Seattle and Vancouver, what to see and do?

Dear Beeb travel advisory board,

I'm traveling to Seattle and up through Vancouver to Whistler BC to see some of my helicopter customers and taking the wife with me. Will be there the whole first week of March.

What are some must see/do things in the area?

Thanks,

 

Just got home from Van and Whistler. We snowboarded. Van was neat. Went to lots of places like Granville Island. Good peeps all over. Nice and polite. Lots of healthy folks walking and riding bikes. I enjoyed my trip. I put lots of pictures of Whistler on my FB page.... You feel very tiny when you get on top of that white mountain....

 

Snowboarded Mount Baker a few years ago. It was awesome.

There's a really cool mountain bike park under the I-5 in Downtown Seattle. https://www.evergreenmtb.org/trails/i-5-colonnade

You can drive up to see Mt. Rainier but you will need to show the ranger that you at least have chains for your tires with you this time of year. You don't need to put them on but need to show you have them.

The coast out there is beautiful. You can actually drive down the Beach out by Ocean Shores, Westport. Be careful though if you decide to drive north on 109. The road ends at a reservation and the people there are not that friendly.

Vancouver? Go see a hockey game and get drunk.

 

You will drive right past this on the drive between Vancouver and Whistler : www.seatoskygondola.com

 

Here's a great thread from last year.

http://forums.13x.com/showthread.php?t=316756&highlight=seattle+tourist

Weather will be cool and probably rainy. Lots of places to get drunk. I'll be here, let me know if you need any food recommendations.

 

Ha! Funny you should post that up. Just about to comment when I noticed that. Lots of good ideas in there. Definitely head over to some of the beaches out there. Much different than Florida. Instead of long wide sandy beaches, its actually a lot of cliffs that just butt up against the water. Really different and cool IMO. if you have time, check out mt. Rainier and St. Helens and go on a rainforest tour. Those are the things that really stood out to us. Much different environment than here in the southeast. We spent a whole week touring the whole stat of Washington for our honeymoon and loved every minute of it. Only one downside to that place... They seem to only like IPAs up there.

 

Definietly head to Whistler and Blackcomb...... Best Mountains to ski on the Continent...:up:

 

The IPA-fu is strong here; all the hipsters want to one-up each other. I'm pretty sure they'll end up just seeing who can chew the most raw hops in one mouthful.

I live right downtown in Seattle, lemme know if you want a tour of the city or need help finding a place for a beer (or parking).

 

Boeing museum

 

Does no one want to take a helo ride around Mt. Rainier?

 

No no no no! That place is now a total shithole, you come off a jump to find a bum sleeping in the landing.

Now this place is where it's at: http://duthiemtb.com/

To OP: what do you generally want to do? Sightseeing, doing things, nature, ???

 

In seattle... do one of those under the city tours. Its pretty freaking time capsule cool! :up:

 

Mile House restaurant in Pemberton, just up the road from whistler was really good.

 

You're gonna smoke some weed right? (In front of a cop and take pics.)

 

If your trip s flying into Sea Tac and driving to Vancouver, you will need to make time to see the coast, otherwise it's farm country until you get to the border crossing at Blaine/White Rock. One cute little twisty road on the way up kicks you into Bellingham, great view of Puget Sound (Inland Sea). Otherwise it's a boring drone up I5 from Seattle to Vancouver, about two hours. Allegedly the best dim sum/Chinese food is in Richmond, but we didn't think it was any better than Seattle. But it's on the way up, so if you like Chinese food, stop there.

Making time to sight-see will pay big dividends, as there are lots of great little places to stop. You can also take the ferry from Anacortes to Vancouver, but that's a serious time investment.

Heading west or east of Seattle before heading North will get you to the coast and the Cascade Mountains, west will also get you to the Olympics (rain forest, lots of scenery and trees and quiet little towns).

Once you get to Vancouver, Stanley park and the zoo are pretty cool, Granville Island is a great spot for lunch, and North Vancouver is good for, well, getting out of Vancouver. Nice strip clubs off Hiway 99, if you like that sort of thing. Full bar with dancers right up in your grill. The Penthouse was always our first stop, pretty dingy, but cheap (was). Granville Street has lots of, um, "nightlife." Watch out for the roaming gangs of homeless teenagers after dark. Probably best to stay away at night, really, unless you have a host with good advice for evening entertainment.

 

A little drive from Vancouver, but go to Hope B.C. Two things there. First, the Hope slide. Half the mountain came down into the valley. And the second is that is where First Blood was filmed.

 

This is right outside "The Station" sky train platform. Great place to have breakfast.

 

Gastown in Vancouver is very nice. Actually, the whole damn city is very nice. Must see Stanly Park, largest in-city park in the World I believe, and typical Canadian clean and proper. Great views of the ocean and Lion's Gate (??) bridge. Place is huge.

On the way up to Whistler, stop at the cove where the Vancouver Island ferry embarks (Horseshoe bay?). Very pretty with a few nice places to eat on the water. We rented a boat there and rode up and down the entire inlet; really dramatic.

 

Leave the wife at home and enjoy drinking in whistler

 

Stay away from Hastings street. That is junkie row