All - Travel - Travel: 2005 - Seattle (2005)

May 29, 2005: Seattle to Oregon

Posted June 1, 2005 14:27 | Category: Seattle (2005) | #

Our train left Seattle on time at 10am and passed south through Washington and Oregon. Night fell as we were passing through the Cascades. Here are some notes I wrote as I was riding the train:

4:44 pm

Headin' back home. Left Seattle on-time at 10am. We had two tour guides on board from the National Park Service Rails and Trails program, who gave us a narrative about the things we were seeing in Washington State as we headed south.

We had no delays in Washington and arrived Portland about 20 minutes early, so I got a chance to get out and walk around. I looked around the train station and took several pictures. It's a classic historic train station that's been carefully preserved and restored. I wish I could have spent some time in Portland itself, maybe visit Powell's Books. Next time.

Leaving Portland, we crossed the Willammette River on the Steel Bridge, which is one of the ugliest but most interesting engineering structures I know of. We crossed on the bottom spam which is just about 20 feet above the water, if that. The bridge is designed so that that lowest deck can be raised another 20 feet or so, allowing most small craft to pass without interfering with road traffic above. Then, for taller ships, the whole thing can be raised still further.

Currently we're on a siding somewhere between Salem and Eugene. We pulled off the line onto a siding to let a freight train go by, which it just did, and then we will back up onto the main line to resume our trip to Eugene. This is the first delay of the trip, and it wasn't a long one - we may still get there just on time.

Click the big picture to go to the set page on Flickr, or click on an individual photo. Or, you can view a slideshow of the photos.