Onwards to Oregon

 

Saturday 31 May 2025

A sunny (sadly it didn't stay that way) farewell to Seattle started with an Uber trip to the very pretty Pacific Central Statiion to catch the 0955 Amtrak Cascades to Portland. 

It was one of those trains where you get on via a little plastic stool like the kind you use to help your kids use the washbasin (because the platforms and the train steps don't work together - someone should really have been sacked for that), lug your suitcase up several steps, stash it on a big shelf so it's completely out of sight and then go upstairs to your seat which is allocated to you with a piece of paper handwritten by the conductor and stuck on the overhead rack - no digital reserved signs here. The seats were reclinable, comfortable and with loads of legroom, there was a decent snack bar and a nice coach with a long "viewing window" (including its own tour guide), but the train was quite scruffy with very tiny loos and far from smooth - really rickety at speed. The conductor/guards are really helpful though, and lots of information comes clearly over the tannoy. With a name like Cascades, I'd expected some rather lovely scenery, but was informed that didn't really happen until California (the train was ending up in LA) - shame. 

We arrived in Portland early around 1.45pm, again at a very attractive station, and ordered an Uber to take us to the apartment as public transport looked a bit challenging. Have to confess my heart sank a bit - it really wasn't very pretty around the station and it all looked rather grimy and gritty, not in an interesting way. Once we got closer to the apartment, the area was very suburban, leafy and hilly, and it appeared to be a long way from anywhere useful for anyone on foot. Our Air BnB was actually the basement "granny flat" of a house at the end of a cul de sac - minimally furnished, though with a well-equipped if slightly strangely-arranged kitchen and very poor sound insulation - although the area is very quiet, the family living above is surely a herd of small elephants.

We soon discovered we were nearly 15 minutes' walk from the nearest bus stop (uphill on the way home!), which was a bit unfortunate as we had already downloaded and charged up Hop transit passes (as a senior, mine was labelled "Honored Citizen"!) We wanted to catch the Saturday market before it closed, so after a quick unpack we got another Uber into town - which took us back towards the station on the same depressing route, not helped by the fact that the Seattle sunshine had been replaced by dull grey clouds. The market wasn't too busy, and was populated by many "alternative" Portlandites with varying vibrant hair colours, large quantities of tattoos and piercings, selling stuff like crystals, dream catchers, donuts, dangly jewellery and small artworks - and a fair amount of old toot. Each to their own, but not really our thing. ("Keep Portland weird" is a prominent bit of graffiti around here.)

We walked on beyond and wandered around the Pearl District for a while, browsed in a few shops and then settled on Jake's Famous Crawfish restaurant for an early dinner (I had crab and asparaus dip, chocolate mousse and a couple of glasses of local Pinot Gris from the Willamette - rhymes with Dammit - Valley, which I've come to enjoy here). We did a quick shop in WholeFoods for some supplies, found the no.15 bus stop, turned down a request for monetary help from a clean and otherwise normal-looking junkie (who blessed me despite my refusal), and then after a short bus journey, found our way back to the apartment - sadly uphill in the dusk - for some wine and TV.