I was a little hundred that the river was too high to enjoy the springs this week. But did get to meet hang out with a cool human.

This is a follow-up to my previous post in which I got great advice from everyone about my PNW trip this coming July.

I'm now trying to plan the best "course" for my trip.

Some general questions before I start:

1. How early do I need to get to destinations (Hoh, Hurricane Ridge, coastal beaches, Sul Dac, etc.)? It looks like the stop letting people in if places get too crowded.

2. Where is the best base? I'm looking at Sequim/Port Angeles/Lake Crescent area for lodging. But I'm not opposed to Forks, Neah Bay, or even Lake Quinnault (Locharie Resort looks nice), but I'm not entirely sure where to go besides HOH or the beaches if I choose the latter areas. What's best bet for a first-timer?

3. Will I have a "bad" time if I explore Olympic/the peninsula on the weekend? I'll elaborate below.

I already booked the SJI portion of my trip (Sat 7/13 to Thurs 7/18) and am now building around it. Here are some possible options:

Option 1:

July 10/11(Wed/Thurs): Arrive in Seattle. Settle in, meet up with travel buddy, go out to Snoqualmie Falls area to do "Twin Peaks" tourist stuff, maybe Rattlesnake Ridge, bop around Seattle, leave for SJI on Sat.

July 13-18: SJI

July 18-21 (maybe 22): Leave SJI on Thursday (7/18) and head to one of the "bases" I mentioned above. Do the Penninsula/Olympic portion of the trip Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday morning, and the head back to Seattle for a day or so before flying out.

Option 2 (this avoids Penninsula on the weekend):

July 8/9: Arrive in Seattle and head out to the Penninsula to one of the "bases" on Wednesday (July 10), spend Wed to Sat morning there.

July 13-18: Head to SJI from the Penninsula.

July 18: Head to Seattle for the weekend before flying out.

Any thoughts on which option is better/worse? Is Sea>SJI>Penninsula>Sea better than Sea>Penninsula>SJI>Seattle?

Any other suggestions/tips are appreciated (especially how much I could reasonably fit into each day on the Penninsula). Thanks!

Those of you who have lived in the PNW, have you had any strange or frightening encounters in the wilderness that you cant explain? There is a town today called Yacolt that is in an area that was so haunted that the Native American’s who lived in the region didn’t want anything to do with it, and wouldn’t live there.

WA Data Sources March 2024: https://www.redfin.com/
BC Data Sources March 2024: https://www.houseful.ca/market-trends/

Many of us had the impression real estate is much cheaper in Seattle in comparison to Vancouver, but that doesn't seem to be the case any longer.

If we compare homes just inside of Seattle city limits, the average prices are still lower than those in just inside Vancouver city limits.

But if we go into the suburban towns, those in King County are more often than not pricier than the ones in the Lower Mainland of BC. For example, the average price of a single family home in Bellevue is 46% higher than the average in Richmond. And the average price of a single family home in Redmond is more than double the average in Burnaby.

https://preview.redd.it/28bd3zaetgzc1.png?width=928&format=png&auto=webp&s=6033105f9f8f177868d4eb0df9e2e042a6b28cc5

I will end up in Portland, Oregon for a long weekend on the tail end of July. From midday Thursday - morning Sunday (I leave Sunday morning so it’s really just Thursday to Saturday). What are some must see things in Portland or the Pacific Northwest with the limited amount of time that I have?

I am from the South East US so I wanted to go to Ape Caves to go inside a real cave as I never done so. I also wanted to check out Mt. St. Helen’s. Since I haven’t see anything like that before. I also want to make it too Multnomah Falls as I’ve never seen a waterfall before. I also want to drive up to Seattle and go up the space needle and visit something there so I’ll probably spend a day up there. Is this too ambitious? Also, if anyone recommends anything to see in Portland let me know.

I greatly appreciate your help on this as I’ve been trying to map out stuff on google and excel but I wanted to see if you had any advice on how to enjoy the Pacific Northwest the best with the time I had. I am not sure when I’ll be able to go back up there so I wanted to make the most of what I could.