Tuesday 29th March We are still on the train! Today has been a big day for the journey as during the night our section of the train was joined by the section from Portland, Oregon. When we woke we were still crossing the snow covered Cascade Mountains and following the Columbia River. The smoothness of
Monday 28th March Today is another getting there day only this time we had chance for a leisurely lunch at Pike Brewery and Restaurant. Delicious! In the late afternoon we joined the long distance train called the Empire Builder which is to take us over the next 2 and a bit days to Chicago, however,
Sunday 27th March As it is Sunday our mission was to eat Sunday lunch again, having achieved this each weekend since departure. We decided to do this Downtown and so to get there we went by the 1962 Monorail which is an exciting 2 minute ride where, if you are lucky enough to get the
Saturday 26th March We awoke to an amazing view of the rising sunlight illuminating freshly fallen snow on the northern Cascade Mountains. These mountains form an arc around Seattle and some of the peaks are volcanoes because this is the North American section of the Pacific Rim of Fire. Our first port of call today
Friday 25th March Today we revisited the Boeing Museum of Flight after some 25 years and found it to be a much more expanded and informative experience. Built around the Red Barn which is Boeing’s original factory for making wooden aeroplanes, the expanded galleries show and tell the story of not only Boeing’s 100 years
Thursday 24th March Last night’s storm had cleared as we left Astoria this morning. We are once again following Highways 1 and 101 so we had to cross the five mile wide mouth of the Columbia River. This is a deep water inlet which is mostly glaciated over several periods of glaciation in North America.
Wednesday 23rd March Today was not a good day on Highway 101. We had torrential rain, mountain fog and endless roadworks where groundwater had sent the land to the ocean. The dark rocks of Oregon did not help for as the day progressed it appeared to get darker even though it was still not evening.
Tuesday 22nd March Today was a getting there day though we passed through some amazing locations with long wave swept beaches, rugged cliffs and deeply incised valleys to get from Eureka to our overnight stop at Reedsport. We started under heavy skies and light rain with clouds and mist clinging to the mountains where temperatures
Monday 21st March Today broke stormy, with sudden squalls and torrential rain with mist two thirds of the way down the trees. We followed Highway 1 as it twisted over a very narrow stretch, up and down the rugged coastal mountains and along the old logging railway route called The Ten Mile Haul Road. After
Sunday 20th March This morning was a rare time on this circumnavigation because we had bad weather. We explored the Pudding Creek trestle bridge. Timber trestle bridges were commonplace on the Northwestern Pacific railway network as there were many deep inlets to cross (as we did yesterday in the car) and a wooden trestle could