Going to Seattle... Should we drive or fly?
Feb 8th 2008, 3:43 am
#16
Unmitigated Gall
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Re: Going to Seattle... Should we drive or fly?
Well what are you thinking about seeing if you drive? Are there particular attractions you are looking for, and how far out of the way would they be from the most direct route?
I've just checked and it's about 2000 miles from Frankford to Seattle, and yes that is certainly possible to do in 3 days, but it will be a *lot* of driving and not much time to see things. IMO after a few hours all the interstates start to look alike.
I'm not saying don't drive, but I think 3 days is optimistic if you want to make it enjoyable rather than just a drive.
I've just checked and it's about 2000 miles from Frankford to Seattle, and yes that is certainly possible to do in 3 days, but it will be a *lot* of driving and not much time to see things. IMO after a few hours all the interstates start to look alike.
I'm not saying don't drive, but I think 3 days is optimistic if you want to make it enjoyable rather than just a drive.
My current thinking is drive from STL to Seattle with only brief (1-2hrs max) sightseeing stops along the way and a make a "Western" trip another vacation altogether. I think it's too much to do both in one trip, and the price to fly just scared the shit out of me. (Sorry Cindy!)
Feb 8th 2008, 3:44 am
#17
Unmitigated Gall
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Re: Going to Seattle... Should we drive or fly?
Feb 8th 2008, 3:46 am
#18
Sursum corda
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Feb 8th 2008, 3:49 am
#19
Riding on silver wings
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Re: Going to Seattle... Should we drive or fly?
Feb 8th 2008, 3:59 am
#20
Sursum corda
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Re: Going to Seattle... Should we drive or fly?
That's what I mean, in order to make the drive a kind of vacation within a vacation we'd have to cut into "Family" time to make it worthwhile. There's all kinds of things I'd like to see along the way, first probably being Medora, ND, which would require an addition to Google's STL to Seattle route of about 850 miles.
My current thinking is drive from STL to Seattle with only brief (1-2hrs max) sightseeing stops along the way and a make a "Western" trip another vacation altogether. I think it's too much to do both in one trip, and the price to fly just scared the shit out of me. (Sorry Cindy!)
My current thinking is drive from STL to Seattle with only brief (1-2hrs max) sightseeing stops along the way and a make a "Western" trip another vacation altogether. I think it's too much to do both in one trip, and the price to fly just scared the shit out of me. (Sorry Cindy!)
Feb 8th 2008, 4:03 am
#21
Unmitigated Gall
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Re: Going to Seattle... Should we drive or fly?
Well get them ABY!!! Times a wasting. Are you able to download Ding to your desktop at work? Do it like yesterday. Reason why I say that is that I was able to get 7 roundtrip tickets for a conference in San Diego last year from MCI-SAN for under $1,300 last year. These tickets were non-stop both ways. Each person in my group ended up paying $181.00 for their ticket. I was the hero for the moment because they were going for over $250 before the Ding came through. It's an awesome thing when a Ding happens and you've got the cash at hand AND it fits your schedule.
Feb 8th 2008, 4:06 am
#22
Unmitigated Gall
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Feb 8th 2008, 4:20 am
#23
Sursum corda
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Re: Going to Seattle... Should we drive or fly?
Feb 8th 2008, 4:27 am
#24
Riding on silver wings
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Re: Going to Seattle... Should we drive or fly?
Ding is a desktop application available for download and installation from Southwest. Any time Southwest issues special fares it will 'Ding' like the noise you hear when calling for a flight attendant. It gives you fares that aren't on the regular fare grid on the website. It's an awesome tool for saving money. That's all I can tell you. Just know that you'll have to sign up for a Rapid Rewards account. I've got an account with them and I'm really satisfied that they aren't bombarding me with emails and letters. I rarely receive snail mail from them. I do subscribe to their emails though. Give it a go.
Feb 8th 2008, 6:59 am
#25
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 35,082
Re: Going to Seattle... Should we drive or fly?
That's what I mean, in order to make the drive a kind of vacation within a vacation we'd have to cut into "Family" time to make it worthwhile. There's all kinds of things I'd like to see along the way, first probably being Medora, ND, which would require an addition to Google's STL to Seattle route of about 850 miles.
My current thinking is drive from STL to Seattle with only brief (1-2hrs max) sightseeing stops along the way and a make a "Western" trip another vacation altogether. I think it's too much to do both in one trip, and the price to fly just scared the shit out of me. (Sorry Cindy!)
My current thinking is drive from STL to Seattle with only brief (1-2hrs max) sightseeing stops along the way and a make a "Western" trip another vacation altogether. I think it's too much to do both in one trip, and the price to fly just scared the shit out of me. (Sorry Cindy!)
While it was great to see what we -did- see, we were powering through and didn't have time to stop at ANY of the stuff I wanted to. DH had to be content with seeing 'The West' out the window.
What's the deal with Medora? Never heard of it! Your route has fantastic possibilities, but I could take two weeks just doing the one way!
Feb 8th 2008, 7:24 am
#26
Unmitigated Gall
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Re: Going to Seattle... Should we drive or fly?
We just did a similar drive to spend 10 days net with the fam.. it worked out OK for us, but we didn't have the kid factor. The part you might not think of, on top of gas, is hotels and road food.. it added up surprisingly fast. My 'oh come stay with us for free!' trip cost about $2K.
While it was great to see what we -did- see, we were powering through and didn't have time to stop at ANY of the stuff I wanted to. DH had to be content with seeing 'The West' out the window.
What's the deal with Medora? Never heard of it! Your route has fantastic possibilities, but I could take two weeks just doing the one way!
While it was great to see what we -did- see, we were powering through and didn't have time to stop at ANY of the stuff I wanted to. DH had to be content with seeing 'The West' out the window.
What's the deal with Medora? Never heard of it! Your route has fantastic possibilities, but I could take two weeks just doing the one way!
Theodore Roosevelt's ranches... To say I'm a fan of his would be a severe understatement!
http://www.nps.gov/thro/
http://www.nps.gov/archive/thro/tr_cabin.htm
Feb 8th 2008, 7:34 am
#27
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Re: Going to Seattle... Should we drive or fly?
Train 
Feb 8th 2008, 7:36 am
#28
Unmitigated Gall
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), but that is a great trip, according to people I know who've done it.
Feb 8th 2008, 7:49 am
#29
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 35,082
Re: Going to Seattle... Should we drive or fly?
I know, my list of stuff to see out that way would fill pages...
Theodore Roosevelt's ranches... To say I'm a fan of his would be a severe understatement!
http://www.nps.gov/thro/
http://www.nps.gov/archive/thro/tr_cabin.htm
Theodore Roosevelt's ranches... To say I'm a fan of his would be a severe understatement!
http://www.nps.gov/thro/
http://www.nps.gov/archive/thro/tr_cabin.htm
That looks beautiful, and I'll have to add that part of ND to the 'still to be seen' list.. I love it out there.
There's a wacky National Park in Nebraska too... the story I heard is that they didn't want to be left out of the Nat'l Forest program so they 'built' a mountain and planted pine trees there so it could be a National Forest.
They have a nice swimming pool there.. it was a good place to stop in sweltering July (factor that into your drive as well.. HOT!).
