Chicago, Day 1

Our first day in Chicago began with a trip to Union Station to try and disentangle the mess that was our reservation. After the first re-route, Amtrak lifted the segment limitation on our pass, making it possible for an apparently unlimited number of reservations to be associated with it. In the extensive re-booking that followed our second re-route and subsequent emergency airlift, we had reservations lingering from both, and the routing that remained would have required us to be in at least two places at once, if not three. We walked up to the ticket counter in Chicago, and the agent we spoke to visibly cringed.

After the cringing, he was the most helpful Amtrak employee we had yet encountered. He cleaned up our booking entry, got us back on track, and managed to get us aboard the Lakeshore Limited on 1 July. This was still a day behind schedule, sticking us in Chicago for an extra day and causing us to miss Canada Day in Niagara Falls, but it was certainly better than I'd gotten on the phone. I'd also already made plans for transportation to Toronto based on leaving on that train, so all we needed to take care of was a last-minute hotel in Chicago. A quick click on Hotwire (and the judicious coincidence of my paycheck being deposited a few days early) and we were on our way.

After doing pretty well at our game of ticket poker, we headed out in search of Chicago pizza. A friend on Facebook recommended Aurelio's, and his recommendation was excellent. It turns out that there is an Aurelio's just around the corner from Union Station. (Of course, we didn't figure that out when we left Union Station. Of course not! We thought about going back to our hotel to leave our bags, then decided better of it once we were downtown. We mailed back our first pack of memorabilia at the post office, THEN looked up Aurelio's, and had to backtrack.) They had a $10 pizza-and-pasta lunch buffet, and after weeks of PB&J sandwiches we were eager for as much pizza as we could stuff ourselves with. The pizza didn't look all that great, considering its location under a heat lamp, but looks can be deceiving. One bite confirmed that this was indeed excellent pizza. (For the curious, it was the Chicago-style thin crust, not deep dish- which, I expect, cannot be held under a heat lamp for long.) I pass on the recommendation to any heading to Chicago, with the caveat that locals might know better than I. Thanks, Dana, for the tip!

We then set out trying to follow an itinerary from WikiTravel, but it turned out that the author's travel plans didn't exactly coincide with mine. We set out to see Chicago's Michigan Avenue, also known as the Magnificent Mile. Once we got there, however, we found out that the Mile is magnificently expensive- it's Chicago's primary commercial strip, populated by high-end department stores and boutiques. We did dig the Old Water Tower and nearby pumping station and firehouse, the first two of which survived the Great Chicago Fire, but the remaining occupants of the Magnificent Mile did not appear so magnificent to us. Therefore, we went elsewhere.

A quick walk east (and an astounding realization, on my part, that the water was now to the east, rather than its proper location in the west) took us to Lake Michigan, which we then proceeded to swim in. The cool water was refreshing in the muggy heat of the day, and it was fresh water despite its extension beyond the horizon. (Salt water always bugs me a bit, leaving a crusty impression on my skin after I'm done swimming.) We spent a bit of time splashing about and comparing notes on the local wildlife, which was out displaying an impressive array of colored plumage.

After our swim, Dani was feeling in need of a respite from the continuous city-walking that we'd been engaging in. We wandered back to Michigan Avenue and caught a bus headed for Union Station. We also were under the impression that we had to leave the city quite early in order to make it to our suburban (and inexpensive) hotel for the evening, so we got on a blue line train heading for Forest Park, connecting to one of the CTA's rare #17 buses. After the end of that ride, we had a mile-and-a-half walk to our hotel. Neither one of us were happy about it, but Hotwire hides the actual name and address of a hotel from you until you pay for and book your stay. (In return for accepting this limitation, you get insanely cheap rates. In most cases, we stayed for 50% or less of the room's posted rate. In this case, it was cheaper than hostel beds for the two of us.) We walked, weary, packs on, across suburban wasteland, pausing only for water and a bit of grocery shopping at a Super Target. We finally reached the Hillside Extended StayAmerica, checked in and tried to spend the evening relaxing.

Of course, fate would not allow us such a luxury. The air conditioning in our room didn't work. A quick call to the front desk informed me that, no, a maintenance person was not available on site, and that the desk clerk's promises to "call right back" were empty. We didn't receive a call for the duration of our stay. Plan B- a cool shower and opening every window in the place- worked passably well. I also then logged on to the Internet to discover that Pace, Chicago's suburban bus agency, is not on Google Transit- and that a quick perusal of their schedules would have brought us directly in front of our hotel, with buses running half-hourly up until midnight! At least we discovered this before the mile-and-a-half walk back to the #17 bus. With that, we ended our first day in Chicago.

Disaster and Rescue

After the washout of the Empire Builder earlier in the trip, we were re-routed on to the California Zephyr out of Sacramento to Chicago. Some scrambling meant that I was able to save most of our trip, losing only a day in Chicago and half a day in Niagara Falls. (It would turn out to be worse than that, but I'll explain why later.) We'd also have to ride straight through to Buffalo, making for 4 nights on the train, in coach. Not an ideal situation by any means, but okay. So, after an evening in Seattle that Amtrak still refused to pay for, we grudgingly boarded the Coast Starlight back south to California, expecting an early morning transfer to the Zephyr the next day. We settled in and I got to doing some blogging.

My blogging was interrupted, however, about halfway between Portland and Salem, OR. The conductor came by to ask me if I had received a call from Amtrak. It seems that some of her other passengers had been called and informed that the Zephyr that we were trying to transfer to would be cancelled due to flooding, and that buses were on hand in Salem to return passengers to their origin stations. I told her that, no, I hadn't received such a phone call, and that I really hoped that I wouldn't. Sure enough, three minutes later, I received just such a phone call. I got on the phone to Amtrak's Customer Relations department, who informed me that they'd be happy to bring me back to Seattle. I informed them that there was nothing for me in Seattle, and that returning me there was tantamount to tossing me onto the streets, and they refused to provide any sort of accomodation in Seattle for me. They also offered to deliver me to Denver, where they would also leave me to my own devices. I informed the agent that I would not be leaving the train until I had either a place to sleep or a plan to get to Chicago, and hung up.

Salem, OR came and went, and most of the people in our car emptied out onto the waiting buses. (Amtrak, on long-distance trains, seats passengers by destination. Our car was all Sacramento passengers, and 90% of them were Empire Builder refugees heading for Chicago.) We stayed, and I tried different tacks with Amtrak's customer relations agents. Nothing worked. I was finally re-routed via the Southwest Chief, but that train (the only remaining route from the west coast to Chicago) was so overbooked that the agent was unable to get me aboard earlier than 5 July. (It was 27 June.) That, of course, was when I would be able to board the train- it wouldn't get us to Chicago until the 7th, or to New York (our eventual destination at that point) until the 8th. This itinerary would have us cooling our heels in Riverside for a solid week, and would eat Chicago, Niagara Falls, Toronto, Montreal, and most of our visit to New York City (and therefore, most of our visit with my best friend, who is currently in exile in Brooklyn). We were both devastated by this outcome, but since we didn't have the money for a flight or bus to Chicago, we were resigned to booking it.

I then, fatefully, texted my mother about our situation. She expressed incredulity about the awfulness of Amtrak's customer service (unsurprisingly- I can't quite believe it myself), and asked if there was anything she could do. I said that, barring a last-minute flight, there wasn't. Surprisingly, she replied with "Your dad and I will look into things- give me some airport options," which I did. At this point, we were in Eugene, OR, and about to lose cellular service for the spectacularly isolated stretch of track over the Cascade range, so (not thinking that much would come of it), I told her I'd call when we were back in cell range.

When I called her, she informed me that my grandparents were prepared to foot the bill to fly us to Chicago the next morning, and that I should arrange to get off in Oakland. Who am I to argue? (Thanks again, Grandma and Grandpa!)

The next morning, we arrived in Sacramento nearly an hour early. I took the opportunity to get off and stretch my legs. By the time we were in Oakland, however, we were magically half an hour late. Somebody, someday, will have to explain to me how that works. My grandparents picked us up from the station and took us out to breakfast at a wonderful breakfast place called Dell's in their town of Castro Valley. It's the sort of dive that many towns have- decor that hasn't been updated since the place opened, cash only, but phenomenally good and phenomenally cheap food. We chatted about what we'd seen so far, and the abysmal treatment we'd received at Amtrak's hands, and headed back to their place to relax and wash up for our 14:00 flight. We also made use of their laundry machines, which turned out to be a tremendous mistake. I thought that two hours would be enough for a load of laundry, but we were running later than everyone concerned would have liked when we finally got the clothing out of the dryer. They dropped us off at the airport, and (after thanking them profusely once more) we headed off to our gate.

Our flight was overbooked, and we were subject to the usual requests for volunteers to be bumped. The offer was tempting enough, but after our recent troubles Dani wasn't feeling lucky enough to give it a try. We boarded the plane nearly last in line, and weren't able to find two seats together. A tip to everyone who fills in the window and aisle seats on a sold-out plane- if you see a couple come down at the last minute, it'd be kind of you to move and let them sit together. As-is, we were both sitting in middle seats, and two rows apart from one another. We tried to keep the shouting back and forth to a minimum, but there was an instance in which I dropped my sunglasses in the lap of the gentleman between us. The flight itself was rather miserable- four hours of flying through a thunderstorm, listening to the cries of at least two clearly distressed infants. Thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster for earplugs! However, when it was over, we were back in Chicago and back on our originally-scheduled itinerary... or so we thought.

You see, when we were first re-routed, we changed our reservations for the Lakeshore Limited from Chicago to Buffalo. Considering the ease with which we'd changed them, and the opening we'd made with our own cancellation, I thought that it would be relatively simple to switch them back again. Not so! It seems that, not only had the 30 June train (which was our original reservation) filled up, but the 1 July train (our first re-route) had as well! Our reservations had been changed to the 8th of July, and changing them back was going to be... problematic. We decided to take the El into downtown Chicago, get some sleep, and deal with it first thing in the morning.

Seattle

We left Victoria early in the morning- a bit too early, as is my custom. We got to the ferry terminal nearly two hours early for our sailing, and were quite thoroughly alone in the waiting area for some time. Dani was somewhat unhappy with me, but I like to be prepared. Sadly, the Clipper's terminal in Victoria is a touch uncomfortable, filled with the most unpleasant folding chairs you can imagine. It felt like we were waiting for an awful school play. Around 10:00, U.S. Immigration started processing us, and I held out hope that there would be somewhere nicer to sit on the other side. Sadly, it was an even less pleasant holding room, filled with the same chairs, but we were soon liberated and taken aboard the ferry.

Once aboard, all the seats that were available were at tables facing each other- and I had the dubious fortune of sitting across from a very, very tall gentleman. Neither of us had any legroom for the three-hour crossing to Seattle, during which the cabin staff did their best to sell us something, anything, from their on-board shops. Puget Sound was astoundingly calm, and the crossing was uneventful (if highly commercialized). We pulled in to Seattle on a drizzly afternoon and enjoyed a short, if hilly, walk to our hotel- which brings me to the second time I had to call my family for help. Despite our best efforts, we didn't have enough money on hand to pay for the room. After a few hours on the phone and Internet, my mother came through with everything necessary to persuade the desk clerk to let us in to a room. (Thanks again, mom!) Of course, $80 a night in downtown Seattle doesn't buy too much of a room, but it was a place to keep warm and dry.

I asked the desk clerk what she'd do with an evening in Seattle, and she tipped us off to a few suggestions. One was a pub called Buckley's just down the street, reputed to have an excellent happy hour, and the other was a visit to the Seattle Public Library. Both were spot-on. The pub had excellent happy hour appetizers- I had delicious pulled-pork sliders and chicken wings, Dani had a quesadilla that was far too big for her, and we split a plate of garlic tots. If you're ever in Seattle, do stop by and give them a try- tater tots smothered in garlic and cheese, fried to perfection. After a week of peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches, they were welcome.

After dinner, we headed to the amazing new Seattle Library. The building is a great example of recent architecture, and uses its unique shape to the fullest. Aside from being beautiful and expansive, it also houses a book robot and the world's only book spiral- a slowly-sloping hallway that wraps around the central stairway, organized by dewey decimal number. Libraries are wonderful places, but Seattle's library stands out as unique among them. Give it a visit if you're nearby.

At the library, we stopped by their small store in order to buy a magnet and postcards. While there, I had the happy accident of somebody mistaking me for a Canadian. We made a comment about how the only cash we had was Canadian, and that it was useless but pretty. The clerk agreed that "our money" was pretty... I told her I took it as a compliment.

We headed back to our hotel, courtesy of Seattle's extensive free-bus area, and got ready for our train back down to Sacramento- where, we were told, that we would connect to the California Zephyr to Chicago. Of course, the next morning was when it all started unraveling.

The Train in Maine Goes Mainly Up In Flames

(Photo: Me)

I'll get to this in more detail in the future, but I wanted to let you all know about our adventure today. I'll let the fine reporters at the Portland (ME) Press-Herald fill you in:

Downeaster, truck collide in 'fireball'

NORTH BERWICK — A Downeaster train with 109 passengers aboard slammed into a trash-hauling tractor trailer at 11:05 a.m. today, killing at least one person.

The driver of the truck died in the collision, said Cliff Cole, a spokesman based in Amtrak's New York office. Some of the train's 109 passengers were injured, but it's not clear how many or how seriously they were hurt, said Steve McCausland from the Maine Department of Public Safety.

Justin Nelson, 24, of Los Angeles, was traveling on the Downeaster with his wife as part of a cross-country rail tour when "we drove through what looked like a fireball."

"We were just sitting there, running along, when all of the sudden, the train started violently shaking," Nelson said. "Then there was fire all around us. There was lots of screaming."

At the scene of the collision, heaps of trash covered the gravel alongside the tracks for several hundred feet. Various other charred debris smoldered amongst the garbage. The locomotive and at least one passenger car were still aflame more than an hour after the crash, according to eyewitnesses.

To answer your questions: We are okay, and are presently sitting in our hotel in Bar Harbor. In fact, there were no serious injuries on the train. The engineer and conductor were treated for smoke inhalation, and one passenger complained of a head injury. All were released from the hospital today.

And yes, I'm getting a copy of that newspaper.

Victoria

Photos to be uploaded later, when we have better Internet access.
(We are currently aboard Amtrak's Adirondack in Schenectady, NY en route to New York City.)

We boarded the Pacific Coach Lines bus to Victoria, which would deliver us onto the ferry at Tsawassen Terminal (Pronounced Tuh-WAS-sen) on the mainland and drive us in to downtown Victoria from the Sidney terminal on the island. PCL buses get priority booking on the ferry, so they're the first aboard and the first to depart upon docking. After our driver got us situated on the Spirit of British Columbia's vehicle deck, we were all shuffled off the bus and up to the passenger areas of the ferry. Dani and I were expecting to get a bit of time to relax and enjoy BC Ferries' complimentary wi-fi. (As you can tell, we haven't had a lot of time on the Internet on this trip.) However, the damn thing didn't work until 20 minutes before our arrival in Sidney, during which time Dani was able to upload some photos to Facebook (and that's it). We were forced to look out the windows, and the scenery was spectacular- cabins and homes clinging to the sides of the tiny islands that form the passage between the mainland and Sidney, served by smaller ferry boats that shuttle between docks on each one of them. While I can't say the isolation appeals to me, the views certainly make a case for moving there.

(Photos from boat go here!)

We were called back down to the bus as the ferry arrived on the island, and they drove us into downtown Victoria- stopping along the way at Mayfair Mall. Of course, I only realized after we left the stop that our hotel was within a block of said mall. (On the way in, I also spotted an Accent Inn which I recognized immediately as the former Stay-N-Save Victoria, where I stayed the last time I was in the city with the Serrano High Rattlesnake Regiment. Sadly, the attached restaurant no longer advertises their famous sirlion steak.)

Upon our arrival in downtown Victoria, we quickly found ourselves confronted with Dani's lack of bus fare, so we had to find a place to make change- and this on a budget. The local 7-11 was unable to make change without making a sale, so he managed to extract a loonie from me for unnecessary breath mints. We grabbed one of the many frequent buses along Douglas St. and headed to our hotel.

At our hotel, we found ourselves confronted with the same trouble that befell us in Vancouver- the hotel wanted a $200 deposit, and we were in no position to provide the same. This time we were unable to bargain our way out of the requirement, and had to cajole my mother into providing a credit card to hold the room. This would be the first time I would reach out to my family for assistance, but not the last. After a tense hour or so, we managed to get situated in the room, proceeding to take care of things like blogging and laundry and planning our next day's sight-seeing.

I woke up early the next morning to go take in the sights, while Dani slept in. (This turns out to be a theme of the vacation.) The first thing about Victoria that was immediately apparent to me was the fact that the town is a tourist trap. Not a bad place to go if you've got money and are looking for a quick getaway, but most of the attractions of the area were a bit too rich for our tiny trip budget. Victoria's two main industries are tourism and government- it is the provincial capital of British Columbia- and it seems like what you would get if you crossed Avalon, CA (on Catalina Island) with Sacramento. Readers familiar with both places should catch my meaning.

Anyway, I wandered the harbourfront for a time, taking pictures of the various operations going on there. Victoria is the second-busiest floatplane port in the region, behind Vancouver, and its small and beautiful harbour makes for excellent photography. I also watched the departure of the M.V. Coho on her way to Port Angeles, WA- it is amazing to see a boat of that size maneouvre its way out of such a small harbour. It basically had to perform a giant three-point turn. After that departure, the Victoria Harbour Ferries performed their "world famous" water ballet. I'm not sure how world-famous it is, seeing as I'd never heard of it, but I did watch for a while and take pictures.

I found myself in the early afternoon wife-less and without much motivation to go sight-seeing without her, so I was lucky that we were in town during the Victoria International Jazz Festival. Free concerts were being held in Centennial Square, so I took my lunch next to a fountain while listening to live jazz. There are worse things in the world...

After lunch, I met up with Dani and we proceeded to check out the (actually) world-famous Empress Hotel. This massive structure was built by the Canadian Pacific Railway in order to entice eastern leisure travelers to the company's rails and steamships. Along with Wimbledon, it is one of the last snooty British things- you can still take high tea in the dining room, or visit the attached conservatory (complete with a live pianist). It is also a magnificent building which dominates the harbourscape of Victoria, topped in copper roofs that have turned green with age, complementing the Parliament Building across the water. So, of course, we had to have a look around.

There are a few interesting things open to the public at the Empress, including the aforementioned conservatory (which is now attached to the Victoria Convention Centre). Another nice spot is the Empress Archives, which showcase the history of the building and have quite a few knick-knacks from the hotel's past- old brochures, menus, invitations, silverware and toiletries and the like. There was also an amusing hallway of self-deprecating editorial cartoons. (Also on this hallway were a pair of ridiculously comfortable chairs. Neither of us wanted to get up from them...)

Of course, since we won't be able to afford to stay somewhere like the Empress for a very, very long time, we decided to take a quick peek at how the other half lives. We didn't manage to get terribly far. There was an unguarded elevator near the Archives which led us straight up to the top floor, where I was hoping to get a view of the harbour. Sadly, it seems that all the windows on the floor have been reserved for paying customers, so we headed back out.

We wandered in the general direction of the Parliament Building, but stopped to listen to a busker on the waterfront. It seems that the Victoria Interntional Busker Festival was running concurrently with the Jazz Festival- they were quite organized, down to arranging locations and selling programs and t-shirts at the local mall. This particular guy was quite good, singing mostly covers of classic rock songs with a boy who, I assume, must be his son. We dropped a few cents into his guitar case after a half-hour's listen. (Would've given more if we could've.) The new-found knowledge about the busker festival made my happening upon a superhero playing a keyboard earlier a touch more sensible.

When we arrived at the Parliament Building, they were just starting up an organized tour- the only way you can get in the building on weekends. I'd played on the steps of this structure before, in 1999, but if I'd been inside the memory escapes me. I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

As most of downtown was rolling up the sidewalks (and we were limited, by budget and transit agency whim, to traveling in the direction of our hotel), we proceeded to try and visit one of Victoria's other landmarks, the Craigdarroch Castle. It was built by the coal magnate John Dunsmuir as a testament of his wealth and prestige, although he died before its completion. It now belongs to the City of Victoria, which gave us hope that admission might be free. It wasn't, so we didn't go in, but we did take some great pictures of the outside.

After the castle, with our bus transfers running out of time, we headed back to the hotel and went to sleep. The next day would bring us to the Victoria Clipper and our first deviation from the original itinerary- an unplanned night in Seattle.

Unexpected Rescue!

Thanks to the overwhelming generosity of my grandparents, Dani and I caught an afternoon Southwest flight out of Oakland to Chicago Midway. We're sitting in our pre-paid hotel in Chicago, and Epic Train Trip is back on schedule. I'm, quite simply, stunned.

More AmFail

Just when you thought it couldn't get worse, it does! The California Zephyr, which was supposed to be taking us to Chicago a few days late, had now been canceled due to flooding. We've been sent back to Riverside, where we have to wait until 5 July to catch a train back east. At this point, we will not be visiting Chicago, Toronto, or Montreal, and we'll be a day late in to New York. FML

Vancouver

Right now, Dani and I are aboard the Coast Starlight en route to Sacramento, where we'll catch the California Zephyr to Chicago and the Lakeshore Limited to Buffalo, NY (for Niagara Falls).* Due to the AmFail I posted about earlier, we're going straight through with no stopovers in order to keep on schedule. That means we'll have 4 consecutive nights on the train, which should provide ample time for catching up on the blog. (Sorry for not updating, but we have been very busy!) With that, let's take a look at Vancouver!

We got in to Vancouver at nearly 23:00 after leaving Portland, so we didn't have any time for sightseeing that night. We just wanted to get into our hotel room- but our hotelier had other ideas. See, it seems that it's common practice in Vancouver to require a $200 damage deposit in order to rent a room. Since we're rather broke at the moment, this was a problem. (We've pre-paid for all of our accommodations on the trip, and I've never seen a damage deposit more than $30-$50.) We managed to talk him down to C$50, and then had to put down US$55 because of the hotel's exorbitant exchange rate of C$1=US$0.90. (The current official exchange rate is C$1=US$1.01, so we lost ~US$5 on the deal.) After this bit of negotiation, we settled in to our room at the Howard Johnson Plaza. It was obviously smaller, older and less comfortable than the Clarion in Portland- and it cost twice as much- but it was closer to downtown. We tried to get the Internet to work, to no avail, and then went to sleep. (We did actually figure out the Internet the next day- we needed a ticket from the front desk to log in.)

The next morning, we enjoyed the free hotel breakfast again (and their pub's misspelling of the word "burrito"- they left out an R) and set out to explore Vancouver. First on Dani's agenda? The mall. (You can ask her why...) Specifically, the Metropolis at Metrotown, the second-largest mall in Canada and right on the automated SkyTrain rapid transit line. We actually took the bus there, and the sheer volume of transit offerings at the establishment were pretty impressive.



Canadian buses are, of course, stereotypically polite, apologising for not taking on passengers:


Dani took this photo because she believed it would make her sister jealous:


The mall was not really my cup of tea, besides the bus loop and train station. Dani, however, was quite excited by the difference between Canadian and American fashions. I also learned something- well-known clothing company American Apparel is a Canadian concern, which grew out of a small clothing shop in Montreal. They advertise this prominently on their Canadian stores, and seem to downplay it in the states.

After the mall, we headed to Granville Island, a touristy bit of the city with a large indoor farmer's market. (Granville Island sits in False Creek, and interestingly it is not an island, nor does it sit in a creek. The "Island" is actually a peninsula, and the "Creek" is a small inlet off of the ocean.) To get there, we caught the aforementioned SkyTrain, the longest driver-less train system in the world. The low labour costs of this model allow TransLink, the local transit agency, to offer SkyTrains every 6-8 minutes, from 04:00 to 01:00 daily. The train is connected to an extensive network of local buses, and their operation in concert is a wonder to behold.



The Island itself is a bit of a tourist trap, but certainly a scenic one. We had some great views of the cityscape from the surrounding parking lots, and enjoyed wandering around through the various shops. (The Public Market was fantastically huge and delicious-smelling-- torture when you can't afford to eat much more than PB&J sandwiches for the week.) We also watched some of the tiny water taxis that ply their trade on and around False Creek.



There were also seabirds and skyscrapers, both hallmarks of the region.




We sat for a bit and watched a window-washer dangle from one of the many condo buildings that sit on the north side of False Creek.



After False Creek, we decided to head to another prime location for people-watching (especially local-watching): the University of British Columbia. The Point Grey campus is at the far western edge of Vancouver, and is not actually within the city limits. Sitting at the edge of a peninsula jutting out into the Georgia Strait, it is a stunning place to visit. They also have a well-respected Museum of Anthropology and several botanical gardens on site, but those cost money and time, so we didn't visit them. (There's also a well-known nude beach, Wreck Beach, on the site, but we didn't visit that either.) Here's some photos taken from the north end of the campus, in and around the rose garden and Museum of Anthropology.




During my search for a graduate school, I applied to UBC. As evidenced by the fact that I'm still living in Riverside, I didn't get in. If I had, though, my department would have been here, in Buchanan Building, Block C:



We also saw other things around the UBC campus: a nice plaza in the centre of campus, totem poles, and the UBC Amateur Radio Club, VE7UBC. Yes, I tried to go see if I could chat with them, but nobody was operating that day.




We headed back towards the city and Commercial Drive, a counter-culture-ish neighbourhood just outside of downtown. (Any place with a People's Book Co-op can't be bad, right?) We wandered in and out of the various bookstores and shops, and we suffered what Dani called a "moment of weakness" walking past a pizza shop. $5 for a small pizza with up to three toppings. They put yellow cheese on the top in addition to the usual mozzarella, but it was still delicious. (Of course, most things are delicious after a week of peanut butter & jelly sandwiches.) We also ran across a shop that had a shop dog. We watched the dog run in and out of the store and the neighbouring coffee shop, until at one point it seemed to enter the store and emerge from the coffee shop. Our first theory was that there was some sort of link between the two shops, but when the second dog emerged to frolic with the first (they looked nearly identical), we were proven wrong.

On the Drive, we also ran in to striking Canada Post workers. (Note that, if you asked for a postcard from Vancouver or Victoria, you'll be getting it sent via Seattle.) Protesting severe cuts in mail delivery, wages and mass layoffs, the workers shut down the entire nation's postal system for nearly two weeks. Delivery service should have resumed today, though workers were forced back to work by legislation, and the union is fighting the new law. (As a union member myself, I support the CUPW strikers, and wonder when the working class in this country will have the cajones to pull something like this.)

As we reached the top end of the Drive, we decided to head to a park on the North Shore called Lynn Canyon Park. It came highly recommended by a local. The bus we ended up taking, however, lumbered down Vancouver's notorious East Hastings St., basically the only skeevy part of town worth mentioning. Needless to say, we stayed on the bus, but some of the area residents joined us. One gentleman butted in to a conversation that Dani and I were having to inquire if I believed in Jesus (after a minute or so of incoherent ramblings, followed by "So what do you think?"). I told him I wasn't sure- and that's true, I'm not entirely sold one way or the other on the historical existence of Jesus of Nazareth- and he informed me that I'd better get sure on the subject. Fortunately, he then decided to sing America's "A Horse With No Name"- badly, and despite having forgotten the lyrics- rather than pester me with religion.

We alighted at Vancouver's fantastic Waterfront station, a hub for just about any transportation option you can imagine (besides long-distance rail & bus: those are handled by Pacific Central Station some distance away). They've got three SkyTrain lines, more buses than I can count, the West Coast Express commuter train, and the SeaBus ferry service. It was the last that Dani and I sought. The SeaBus is a frequent, passenger-only ferry service operated by unique double-ended catamaran vessels. It's basically an extension of the SkyTrain across the Burrard Inlet to North Vancouver, and the terminal on the north side is the main bus exchange for the North Shore. We grabbed a #229 bus up to the park and set out on our adventure. (If you ever go, you can take the 228 or 229- the 228 gets you closer but is less frequent.)


The suspension bridge is a trip. As you can see, it's just what you'd expect- an Indiana Jones-style wooden suspension bridge across a deep chasm. There are actually two such bridges in North Vancouver, the other being the Capilano Suspension Bridge. The one in Lynn Canyon, however, is free, and the person who recommended the place said it's almost as good as the other. Capilano charges a whopping C$32.95 for adult passage.

Lynn Canyon Park itself, though, isn't just a suspension bridge. It's a phenomenally lush and beautiful park, with Lynn Creek running through it. Hiking trails mostly follow the creek, but a few branch out into other parts of the park, or even other parks (as in the case of the Baden-Powell Trail). It's a pretty interesting experience- roughly half an hour's journey, by public transit, from the bustling centre of Vancouver, and you're in a quiet, peaceful forest that feels as if it were nowhere near human habitation.



Dani has officially decided that Lynn Canyon Park is her happy place.



We were pretty tired after Lynn Canyon, so we headed back to the hotel, packed up and slept.

The next morning, when pondering what to do until our 3pm departure to Victoria, we realized that we had not visited Vancouver's massive Stanley Park. This huge park sits on a peninsula just north of downtown, and is the largest park in Vancouver's park system. (It is named after the same man, Rt. Hon. Frederick Stanley, Earl of Derby, who gave his name to hockey's Stanley Cup. He was Canada's sixth Governor-General.) The park includes a zoo, a miniature railway, and a seawall ringing the peninsula, which is popular with cyclists and roller skaters. Hoping to save money, we decided to take advantage of Translink's 2-hour transfer policy- a one-way fare gives one two hours of access to the transit system. We picked up a bus at our hotel, paid the $2.50 (although I'd find out later that Dani mistakenly paid $4.50), and made a beeline for the park. Once there, we looked around as long as we could (sadly, not long) until our transfer was about to expire. We had maybe 20 minutes, but we did get some pretty great photos:






With our obligatory (albeit cursory) visit to Stanley Park complete, we used the last few minutes of our bus transfer to take us back to Pacific Central Station, where we awaited our bus to Victoria. We also resolved to find a way to move to Vancouver as soon as possible.

*(Editorial update: The blog-updating time I referred to at the beginning of this post, onboard the Coast Starlight, was mostly taken up by dealing with the latest meltdown of Amtrak's western long-distance trains. Thanks to my grandparents, and no thanks to Amtrak's "customer relations" department, I'm finishing this post in a hotel outside of Chicago. We are back on schedule, and don't anticipate any more delays, but blogging time has suffered. I'm doing my best, and will keep you all updated. -JN 22:01 CDT, 30 June 2011)

Quick bites

We toured the Parliament Building in Victoria, BC today. It's gorgeous, but I feel sorry for the tour guide who has to explain the subtleties of the Westminster parliamentary system to ignorant Americans several times daily.

Quick Bites

On the way out of Vancouver, Dani forgot how much a toonie is worth. I gave her $4.50CDN to pay for bus fare both in Vancouver and Victoria- two toonies and two quarters. ($2.50 per bus, planning to get more quarters on the ferry.) She proceeded to drop all $4.50 into the farebox in Vancouver. We found out when waiting for the bus in Victoria.

Portland, Day 2 & 3

Our second day (and only full day) in Portland began with an early start for me. I wanted to get out on Portland's 4T loop [PDF]- that's Trail, Tram, Trolley and Train. The full loop includes a ride on the MAX light rail, 4.4 miles of hiking through forested hills south of Downtown Portland, a trip on the Portland Aerial Tram (one of only two aerial trams in the US in regular public transit service), and a quick ride on the Portland Streetcar to take you back downtown. I left the hotel around 7:30, before Dani woke up (as she had no interest in hiking), and got out on the trail about an hour later. (The whole train ride there, I tried to deal with Amtrak's customer relations line, but to no avail: I had to re-book several bits of our trip at our own expense.) It was a very nice hike, mostly deserted through temperate rain forest, and it was admittedly pleasant to get out and travel on my own for a bit. Sadly, I have very few pictures- my phone failed to charge the evening before, and Dani's camera ran out of batteries after something like the 4th photo. Suffice to say that, if you're in Portland, I highly recommend the hike. Also, do it counter-clockwise. The tram is $4 uphill and free downhill, and the elevation gain on the hike is less as well.

Of course, the phone being nearly dead was a problem for me arranging to meet up with my darling wife. Just as I was finishing the hike, it shut itself off, leaving me with few remaining options. I had my e-reader with me as well, which can access the Internet via wi-fi... but after a few seconds of being connected, it also died. Lesson learned: be sure your electronics are charged. Fortunately, the 4T loop passes by the Portland Public Library, which is nice enough to offer 1 hour a day of Internet access to visitors. We were able to arrange to meet at the Washington Park MAX, incidentally exactly where I had begun my hike.

We caught a TriMet shuttle around the park, which was driven by an operator who was kind enough to also provide narration and advice to the travelers on board. After winding through some of the residential neighbourhoods around the park, we stopped at the International Rose Test Garden. We picked up our magnet from their gift shop, as well as the postcards some of you will be receiving. The gift shop ladies were also handing out black tea, flavoured with rose petals. Not my thing, but Dani apparently enjoyed it. We were also there just in time for a guided tour of the gardens with a U of Oregon Master Gardener. I now know way more about the proper care of roses than I ever cared to. Here's some pretty flowers:

Speckled rose. Dani loved these.

After touring the gardens, we headed down to Pioneer Courthouse Square, the center of downtown Portland (and the TriMet network). Travel writers (and nobody else) call it "Portland's living room." Interesting factoid- the "pioneer courthouse" is now a branch of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. It certainly is a bustling place, with fountains and steps and, of course, some of Portland's famous food carts. Dani got a "Big Honkin' Burrito"- no kidding, that's what the cart was called- and it lived up to its name. We sat and enjoyed the bustling urban milleu for a while, watching people and buses and trains come and go.


After we'd sat long enough, we decided to ride up to the Portland Aerial Tram again, because I thought it was spectacular enough that Dani should see it (and because she'd brought spare batteries for the camera). Here's the tram itself:


And here's some views from the tram:



We headed back downtown via the Portland Streetcar, which was the beginning of the streetcar revival currently taking place across the United States. It is a nice ride:

(And hey look, a photo of me on the blog!)

Knowing that I couldn't make a visit to the Bicycle Capital of America without getting on a bicycle, Dani indulged me and we hopped off the streetcar near Kerr Bikes. This bike rental kiosk on the waterfront is the fundraising arm of the Albertina Kerr Foundation, a charity that works with the mentally and developmentally disabled in Portland. It also happens to provide bikes at fantastically cheap rates. We rented a tandem for the hour for $15 and proceeded to take a spin around Portland's famous waterfront. I had to get the hang of riding with a coaster brake, and we both had to get used to riding tandem, but by the end of the hour we'd pretty much figured it out. We had a great time!

All the following were taken by Dani from the back of the bike. (While stationary, but she'll get better...)




I had her take that last one because the base of that radio tower is on the 4T loop. I really wished I'd had a decent camera at that point.

After biking about, I had to take a run around in Salmon Street Springs, one of Portland's many public fountains. You're only young once, but you can be immature forever!


We then proceeded to ride over to Powell's City of Books. The name is no exaggeration, and perhaps I'll post a map when I get access to a scanner. They have an iPhone app that will give you turn-by-turn directions to your book, and it's warranted. They also provide helpful suggestions on where to find new authors you might like, and their politics section skews heavily towards my own political persuasions. It is a magical place for any book lover, and if you're in Portland you must visit. Portland happens to be the site of the upcoming Western Political Science Association conference. If I can get a paper accepted for presentation there, I plan on going back with several cardboard boxes, to be filled with books and sent home.

They had four huge rooms, each with dozens of aisles this size. I cannot adequately impress upon you the enormity of this place.

We were pretty worn out after Powell's (I'd hiked 5 miles that day BEFORE sightseeing) so we decided to head back to the hotel. We had a soak in their hot tub and returned to tackle one of the greatest challenges we would face: LAUNDRY. Since we're broke, coin-op machines are just too pricey, so we went for hand-washing our clothing in the bathroom. Here's what it looked like when we were done:

Of course, only half of it had managed to dry by check-out time the next day. Plastic bags to the rescue!

We finished out our time in Portland by heading downtown and riding the streetcar around one last time, just to take in the Portlandishness of it all. (Yes, that's a word now.) We then went to Union Station in order to exchange our tickets for trains that would actually be running and sat down and waited for our next train, the Cascades to Vancouver, BC. Portland's a pretty cool town, and I hope to visit again soon. If you're planning a visit, I encourage you to:

and, once there, to


Vancouver's up next!

Portland, Day 1

We're sitting in Portland's Union Station, waiting for the Cascades to Vancouver, BC. I figured I should post about what we did here. :)

The Coast Starlight was a lovely ride, but it is certainly taking the scenic route. Outside of major cities, it travels along some pretty lonely stretches of track which have pretty low speed limits. The train ambles leisurely between Santa Barbara and San Jose, and similarly as it travels across the Cascades. The view in both cases, however, is spectacular. The Cascades crossing is particularly spectacular- there is nothing around but the rail line. You're riding through relatively untouched wilderness- and doing so in the Sightseer Lounge car, which has wraparound windows. We have some photos, but they don't do it justice:




We arrived in Portland a few hours late, due to UP signal problems in central Oregon. We spent an hour and a half heading through farmland at 19 miles an hour, stopping at each signal and calling the dispatcher for authority to proceed. We finally arrived and took the MAX light rail to our hotel, the Clarion Portland Airport. It was a nice hotel (and a great deal- thanks Hotwire!), but I wish we'd stayed somewhere closer. The trip between downtown and the hotel involved a long train ride to the airport, then calling the hotel's shuttle to come pick us up at said airport.


After getting checked in, we decided to make the best of our late arrival and take in the city. Because Dani declined a sandwich that afternoon, she was feeling very hungry and very insistent upon Mexican food, so we went in search of an inexpensive burrito. We stopped by Powell's City of Books, the largest book store in the country, but we didn't stay long- just long enough to ask an employee where she'd go to get a burrito. She pointed us to a restaurant that used to be El Grillo, which our guidebook says is the cheapest meal downtown, aside from the food trucks. Sadly, it is no longer El Grillo, but Santeria, who supposedly has "the best mexican food on Earth." We waited an hour and a half for nachos and tacos, and when they arrived they were just okay. (The service was worse than Templo del Sol, and those of you who know Templo will know that's saying something.) By the time we were done, the only things left open downtown were nightlife, which of course is out of our budget, so we headed for the MAX train back to the airport. A quick glance at Google Transit showed, however, that the last train for the airport had already left. We grabbed a bus, which got us within a mile of our hotel, and then hoofed it the rest of the way through a dark, deserted area of business parks. Dani was not happy with me. We resolved to make our next day in Portland an improvement.

A month on Amtrak- What could go wrong?

A lot, it turns out.

Due to extreme flooding along the route of the Seattle-Chicago Empire Builder, the train has been cancelled for "at least a month," according to an Amtrak agent I spoke to. That train, of course, was a key part of our itinerary. We've been re-routed, but it's screwing some things up. We won't be staying in Chicago, and we'll be getting in to Toronto a day later than planned. All things considered, not too bad- but we also have to look forward to 5 days straight in coach. We also have nowhere to stay in Seattle, where we now have to overnight. (I'm working on getting compensation from Amtrak.)

I'll let you know how things turn out.

Overheard

"At your right is a reservoir, and people have been asking me what it's called. That is the Lookout Point Reservoir, also known as Lake Lottawater."

(It also happens to be gorgeous.)

Overheard on the radio

Engineer: "Conductor, Amtrak 14, we hit a shopping cart. I feel it bouncing around under there, so we're going to stop and check it out."

It has begun!

By the time you read this, Dani and I will be on our way to Portland, OR. A friend mentioned to me that I didn't have a clear list of the places we'll be visiting, so I figure I'll post one up.

On this trip, we'll be stopping in:

• Portland, OR
  
• Vancouver, BC
  
• Victoria, BC
  
• Chicago, IL
  
• Niagara Falls, NY and ON
  
• Toronto, ON
  
• Montreal, QC
  
• New York, NY
  
• Boston, MA
  
• Portland, ME
  
• Lubec, ME (the easternmost point in the continental United States)
  
• Bar Harbor, ME (Acadia Nat'l Park)
  
• Washington, DC
  
• New Orleans, LA
  

We'll arrive in Portland tomorrow afternoon. Thanks for following along!

One month to go!

That's the vacation ticker I keep in my signature at a web forum... and it says that we've got precisely one month to go until Epic Train Trip! Here's an update on how things are progressing:


After Mini Train Trip, we both agreed that the duffel bags just didn't cut it. First off, both of them were somewhat damaged afterwards, and I doubt they would have held up to a month's worth of being stuffed to the gills. Second, travelling with both my usual shoulder bag AND my duffel bag on my shoulders is cumbersome and difficult to arrange properly- not well-suited to hopping on and off of various forms of transport, which will be the norm this summer. Third, I found a pretty good deal on a bag that looked uniquely suited to our trip- the eBags eTech Weekender Convertible. This carry-on-sized bag is designed to be carried as a backpack by two hide-away straps, along with a removable hip belt and sternum strap for heavier loads. Based on the lifetime warranty and glowing reviews all over the web, I bought two- Dani has the blue version, while mine is in rust orange. I'll be sure to let you know how that decision works out.


Oh, and we got tickets! Did I mention we got tickets? Oh, we've got so very many tickets. When I went down to Los Angeles for National Train Day (7 May), I figured it was close enough to trip time that I ought to print our tickets out. (We'd been putting that off in order to take advantage of Amtrak's ridiculously generous refund policy, in case something in our life really exploded.) Well, we've now got 26 Amtrak tickets and 6 Greyhound tickets between the two of us, as well as the USA Rail Pass itself. (The pass is actually a standard-sized Amtrak ticket, with the ticket stub torn off, stapled [and stapled and stapled and stapled...] to a specialized ticket folder.)

Also, remember that packing list that I've mentioned so many times? We recently finalized the lists for the trip, and my mother was kind enough to laminate them for us. Now, instead of trying to make increasingly creative marks next to each check box, or trying to do the checklist in our heads, we can write on the list with a transparency marker. New hotel, wipe it off, check it again.

So, in sum, the planning is done, the reservations are made, the money's been sent off, the travel gear is here, the luggage is here, the tickets are here... the only thing we're waiting for is the date. It all starts a month from now, 20 June 2011. It's gonna be a looooong month.