Did a little road trip with my buddy from Sat to Tues. There was no real plan except to try and take as many back roads as possible while still making it to our destination. Seattle to Kelowna B.C., to Whitefish MT, to Spokane back to Seattle again (via Ellensburg and Leavenworth).

Was a great trip... 100+ degree days, triple digit speeds and top down almost the whole way. The cab shrugged off mile after mile without a complaint. Beautiful open roads that I will dream about for some time to come. Simply amazing. Averaged 21.4 mpg on top of it all.

Here are some pics... condensed and in order of the trip...

Day 1 - Seattle to Kelowna

Fuel up


Lake Diablo via Cascade Highway








Day 2 - Kelowna to Whitefish













Day 3 Whitefish to Spokane (we were going to go to Walla Walla, but too damn hot)









Day 4 Spokane to Ellensburg to Leavenworth to home



Car got pretty dirty... had to do some off road activity in Montana due to construction

 

Nice trip! Beautiful vistas.
Sounds like you guys had a blast.
Thanks for sharing the pics.

 

great color combo on your car. fuches look great as well. nice pictures

my wife and I just did a similar trip. home, coure d'alene,kelowna,banff,whitefish,home. some great roads up there but only had the top off the cgt for 2 of the 5 days.

 

Awesome Trip for sure! Those roads look tempting! C'mon now, how fast did you get her up to?

 

Uh.....near 240km/hr in Canada but maybe there was sun in my eyes so maybe it only read 140.. It's a little windy with the top down, but not unbearable. It's pretty cool you can change the units on the speedo as well.. it was very handy. I found the car pulled better with the top up... I guess that's not too surprising. That might just be my imagination.. but passing car after car, you get a feel for what a 4th gear pull does vs a 5th gear vs a 6th gear. I also really like the sport mode, I used it extensively! I wish the digital speedo could keep up... would have made for better bragging rights. lol


The best part was Kelowna to Whitefish... we were cruising at 125 km/hr and not slowing down in the turns... then bursts up to... well, north of that!

We made VERY good time... no tickets (Valentine One is amazing). I did get lasered on I-90 (go figure the one small stretch of interstate) but I was only going 79 in a 70 at the time and I slammed on the brakes since I had never heard that alert before. He was sneaky... couldn't even see his car at all. We also had a couple other "oh crap" moments, but I was either on the brakes fast enough or they just weren't ready. Chalk up a few to luck as always.

I only saw one other 996 the whole trip... flashed my lights but got no response. Oh well, I think that was Canada anyhow. I think I saw 2 or three boxsters, but all in all, a very devoid Porsche road trip. That was weird.

 

Yeah, I found what I was looking for up there... just tons of scenery and open roads. I've been to Banff before, I think if I were to do that trip, I'd consider heading that way next time.

We had to put the top up in the heat of the afternoon after day one (even with copious amounts of sun screen)... we were just too sun burnt to take it. So from 1pm to 4pm we'd go top up and then back to top down the rest of the way. It was high 90's most of the trip, with the highest temp readout at 103. That gets hot even when you're going 80.

 

Traitor!!

Great pics BTW

 

You should try driving north of bellingham, its the "american alps".
-Getz

http://www.bellingham.org/download/p...anut_Drive.pdf

 

I love these threads!! Looks like some great roads and very nice scenery up there.

 

Looks like a fun trip, love the color combo and those wheels!

 

Trust me, I know all about Chuckanut Drive. I also like the Mt. Baker run...

We took the SR20 North Cascades Highway on our first leg. That's where those first pics are from. I have tons of others, but I didn't want to bore anyone to death! Like having to sit through someone else's vacation. Ugh!

Lake by Kelowna:


A field in Idaho:


A video game in the Northwestern Saloon in Whitefish:


Somewhere in Montana:


$.25 wing night in Spokane... yeah, that's $8 of wings.


A dust storm or something in the middle of WA..


Ripping through downtown Seattle almost home...


Ok, I think some people are falling asleep in the back! All I can say is that if anyone has the time, a road trip is definitely a ton of fun. There is so much to see and do out there!

 

Thanks! Yeah, brand new and needing to be broken in. The car got a lot of looks and a lot of people wanted to take pictures next to it... even at the end of the trip when it was filthy! I'm going outside now to wash it and wipe down the interior!

 

Looks like an awesome road trip - I just got back from Kelowna area a week ago (but alas in the familymobile - not the pcar).

I also frequent Whitefish quite often - the Bulldog saloon is something else hey! Cheap beer and awesome burgers. How did you like the "decor" in the washroom?!?!?

If you do it again and come through Banff to Calgary shoot me a PM. We do have Porsches up here! Seriously though, likely not as many as you are used to seeing due to our harsh winters. Porsche Escape is not terribly far north of Kelowna this year at Sun Peaks Resort this fall. http://www.pcaescape2010.com/

Thanks for posting your pics - very much enjoyed.

 

My interest is "peaked"!!! (I love whistler!). I've been to the bulldog since '97... quite often till 2001, then I hadn't returned till just two days ago. It was awesome to come back. The last time I was there Emilio Estavez was drinking beers at one of the tables, and yes, I have pics of the bathroom if anyone is wondering.

I just joined PCA and more importantly the PacNW region. I would love to go up to your local event in September. Too soon for me to commit yet, but if I can make it happen, I will. Thanks for the invite!

I don't normally share vacation pics, but I have to tell you, I was super proud of this car and that trip. I drove all 1400 miles of it, never got tired...and every day I was excited to hit the road again!

 

awesome thread, I love these threads, I get to see parts of the country I didnt even know existed, lol. Looks like you enjoyed yourself. I remember with my first Pcar I drove from NYC to chicago just for a weekend and back, that was alot of fun but not much to see since I stayed on 80 the entire time.

Car looks great, keep racking up the miles in good health