Make Your Next Trip Extraordinary

View from Cape Flattery, Neah Bay, WA.

Travelers Robert and Lina Grabill hiked the winding Cape Flattery trail at Neah Bay. Photo: Traveler Robert Grabill

This was our first experience using a trip planner. Overall, it was very good though we learned a lot for next time. And yes, there will be a next time. Sheri, our trip planner did a wonderful job with all of her recommendations.

Our trip was to Olympic National Park—a gorgeous park and area that can be a bit overwhelming. Sheri found us a great vacation rental in the 3 Crabs area of Sequim (pronounced Skwim) for the first half of the trip. It was absolutely lovely—highly recommended and one we would like to return to. The house sat right on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, so we could watch the tides, birds and ships. And Mt. Baker sometimes showed itself, though other times it was shy and hid behind clouds/fog.

We hit the majority of the highlights of Olympic National Park. We hiked along Hurricane Ridge, Lake Crescent/Marymere Falls, Sol Duc, the Hoh rainforest, Kalaloch and Lake Quinault. Dungeness Spit, while not in the park, was amazing though we hit it late in the day and so didn’t have an opportunity to see it in all of its glory.

We drove out to Neah Bay and spent time in the Makah Museum at the Makah Cultural and Research Center. The museum is a fascinating look back at Makah culture from 500 years ago. We also hiked to the furthest NW corner of the lower 48 via the Cape Flattery trail. A gorgeous view awaited us at the end, though the trail itself wound through beautiful forests. It had rained that day so the trail was a bit rough and wet.

Despite it being the off season (which was a great time to go to the park), the Hoh rainforest was very popular and was the busiest of all the locations we visited in the park. The Hall of Mosses is as impressive as everyone says it is—a must-see! Our only sighting of Roosevelt elk was by the roadside as we were leaving Hoh. They are beautiful animals!

Kalaloch Lodge and the Pacific coast area was another favorite of ours. We spent 2 nights there and even came back the next day to further enjoy its beauty. Our cabin had a great view of the ocean and sunset. It’s a place to absorb the power of nature.

A must-do drive is the loop around Lake Quinault, though drivers must be prepared for rough roads once the pavement ends. (High clearance vehicles only.) However, the route is like a drive-thru Hall of Mosses. Absolutely amazing…

Sheri recommended Cedarbrook Lodge for our last night close to the Seattle airport and that recommendation was spot-on. The hotel is luxurious in a beautiful and unexpected setting. While meals are on the expensive side, they are worth it.

Lessons learned for future trips and using a trip planner:
• Think about your preferred style of travel—go, go, go each day or a more leisurely pace?
• Be as specific about your have-to-haves, wants, and “we ain’t doin’ that!” as much as possible
• Carefully evaluate all recommendations with your trip planner.

Wild fires are so unpredictable but thankfully when the smoke was impacting the Bend Oregon area we planned to visit, Sheri rerouted us. She looked at the fire maps, talked to hotel management in Bend to make sure no repercussions for cancelling, rerouted us so we could still visit Crater Lake National Park, booked reservations at 3 hotels for us, and updated our itinerary with driving and restaurant suggestions. She did all of this while we were out enjoying our day of flying and riding dune buggies. There was no stress involved for us at all, and we still got to enjoy all the items that were on the wish list for our trip. I am so thankful we had used Sheri for planning this trip and for her handling of all the changes.

Sheri had listened attentively to my wish list and planned a perfectly paced trip to Oregon. We started in Portland, where we also took a day trip to visit waterfalls and Mount Hood. Next we stayed at the beautiful, peaceful Stephanie Inn beachfront property in Canon Beach. Took a day trip to Astoria followed up by attending a kite festival in Lincoln. Next we spent time in Yachats where we watched the waves crash on the rocks from our room. The surrounding area was full of activities. Other locations where we stayed with unique rooms and lots of things to do were Grants Pass, Eugene, and Willamette Valley. We finished our trip with a wine tasting afternoon and made a toast to another great trip planned by a WOW List specialist.

My husband and I worked with Sheri to create a two-week self-driving tour of the coast of Washington and Oregon. The process began with a phone call followed by a detailed questionnaire which helped Sheri understand our travel preferences and interests. Sheri recommended wonderful lodging options that were beautiful and had very attentive staff. Sheri created an amazingly detailed itinerary with specific driving and ferry directions and important information about where to stop to eat, when to gas up and options for short detours for a spectacular view or to visit a historical site. The extensive itinerary made the drive seamless and was easy to follow using an app on our phones.

We were fortunate enough to receive a surprise WOW Moment, which was one of the highlights of our trip. A personal tour with a photographer to get unique photos of Portland where the locals live and eat (Food Pods). Sheri was very responsive and easy to reach during the trip, checking in with us to make sure everything was going well. I would recommend working with Sheri and allowing her to create a truly special trip using her intimate knowledge of the region.

We went on a Pacific Northwest trip to Oregon and Northern California planned by Sheri Doyle. We had amazing experiences like exploring Crater Lake, seeing plays at the Oregon Shakespeare festival, whitewater rafting, amazing jet boat trip up Rogue River (the all-day trip Sheri recommended was really worth it) and more. All of the recommended hotels and activities were amazing, with great views and locations. We ended the trip with a long weekend family reunion at the Cavallo Point resort near San Francisco, which was amazing with great food and service and location—hard to have a big family multi-age celebration go so smoothly! Sheri’s very detailed itinerary still had enough choices of sightseeing and activities that we didn’t feel overly restricted and was so complete that when I sent it to a friend in Portland for suggestions she said she couldn’t improve it!

Unfortunately the trip also had some problems due to forest fires in Oregon during the first week of our trip. Sheri was helpful with suggestions and updates on cancellations but lots of activities were canceled, view points had 25 feet visibility, and worst of all the smoke inhalation was terrible for our health. In these climate change times I wouldn’t recommend going to the Pacific Northwest during forest fire season (August?). We also of course caught Covid (fortunately mild as we were vaccinated). Guess that’s travel in end times lol.

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