I'd vote for Portland. The run north of Seattle along the sound is nice, but following the Columbia upstream is better, I think.
Both have their claim to beauty but the SEA to SPK route if its in the daytime,is by far prettier when you consider Puget Sound and the Cascades!
Both have their claim to beauty but the SEA to SPK route if its in the daytime,is by far prettier when you consider Puget Sound and the Cascades!
The run from PDX-SPK is pretty nice along the Columbia river,after it gets dark doesnt matter since theres not much to see in central Washington!
Remember that the PDX-SPK train #28 has no dinerbut does have a lounge,the SEA train has a diner but no lounge!They meet in the middle of the night in SPK and are joined together to CHI!Its harder to get a sleeper on the PDX-SPK train since theres just one sleeper but PDX does have the Metro Lounge for sleeper pax where you can wait for the train!All things consider Train #8 from SEA is the best IMHO,perhaps you could go one way on each and get toexperience all the sights!Win/WIN!!Dont forget to join AGR if not a member and perhaps get the AGR MC,the points add up as the traveler says!
Ok. So you will have seen the Portland to Seattle sights on the CS on your trip north. Your question is whether you should backtrack on the Cascades to Portland so you can see the Columbia River gorge Portland to Spokane. Everyone's preferences vary. For me, I would take the Seattle-Spokane train 8 and not the 28 Portland to Spokane. I like the sights along the Puget Sound Seattle to Everett and the wooded hills heading to Stevens Pass better than I do the Columbia River gorge. I also like having the dining car meal on the 8 train better than the cold meal delivered to your sleeper on the 28. There is more sleeper capacity on train 8 than on the 28 (single vs. multiple sleeper cars). Neither choice is bad, so go with the routing you think you will like best.Both have their claim to beauty but the SEA to SPK route if its in the daytime,is by far prettier when you consider Puget Sound and the Cascades!
The run from PDX-SPK is pretty nice along the Columbia river,after it gets dark doesnt matter since theres not much to see in central Washington!
Remember that the PDX-SPK train #28 has no dinerbut does have a lounge,the SEA train has a diner but no lounge!They meet in the middle of the night in SPK and are joined together to CHI!Its harder to get a sleeper on the PDX-SPK train since theres just one sleeper but PDX does have the Metro Lounge for sleeper pax where you can wait for the train!All things consider Train #8 from SEA is the best IMHO,perhaps you could go one way on each and get toexperience all the sights!Win/WIN!!Dont forget to join AGR if not a member and perhaps get the AGR MC,the points add up as the traveler says!
Oh yeah, I'm definitely an AGR member! That's why I have only one-way (at least for now)
So as you can see my plan is: Los Angeles - Seattle on Coast Starlight, spend a couple nights there, and continue on to the Empire Builder to Chicago (or a Cascades to Portland for the Portland section).
