Types: Family, Nature, Walking, Historic Places, Adults, Museums & Culture
From Arcata CA to Portland ME with stops for walks, hiking, nature, historic sites, and possibly museums
go above the Great Lakes and drive through Canada, stopping at Ottawa and Montreal on the way. Adds another two hours to the trip but would be great fun, better than Milwaukee.
. Re: Driving from Vancouver BC to Portland, best route? Jun 16, 2011, 1:52 PMOK, let's get one fact clear...are you returning to Vancouver for your flight home? Or flying home from Portland?If you have to return to Vancouver, it makes sense to me to rent a car. You have several days in which to get to Portland and it sounds like you'd like to see some things enroute. With four of you, a car rental (with return in Vancouver) seems to make the most sense.One thing you can do to make the border crossing easier is to not cross at Blaine, but farther inland. You can take Canada Hwy 1 or 1A to #13 south and cross there (rte becomes #539). Just a few miles south of the border you might enjoy seeing the town of Lynden, WA...a little bit of Holland in America. It would be interesting to learn your take on this.lynden.org/index.php…The pioneer museum is worth a visit.From Lynden, you can easily get down #539 to I-5 in Bellingham and decide whether you want to continue directly to Seattle or cut over on the #20 in Burlington and go down through Whidbey Island.You might also want to save at least 4 hours on your last leg into Portland to see Mt. St. Helens.