I don't know what possessed me to call a thread NonMusic when I was going to ask for mudcatters...

Anyway, I may be receiving, as a Big Bday present, plane tickets to Seattle. If that happens, I'll take my 10-day vacation there instead of the beach in NC (sorry, Matt!), and am looking for local advice. I *know* I must see the Big Grand Coulee Dam (and sing same), I'd like to see Portland, but I can't get any inkling of scale, somehow - Can one drive to Portland from Seattle for a day's visit? Does it take 3 days to get there? How about Seattle to the BGCD? I want to take the twins to see a real volcano - hear some local folk clubs - my friend will take me to his style of place, he's mid/late 30's, bent, queer, francophone, and a general delight, very GenXy to me... but I'll have 6-year old twins by then, who will need their style of entertainment too, and we'll have to get a babysitter so we can go out after the boys crash a few nights. He has a real job, so most days it'lll be just me and the boys, any local folks who can hang out? This will be circa the first week of August...