeless. I'm all for sympathizing with the homeless and finding out a balance of how to properly deal with them, but man - I gotta feel for those store owners who have had their income tanked just by the presence of them.

 

I'd recommend staying in PNW. Nothing will beat it during that time of year. Spend time in Seattle, hit up San Juan island, go to some of the national parks (cascades is unfuckingbelievable), consider nearby area challenging hikes like lake colchuck (pair this with beers in Leavenworth) or something more chill like a day trip to oyster dome. If you want to see other cities / areas, highly recommend portland and Vancouver if you can swing both. There's just so much to do in that area and timingwise it's the best time to be there.

 

Yeah but SB is a bitch to get to. If you only do a 2 day trip you're going to spend half of that just driving to get there. 

 

Yeah all three national parks in that area (other being Olympic) are worth a trip. There's a valley I think called paradise in Rainier if I remember correctly that is absolutely breathtaking. I spent 3 months during covid living in Seattle so happy to provide more details on things I thought were fun but I imagine your friends in that area will have equally/better insights than me

 

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