Vacation cottage/cabin in Olympic peninsula? (plus birding sites) (Seattle: renting, hotels)

[allforcats]

Cmacf, glad you like the info.
Look: how many times do you turn 39??? Maybe it's really WORTH squeezing another day -- or week! Once you see the beauty of the peninsula, and breathe in the clean air and the constant fragrance of Western Cedar, you might wish you had... :-)

Lake Crescent Lodge is absolutely marvelous -- very prime rib, Egyptian cotton high-thread-count sheets elegant. Completely the opposite of your "cottage/cabin" idea.
However, if you don't want to spend all the money to stay there, you could drive up to the entrance, park the car, and go inside to the lobby. The view is glorious...

[LMB]

Originally Posted by allforcats

LMB, isn't Lake Crescent breathtaking?!! The first time I saw it, I almost drove into the mountain beside the road!!
You're right, the Oly Pen is just magical. I always expect Unicorns to walk out of the forest... :-)

Yes, Lake Crescent is so exquisite. Oly Pen is a national treasure. When we visited before, we were living in FL. The first thing we noticed was the incredible air and how clean everything smelled. Then when we stepped into the Quinault Rain Forest on that bright sunny July day, and the sky disappeared above the incredibly tall trees and the light all around us actually turned to gold, we felt like we'd stepped into an enchanted forest. We DID expect to see unicorns step out from behind those huge trees! Ah. That's it, we're going back this summer and spend at least one night at Lake Crescent Lodge. It's only a few hours from us now--no flights, no rental car, no excuses.

Lynn

[allforcats]

Originally Posted by LMB

Ah. That's it, we're going back this summer and spend at least one night at Lake Crescent Lodge.
Lynn

Magic does its lovely work once again... In the Quinault, please grin and whisper a "Hi!" to the forest sprites for me!!

[cmacf1]

I've been looking at the maps and I'm very confused about how one drives from Seattle to Sequim. I know there are lots of ferries -- how do you find out which ferry to take, how much it costs, what times it leaves, etc.

Is it crazy to think that I could arrive at Sea-Tac at 2 pm, pick up my husband downtown and make it to Sequim that day? I'd prefer to leave the city and head straight out. The main reason is that our flight leaves early when we depart Seattle which means we have to spend the night before we leave in Seattle. That cuts down on the time we can spend on the Olympic peninsula, so I'm thinking I'd like to get out of town immediately. However, it's on a Friday. Am I crazy thinking it's possible???

We now have a rental car and plane tickets so the only thing left to do is figure out our itinerary once we get there! I wish we could stay longer, but our two kids are being taken care of by a friend of mine and I can't overstay their welcome!

Thanks for the continued help!

[LMB]

Cmacf1, I feel sure you can do that, but you probably won't make it to Sequim until evening, depending on your flight arriving on time, car rental time, traffic, ferry back-up, etc. Since you're going to be picking up your husband downtown, you should probably take the Bainbridge ferry from the downtown ferry dock, which runs every 45-60 minutes, drive north toward the Hood Canal bridge (you'll cross the Agate Pass bridge between Bainbridge Island and Kitsap Peninsula--check Mapquest, etc., for directions). Sequim is across the Hood Canal Bridge--I'd say approx 1.5 hr drive from Bainbridge Island. It might take a little longer if traffic is heavy, but you should certainly be able to make it there the first night, and not too late to look around. It stays light until about 8:00-8:30 now.

A couple of years ago, when we flew in to Seattle to look at a house in Sequim, we arrived in early afternoon (1:00-1:30 pm as I remember, picked up our rental car at the airport, and drove from Sea-Tac to Sequim--driving up the Kitsap Peninsula, stopped for a late lunch in Gig Harbor and arrived in Sequim about 5:30 pm. However, we didn't have to go into downtown Seattle as you do, so factor that in.

I'm sure others will have good advice for you too! Have a fun trip!

Lynn

[allforcats]

Hi Cmacf. First -- I can't find your timing anywhere in this thread! WHEN are you planning to make this trip? It could matter in terms of ferry schedules and Oly Pen hotel possibilities.


Second: The Bainbridge ferry schedule:
Seattle / Bainbridge Island Schedule
LMB did a perfect job of explaining how that would work.


GREAT RESOURCE: WA STATE MILEAGE CHART:
WSDOT - Highway Map - Mileage Chart


Third: Friday afternoons could be a tad less crowded in Summer, or more crowded in Spring, than other days depending on weather and how many people are trying to get out of town early. Plan on traffic.


Fourth: Driving, not ferrying
TRAFFIC AROUND TACOMA AND OLYMPIA WILL BE HEAVY.


If you'd prefer to drive from Seattle to Sequim and not take a ferry, you'd spend a lot of time and see lots of different, fascinating scenery:
South on I-5 to Olympia (about 65 miles from downtown Seattle).
Exit 104 west (right). Stay in right lane for HWY 101 NORTH - SEQUIM, PORT ANGELES. Hwy 101 starts as an exit off I-5.
Olympia to Sequim is 100 miles -- Olympia is at Milepost 367. Sequim is at about Milepost 267 to 260.

The drive north on undivided two-lane Hwy 101 from Olympia to Sequim is curvy, sometimes turning through and around mountains, and not fast; you can't do 60 very often and you always have to watch for elk and deer and smaller beings crossing the road -- deer everywhere, and elk most especially from south of Brinnon all the way up to Sequim State Park. There are significant WA state fines for hitting wildlife.
Hwy 101 is the only road for semi trucks hauling timber, produce, animals, machinery, etc. The semis insist they own the road, and they drive it all day and all night. I would never drive 101 in the dark. Just too narrow, crowded and dangerous for my taste.


OR if you drive from Seattle to Aberdeen/Gray's Harbor/Ocean Shores,
you'll be there a lot faster.
South on I-5 to Olympia (about 65 miles from downtown Seattle).
Exit 104 west (right). Stay in CENTER lane for HWY 8 west toward ELMA, MONTESANO, ABERDEEN.
Four-lane, wide, comfy Hwy 8 becomes HWY 12. Rural country. Hwy 12 will take you to all those towns mentioned. Olympia to Aberdeen is 50 miles.

The second is the way I always go, and I'm always surprised that it takes less time than I expect.

Aberdeen where the air smells of Western Cedar, a sacred tree, has a few nice but not expensive motels (my favorite is Guest House Aberdeen, wonderful service GuestHouse International Inns, Hotels & Suites). It's a short 15- or 20-minute drive to Gray's Harbor, all the nature preserves there, and a vast view of the sunset on the Pacific Ocean.

[allforcats]

Another idea that can save some time:
Can your husband meet you at SeaTac? He could take a taxi from his conference to the airport -- taxis usually have set fares to SeaTac; I think it's around $40, probably more now with the high gas prices. He can both check this with the front desk people at his hotel, and have the hotel order a taxi for him ahead of time. (All taxis in this area are dispatched by phone, not hailed on the street.)

SeaTac to Aberdeen ~95 miles
SeaTac to Sequim ~85 miles

If he meets you at your rental car desk in SeaTac, which isn't a huge difficult building like JFK or O'Hare or DFW so he could find you fairly easily -- you would have cut at least an hour, maybe up to two hours, from the whole trip.

There's also an "airporter" coach bus, and there's also a shared, driven van called Shuttle Express between hotels and the airport which I use to SeaTac every time I fly out of town. I can give you more info if these ideas interest you.

[cmacf1]

Now for all you OlyPen experts, if you had Friday to Tuesday PM to see this area, would you go clockwise (start around Aberdeen and go north and east ending in Sequim) or would you go counterclockwise and end in Gray's Harbor/Aberdeen area? I was thinking counterclockwise since it would get us closer to SeaTac on our last evening. No matter what, we plan to stay in a motel near the airport and we plan to get there fairly late so we can enjoy all of the peninsula as long as we can.

We're still up in the air about leaving Friday (the 9th of May, by the way) or waiting til Saturday morning. DH doesn't know yet how long he has to be there on Friday. If he gets out at noon, then most likely we'd leave Seattle that day. If it's an all-day thing and he doesn't finish until 5, then we'll stay in Seattle and leave on the fairy (if we go first to Sequim) at the crack of dawn. I'm not a morning person by nature, but my body will be on east coast time so getting up at 4 or 5 AM won't be difficult.

Thanks for all the ideas, again!!!

[allforcats]

Cmacf, first thought: May 9th = normal Spring traffic. Meaning from 3:30PM until about 6:30PM a lot of it in downtown Seattle, on the highways going out of Seattle, around Tacoma, around Olympia, and waiting for the Bainbridge ferry. If there's heavy wind, the ferry could be delayed due to wave action on the water; but heavy wind isn't usual in early May. (Right now, wow, you should see the trees dancing!) If there's a Mariners baseball game in town, triple the traffic... (I found their schedule; please see below.)

So, LMB do you agree on normal commuter traffic for early May?

[allforcats]

Your idea to make it easy on yourselves to get to SeaTac on your last evening is a great idea.

Driving south on Hwy 101 on the east of the peninsula is not nearly as comfortable driving (vis a vis narrow, undivided, curving road around mountains, semis, elk, deer, etc.)

Driving east on Hwy 12 which becomes Hwy 8: two-way undivided highway until east of Aberdeen at about Central Park (yes, a town name), and then all the way to Olympia it's a divided four-lane highway, wider lanes, much straighter road because it doesn't go through mountains, fewer semis (or not so in-your-face), not so much wildlife, and higher speed limit than 101.

So I think it would be "easier" in every way to get from Grays' Harbor/Aberdeen areas to SeaTac Airport, than from Sequim to the airport.