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.
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.
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