Road Trip From San Francisco to Seattle

One of the best parts of living in America are the road trips. Since the country is so vast and things tend to be so spread apart, there’s always a new place to explore by car. One particularly beautiful road trip that I’ve been on recently was on the West Coast, from San Francisco up to Seattle.

The actual driving time took around 15 hours and we managed to make a nice vacation of it with about 9 days. San Francisco is a great place to start, though you could easily do it the other way round as well. The highlight of the trip was definitely Oregon, probably more so because we really had no expectations of it. Unexpectedly, Oregon was friendly, green, beautiful and laid-back. The coastlines were stunning as were the campsites inland. And Portland is a mecca of open-minded, liberal Americans (which seems like a rarity these days)!

Some of the highlights of the trip were San Francisco (see linked article for more info) and Mt. St. Helens, an active volcano in southern Washington state. If you go, make sure to leave yourself a few hours to drive in to one of the closer visitors’ centre, off the main highway, as the view is much better than at the visitors’ centre closest to the highway. The mountain we learned is actually still erupting everyday and a dump truck sized amount of lava is deposited every second on the side of the mountain!

The Columbia River Gorge, which separates Oregon and Washington, also should not be missed. It holds some beautiful waterfalls and excellent hiking opportunities. And of course the giant redwoods in northern California are definitely worth a visit. A drive through Avenue of the Giants will certainly humble you.

As for accommodations, the state parks are absolutely wonderful for camping. They’re beautiful, clean and well-maintained, and importantly, cheap. A night at a park will cost between $15 and $20 for up to 4 people. Hostels are nice as well, particularly the Hawthorne Hostel in Portland, Oregon.  Excellent facilities and clean and friendly.

By: Alana