Riding the rails along the West coast

Claire and I decided that we wanted to take the train north to Seattle so that we could see a bit of the landscape and feel the miles rattle away beneath us. We booked the 26 hour starlight express from Monterey and although we were excited to get moving again, we were a little sad to be leaving our grand hotel by the sea and our big honky seal friends!

Amtrak trains are huge, with plenty of room and power sockets by the seats, so on the first night Claire and I had a great time winding along the coast in the darkness, watching ‘Dexter’ on the laptop and eating hotdogs and noodles. We woke after a surprisingly good sleep to find that we’d crossed the border from California to Oregon. After the hot sun of the south it was strange to see a winter landscape, there were clear hailstones all over the tracks like large rough-cut diamonds. At every stop a huge gang of smokers would pour out of the train onto the wide tracks, and every few stops we’d both jump out too to get some fresh air (and so that Claire could smoke her pipe.) The scenery as we travelled further into Oregon was amazing: mountains, forests, enormous lakes, drifts of snow and crazy little towns tucked away in the middle of nowhere.

With the train costing less than flying, the passengers are a mixture of students, travellers, small families and a many men with caps and beards. I think it’s some sort of uniform. One man befriended us and asked us to visit him at his farm in Saskatchewan. Not only was he offended when I pronounced it ‘Sasquatchy-man’ but he also started telling us that he liked ‘oriental women, they don’t bitch around!’ And then laughing maniacally. I could already see my severed head being used as a paperweight in his Ted Bundy lounge so I made something up about not having time to get over to Sandsquashy-wash and headed back to our seats.

We pulled into Seattle late in the evening, when it was already dark. We thought we’d booked a very cheap hotel for the night, but Claire had worked her magic yet again and when we arrived it was another large room in a lovely hotel in the posh end of downtown. And they upgraded us again. I don’t know how she does it.

Off to explore Seattle and see what we can find. Will keep in touch! Love to all. XXX