Pacific Northwest Best Time For Travel

Olympic National Park
WHEN is the best time to visit the Pacific Northwest? I guess the answer would be based on what the traveler is hoping to experience.  While the Pacific Northwest is known for cloudy rainy weather, we were looking for a vacation that was not filled with slickers & rain boots. So I set out to research & find the best time of year to find sunshine in the Pacific Northwest. 


My research paid off! I learned the sun comes out mid July and the weather is generally pleasant through September.  Most of the blogs I read suggested September was the best time to visit because the height of tourism will have passed as students went back to school.  Well... September was not good for us since both my husband & myself are teachers.  We selected July 11-20 & we were not disappointed! Almost every day (9 out of 10 days) of our trip we experienced sunshine & high temperatures around 75 degrees. Coming from Texas where the temperatures in July were hovering around the 100 degree mark we were excited to need a hoodie each morning. Take a look at the beautiful weather we experienced each day of our trip:
Day 1 Columbia River Gorge, Oregon 

Day 2 Mount Rainier National Park, Washington (It was cloudy in the morning but the
clouds cleared for a beautiful day!)

Day 3 Lopez Island in the San Juan Islands, Washington

Day 4 Lime Kiln State Park San Juan Island, Washington

Day 5 Orcas Island San Juan Islands, Washington (We were here until mid afternoon.)

Day 5 North Cascades National Park, Washington - We spent the evening
driving through this beautiful national park.

Day 6 Seattle, Washington - not even a cloud in the sky!

Day 7 Olympic National Park, Washington - we visited a temperate rain forest & experienced this weather!
Day 8 Astoria, Oregon
Day 9 Ecola Beach, Oregon

Day 9 Seaside, Oregon



Day 10 It rained a little on us on our way to Portland, Oregon from Astoria, Oregon. 
This was the only time it rained the entire trip!
Having fantastic weather certainly helps make the vacation all the more pleasant.  While there is no way to predict when bad weather will occur, certain times of the year are better than others.  Our trip to the Pacific Northwest was an adventure of a lifetime!  If you would like to know more about our Pacific Northwest vacation, subscribe to my blog so you don't miss a single post. In the coming weeks I will post about our final 2 days at the Pacific Northwest where we visit the coast of Oregon. I will share with you where to stay, eat, & have fun!

Wherever your next adventure takes you, may God bless you each mile of your journey.