Last day on the Empire Builder. I awoke at 1:30AM as the train was stopped in Spokane. I don't know how early we were into Spokane, but it must have been quite a few minutes as the EB is due in at Spokane at 1:40AM and there were already people milling about when I woke up. After going into the Spokane station and using the restroom, since they didn't work while the train was at the long service stop in Spokane, I got into a knock-down drag out fight with a vending machine over a couple of bags of potato chips. I put a good fight but the machine was too formidable an opponent. I got a my two bags but lost money in the process. 
After losing the battle, I went back up to film the split and the addition of the engine to Portland. I'd heard the video police could be tough here (and in fact Daniel warned us about filming, especially in Portland) but I thought I'd take my chances. All I got was a couple of odd looks from Amtrak personnel wondering why I'd be up at that hour. Very few passengers were. Anyway, I filmed what I wanted to see, and grabbed a Spokane newspaper to see what I'd missed in the week I was away. After the split, we were left with one engine, that had been added in Spokane, the SSL, two coaches and the sleeper. We pulled out of Spokane right on time and after lingering awake for about half an hour, went back to sleep until our stop in Pasco. At Pasco, I got out and wandered around a bit, then went back to start filming again. Precisely at the beginning time of 6:30, we went into the SSL for breakfast. I had always wondered how that worked for sleeping car passengers, as the diner is taken off at Spokane and sent on to Seattle. What happens is that sleeper car passengers had four tables reserved for them, until 8:30, and we got a boxed meal: Ham and cheese croissant, huckleberry cream cheese, small yogurt, canned fruit, and blackberry cobbler, and your choice of beverage. We of course took prime seats, on the left side of the train so as to view the Columbia River. The day was cloudy, but there were just enough breaks in the clouds to allow sunbeams to break through the clouds. It was a really pretty morning. We were struck by how many freights we encountered. In the hour after the EB begins to follow the river, we must have encountered five freights in sidings in our side of the river and I counted seven on the Oregon side of the river, the route of the late and lamented Pioneer. As we enjoyed the view of the Columbia, some stragglers from the coaches came in and were upset because they saw tables reserved for sleeper passengers, and those tables on the left side as well as the seats on the left side all taken up. They didn't think it was fair to reserve seats for us. What they were really upset about was the fact we got a great view of the river and all they got was a spectacular view of dirt and rocks. They'd have been really upset if they'd known we didn't have pay a dime for the privelege, as this was an AGR reward trip! :lol: First class has its priveleges, I tells ya! :lol:
We enjoyed the view all along the river, even though the weather grew more gloomy and foreboding the closer to Portland we got. At Wishram, we were about 20 minutes behind, and as there was no one getting on or off there, the train made a California stop. I've never been on a train that didn't come to a full and complete stop at a regularly scheduled stop. With the padding in the schedule, we were early into Portland. We got checked in at the small but functional lounge there, and then wandered outside. At our car attendant Daniel's suggestion, we went to check out Jake's Crawfish House for lunch. He said it was about a block from Powell's Bookstore. I knew where Powell's was, having been there before, so we went there in search of Jake's. After asking directions once in the general vicinity, we found it. It was going to be awhile before it opened, so we went back to Powell's. I found a good biography on Joe DiMaggio there, and in honor of the stop the Coast Starlight we'd be on would make at Martinez, CA, the birthplace of Joltin' Joe, I bought it. We then went down to Powell's Technical Storen(new since I'd been there last year) for books on, what else, railroads. We didn't find anything, so we walked the area for awhile as Jake's wasn't open yet. After a look-see at a big natural foods market there, we made our way to Jake's. We both had fresh trout, direct from Buhl, ID. It was a good lunch and half the price of the seafood dinner we'd had at Deanie's in New Orleans early in the trip.
After lunch, we went back to the natural foods place for a bit then made our way back to Portland's Union Station.
The lounge there, as I said, is small but functional, and unlike those in Washington DC and Chicago, wasn't crowded at all.
The Starlight was about 25 minutes late into Portland, and we boarded the Starlight, ready for our fifth and final leg, Portland to Los Angeles.
Until later!
After losing the battle, I went back up to film the split and the addition of the engine to Portland. I'd heard the video police could be tough here (and in fact Daniel warned us about filming, especially in Portland) but I thought I'd take my chances. All I got was a couple of odd looks from Amtrak personnel wondering why I'd be up at that hour. Very few passengers were. Anyway, I filmed what I wanted to see, and grabbed a Spokane newspaper to see what I'd missed in the week I was away. After the split, we were left with one engine, that had been added in Spokane, the SSL, two coaches and the sleeper. We pulled out of Spokane right on time and after lingering awake for about half an hour, went back to sleep until our stop in Pasco. At Pasco, I got out and wandered around a bit, then went back to start filming again. Precisely at the beginning time of 6:30, we went into the SSL for breakfast. I had always wondered how that worked for sleeping car passengers, as the diner is taken off at Spokane and sent on to Seattle. What happens is that sleeper car passengers had four tables reserved for them, until 8:30, and we got a boxed meal: Ham and cheese croissant, huckleberry cream cheese, small yogurt, canned fruit, and blackberry cobbler, and your choice of beverage. We of course took prime seats, on the left side of the train so as to view the Columbia River. The day was cloudy, but there were just enough breaks in the clouds to allow sunbeams to break through the clouds. It was a really pretty morning. We were struck by how many freights we encountered. In the hour after the EB begins to follow the river, we must have encountered five freights in sidings in our side of the river and I counted seven on the Oregon side of the river, the route of the late and lamented Pioneer. As we enjoyed the view of the Columbia, some stragglers from the coaches came in and were upset because they saw tables reserved for sleeper passengers, and those tables on the left side as well as the seats on the left side all taken up. They didn't think it was fair to reserve seats for us. What they were really upset about was the fact we got a great view of the river and all they got was a spectacular view of dirt and rocks. They'd have been really upset if they'd known we didn't have pay a dime for the privelege, as this was an AGR reward trip! :lol: First class has its priveleges, I tells ya! :lol:
We enjoyed the view all along the river, even though the weather grew more gloomy and foreboding the closer to Portland we got. At Wishram, we were about 20 minutes behind, and as there was no one getting on or off there, the train made a California stop. I've never been on a train that didn't come to a full and complete stop at a regularly scheduled stop. With the padding in the schedule, we were early into Portland. We got checked in at the small but functional lounge there, and then wandered outside. At our car attendant Daniel's suggestion, we went to check out Jake's Crawfish House for lunch. He said it was about a block from Powell's Bookstore. I knew where Powell's was, having been there before, so we went there in search of Jake's. After asking directions once in the general vicinity, we found it. It was going to be awhile before it opened, so we went back to Powell's. I found a good biography on Joe DiMaggio there, and in honor of the stop the Coast Starlight we'd be on would make at Martinez, CA, the birthplace of Joltin' Joe, I bought it. We then went down to Powell's Technical Storen(new since I'd been there last year) for books on, what else, railroads. We didn't find anything, so we walked the area for awhile as Jake's wasn't open yet. After a look-see at a big natural foods market there, we made our way to Jake's. We both had fresh trout, direct from Buhl, ID. It was a good lunch and half the price of the seafood dinner we'd had at Deanie's in New Orleans early in the trip.
After lunch, we went back to the natural foods place for a bit then made our way back to Portland's Union Station.
The lounge there, as I said, is small but functional, and unlike those in Washington DC and Chicago, wasn't crowded at all.
The Starlight was about 25 minutes late into Portland, and we boarded the Starlight, ready for our fifth and final leg, Portland to Los Angeles.
Until later!
