The trip in short
Seattle first: Pike Place Market, the Space Needle and the ferries on Puget Sound. Then across to the Olympic Peninsula, from the snowy views of Hurricane Ridge to the mossy Hoh Rainforest. Astoria sits where the Columbia meets the Pacific; Portland has food carts and the waterfalls of the Columbia River Gorge. The last stop is Mount Rainier, where the meadows at Paradise flower in summer. Green, wild and cool: the Northwest and its national parks. More coast to the south: the Oregon Coast and Crater Lake.