Adventure to the Pacific Northwest

[dan72]

As I have alluded to in a smattering of posts, my wife and I took Amtrak from Red Wing, MN to Seattle, WA on the Empire Builder departing on June 20th, 2011. As many of you know, that was the last Amtrak train to head to Seattle for almost a month. What unfolded for us turned out to be an Amtrak adventure of a lifetime. Originally we were simply going to take the EB to Seattle for a few days, the Cascades to Portland for a few days, then return on the EB to Red Wing. As we headed west, it became apparent that we were not going to be returning on the EB, and we were ultimately routed back on the Coast Starlight to the California Zephyr, and back to Red Wing on the 'Baby Builder' from Chicago. What was supposed to be a total of four days on the train turned out to be almost seven. If I could go back and change it, would I? Heck no! We saw a lot of great scenery and met some great people on our trip.

I keep a blog of my rail travel and railfanning outings - more for myself than anything, but I decided instead of taking the time to retype here, I would post by blog link and that way you can also view pictures of our trip. There are a total of seven parts and two of them focus on our time in Seattle/Puget Sound and Portland/Columbia River/Oregon Coast.

You can start here: http://big47little47.blogspot.com/2011/07/amtrak-to-pacific-northwest-part-i.html and simply click on 'newer post' at the bottom of the entry and that will move you up through all seven parts.

I put this together pretty quickly so I'll apologize now for spelling mishaps, but I have also attempted to make it as picture intensive as possible. Enjoy!

Dan

 

[jmbgeg]

As I have alluded to in a smattering of posts, my wife and I took Amtrak from Red Wing, MN to Seattle, WA on the Empire Builder departing on June 20th, 2011. As many of you know, that was the last Amtrak train to head to Seattle for almost a month. What unfolded for us turned out to be an Amtrak adventure of a lifetime. Originally we were simply going to take the EB to Seattle for a few days, the Cascades to Portland for a few days, then return on the EB to Red Wing. As we headed west, it became apparent that we were not going to be returning on the EB, and we were ultimately routed back on the Coast Starlight to the California Zephyr, and back to Red Wing on the 'Baby Builder' from Chicago. What was supposed to be a total of four days on the train turned out to be almost seven. If I could go back and change it, would I? Heck no! We saw a lot of great scenery and met some great people on our trip.

I keep a blog of my rail travel and railfanning outings - more for myself than anything, but I decided instead of taking the time to retype here, I would post by blog link and that way you can also view pictures of our trip. There are a total of seven parts and two of them focus on our time in Seattle/Puget Sound and Portland/Columbia River/Oregon Coast.

You can start here: http://big47little47.blogspot.com/2011/07/amtrak-to-pacific-northwest-part-i.html and simply click on 'newer post' at the bottom of the entry and that will move you up through all seven parts.

I put this together pretty quickly so I'll apologize now for spelling mishaps, but I have also attempted to make it as picture intensive as possible. Enjoy!

Dan

Very nice work on the pictures and the narrative.

 

[jb64]

Great trip report on a great trip. Oregon looks beautiful. I have never been there, but I would like to get there someday. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Bob Dylan]

:hi: Fantastic job, thanks! Glad yall were able to go with the flow, more Train time is always good in most railfans opinion, a bonus so to speak!

 

[Tony]

A well written, very interesting report. Well Done!

 

[Ispolkom]

Great pictures. That's the greenest I've ever seen eastern Montana!

 

[TraneMan]

Dan,

Thanks for sharing this! You were very luck to be up front on the CZ to get those shots. With your story, you really are making me wanting to take the EB all the way out to SEA. I got my AGR and building up points on it.

I am counting the days down for my trip next week!

 

[JayPea]

Great report! I liked your perspective about Eastern Washington; I've lived in Eastern Washington all my life and it surprises folks when they see how arid it really is, particularly from Spokane west to the Columbia River. The average precipitation at the Amtrak stop in Ephrata, for instance, is little over 7.5 inches annually. And it was a whole lot greener than normal then, as we had one of the wettest springs on record here. I took the EB from Spokane to Seattle the day before you, and though our train wasn't nearly as late, I still saw the entire trip in daylight. And the weather the day I went was fantastic! The mountains and Seattle were gorgeous all day. The horseshoe curve you describe is a hidden gem along the EB route, as far as I'm concerned. If the EB is on time, there is a small window of opportunity, right around the time you and I traveled through there, that one can see the curve in daylight. But for most of the year it's still dark. And I agree about the Sandpoint area; I've always thought it's too bad the EB's schedule is such that unless it's very late, no one sees the Sandpoint area, and in fact the almost none of the Spokane-Whitefish run during the day, as it's very scenic.