f13.net

Ok, I need help.

My sister has informed me that she's willing to house sit for me in August. I have to give her some firm dates by this weekend though. Which means if I'm going to take advantage of it for a vacation, I need to plan it now.

Problem is, I really wasn't planning on a vacation this summer. Only thing I had planned was a night in Seattle for PAX.

So I'm looking for ideas. Thinking 4 - 5 day range. Ideal budget being $1000. Maybe $1500? I'd like to do Europe in a year or two, so I don't want to blow my budget.

For a single guy in his 40s. Who isn't big on beaches (I like them, but have no interest in just sitting on one all day). Photographic opportunities are a plus. So is good food. Starting out of Vancouver.

Based on the limited budget plan, I'm currently leaning towards loading up the car and picking a direction.

Have you been to Banff?

Not since I was a kid, so that is a possibility.

For 4-5 days I'd maximize the time by going somewhere nearby, like Seattle or Alaska. Maybe SF. The rest of the continent will probably be a sweltering mess. Remember that if you go to Pax you're not really going to Seattle, as that's just a convention center and it may as well be hosted in Hoboken.

If you go this year, the National Park annual pass (same price as a week of daily passes) is valid for two years due to it being some big anniversary of the parks.

I had been toying with the idea of going back this summer but I had to replace the roof on my house so my cash flow is a bit tight.

SF is too far by car. You'll be spending essentially two whole days of your vacation just driving to and from SF (30+ hours of driving). My suggestion is to explore Washington which has lots of scenic places and maybe Portland which isn't far from the border of Washington and Oregon. E.g. one possible itinerary would be to drive down to Portland, spend a day or two there with a side trip the Columbia River Gorge, then drive up to and hike around Mount Rainer, and then finish the trip in Seattle and environs.

Vegas. Always Vegas.

Way too far by car. But if you are willing to fly that's certainly a good choice if you've never been there before.

Seconded Oregon. Crater Lake is supposed to be well worth the trip.

Flights are pretty cheap (or free if you have airline miles), especially if you book in advance. Probably even cheaper (and more likely to be nonstop) if you drive to Seattle first. You can park your car at my house and I can ferry you to and from the airport if you want (it is about 15 minutes from my front door to the arrival/departure area)  :grin:

Also, August is probably the cheapest time to hit Vegas other than Christmas time, since it is a bit warm there during the summer.

Tofino and Ucluelet?

You drive through the Cathedral Grove which is fantastic in it's scale. Long beach is named appropriately - but it's not that kind of beach (as a fellow non lover of beaches will attest)

Some pretty decent eats to be found there as well.

 

He might want to stay out of the US since I assume his budget is in Loonies and the exchange rate is still bad.

That is an issue, yes.

Tofino is a nice option, but I'll be on the island the month before visiting family. Seattle I know well, been down for PAX the last seven years, so I've spent a lot of time exploring.

Crater Lake is certainly something I considered, I just looked it up and its actually only about a ten hour drive. Never really explored Oregon at all.


Vegas - it certainly is a consideration, though going by myself it would basically turn in to a poker trip. Not that that's a bad thing. Been there several times.

Sadly, all the places I'd like to fly to in Canada are hard on the budget. I could fly to Florida for half the price of flying to Montreal.

The GF's friend from home just got back from there 2 weeks ago and said it was really great for being so off the radar in terms of the big USA National Parks. It got me really curious as I am not big on the huge touristy parks.

4-5 days, $1500 budget?

Vegas. Even if you don't like gambling.

What do you do in Las Vegas if you don't gamble?  I mean IN Vegas, not hiking and sight-seeing in Nevada generally.  I know there's a mob museum and all sorts of shows and restaurants... what else?

Get shot?   :awesome_for_real:

Drink heavily.

Enjoy the hundred degree weather in a city composed of 99% concrete and 1% escort fliers.

Yeah, I've done the Vegas thing. Other than getting shot. Can't imaging being there in August.

Thinking most likely I'll try doing the Oregon coast and Crater Lake, as I've never seen either. Lots of photography options, small towns - which I like.

Oh, you like nature. I got nothin. The outdoors stresses me out.

My favorite vacation I've taken (and we repeat every other year) is road trip down 101 in Oregon. If you're leaning that way, it should be great. From Vancouver you can do the drive in a long day, so breaking it up over three days then cutting over to crater lake is good.

Along the coast good places to stay are Astoria (goonies house!) and Manzanita or Pacific city.  Get a burger from burger 101 in Lincoln city.

Good luck, we are doing a week along the coast in August. Can't wait.

Yeah, watch your driving times, but this is probably your best bet.  A ton of great natural beauty in the pacific north west.

Depending on how much time you have left, one neat sort of thing that not a lot of people know about is Lava Beds National Monument. (https://www.nps.gov/labe/index.htm)  It's about an hour and a half from Crater Lake, in the Modoc desert in Northern California.  Basically, the area got covered in lava a long time ago, and now there are dozens of lava tubes running for miles under the ground (Lava tubes are caves formed when the outside part of a lava flow cools and hardens, but the inside flows until it drains away).

I went there when I was much younger, but thought it was really neat.  A few of the caves are actual Ice Caves, because its so cold underground water has frozen so that the bottom of the caves are ice.  Don't know how much you like caves, but there miles and miles worth of cave systems, with some really neat features.  It's also out in high desert, giving you some pretty (desert) scenery.  Also the site of the Modoc War in the 1870's, if you want to see where US troops and the local Modoc Indians murdered each other for a few years (Modoc's did manage to take out a US General).  There are also ancient petroglyphs carved/painted on rock formations around the area.

Not sure if that has any appeal to you at all, or if its to far out of the way.  But it's a neat spot that not a lot of people know about.

Sounds rather cool actually. I'll investigate the distances.

I did Vegas in August once. Never again. I like it fine in December/January but there's zero chance that I'll ever go there outside of winter. There's a shit-ton to do in Vegas, so much so that if you only go there to gamble and rotate through different hotels, then you're missing out. But if you want photo opportunities then that means going outside which is not a thing you want to do there for ten months of the year.

For photography, you could head down to Denver/Colo Springs and take a tour around the Front Range. It probably won't be on fire until later in the year and there's some great photography around there such as Garden of the Gods, Manitou Springs, Cheyenne Mountain and, of course Pike's Peak.

It's 95* today, I'm pretty hot! But in the mountains its a bit cooler and very nice. A bit far to drive from Vancouver, and probably a little expensive for a hotel even if you can find cheap flights.

Have you considered Disneyworld in Orlando?

If he wants to avoid predators he can just hop on the Disney cruise headed from Vancounver to San Diego on the 22nd...

Of course, a single man on that cruise is probably the predator...

A single man at anything Rat-related you mean.

This is what crossed my mind. Crater Lake is pretty amazing.

Also a really cool rainforest on the coast of Washington. Nice hiking. Or you could pop to Port Angeles, take a ferry over to Victoria and see some cool shit there too. Also, Canadian girls.

Dude LIVES in Canada.

But has he really seen it?  :why_so_serious:

Driving over to Banff from Vancouver on Rt. 1 would provide lots of great photographic opportunities. Or going on 5 all the way up to Jasper and then down to Banff--that's some breathtaking stuff, esp. if you can stand getting up really early in the morning. I did a hike up to a ridgeline in between Jasper and Banff starting at 4am that was maybe the most memorable hike I've ever done, not the least because there was a wolf pack in the valley that was howling at each other most of the time. I also like the Sunshine Coast all the way up to Powell River but maybe that's sticking too close to home?

We've done an extended road trip from Seattle to northern California, hitting the parks along the way. Lava Beds is really neat, as is Crater Lake. Lassen Volcanic National Park (https://www.nps.gov/lavo/index.htm) is impressive, too, but that may be too far south. There are some extensive wildlife refuges (birds mostly) around Klamath Lake, too.

If you like mostly driving with some stops, a trip from Vancouver to Crater Lake or even northern California might be doable in 4-5 days. If you like spending more than a few hours in a place, it'd take careful planning to get as far as Crater Lake. Something to watch out for is that a lot of the roads in and around the national parks are state highways at best, which can make your effective speed much slower than the road's rated speed (get stuck behind a slow truck on hilly/mountainous switchbacks on a two-lane road and you may not be able to pass it for many hours).

Olympic National Park (especially the Hoh Rain Forest) is also worth it, if you'd prefer to go from Seattle around the Olympic peninsula. With fairly minimal stops, it's a 12+ hour day going from Seattle to the peninsula by ferry, then around the peninsula, into the west side of Olympic National Park, and then back to Seattle around the southern side. Lots of great scenery, and some interesting small towns along the way (some cultural centers from the indigenous tribes along the north side of the peninsula, IIRC). Seattle to Whidbey Island by ferry, then touring the island, then back to Seattle along I-5 is a moderate day trip.

All this is assuming you want to spend any significant time in the US, of course.

Have you considered a ride on the rails south along the coast with a flight back at the end?

I thought about a rail trip, but I like the idea of being a little more in control of exact destinations. I'm thinking that the Oregon drive is going to fit my need at this point. Might see if I can squeeze an extra day or two, to reduce the urge to be constantly driving.

Now the question is, can I get away with looking for lodging on the way, or do I have to itinerary this.

You'd be better off planning ahead, but if you wanted to wing it I doubt you'd get stuck anywhere without a room.

Really depends on how picky about place. Like, you might not be able to stay in that great affordable mid-range hotel right on an Oregon beach, but there's always a room in a Holiday Inn Express back a ways from the coast off a highway, etc.

If you were pulling a trailer and wanted to camp in the parks you would probably be out of luck. Or staying at one of the lodges. Hotels should be fine along the route unless you get somewhere really remote. Southeastern Oregon is pretty sparse but the scenery is pretty amazing. There are a few hot springs out in the boonies like Steens Mountain as well if that is something you like. But if you end up out in the part of the state in August make sure your air conditioning works because it gets pretty hot.

My recommendation would be to go from Crater lake through central Oregon up through Bend north to Biggs Junction then east to Walla Walla (spend the night there). Head north towards a small town called Starbuck visit Palouse Falls (amazing waterfall in the middle of some extremely dry area). Head north to I90 then west and from there take your choice of ways to head north and take the North Cascades Highway which should be open depending on when you are going in August. You can stay in Chelan or Wenatchee if you need a break. Great scenery amazing drive easily done in 2-3 days. Also pretty cheap other than Gas.

Yellowstone National Park

Just don't walk on the platforms.

Too soon?

FIFY. Stay on the goddamn platforms/boardwalks/paths.

Oh I thought he fell off. He was willfully off of it? For fuck's sake.

It's sad he was able to walk so far before he died. The footprints he left will attract more people to do the same, further trashing the area.