The Train from Portland to Seattle
Woke up early this morning and made one more attempt to hit Voodoo Doughnut, but again found the line around the block. At 7am. Crazy.
Overall, I didn’t find Portland amazing. It’s a friendly, quirky city, but there aren’t too many highlights. One day in the city and two days taking trips to see the surrounding areas was about right.
From there, I headed to Union Station to catch the Amtrak Cascades #502 train to Seattle, which I’m sitting on right now. There is a toddler across the aisle who seems to be enjoying my company. He’s not talking yet, but he knows how to fist bump. Out the window, cloudy skies, distant mountains, lots of green trees, truss bridges over wide rivers, and small towns. Somewhere near Tacoma, the scenery opened up to the estuaries, inlets, bays, and sounds that define the landscape in this part of the country. Since I was a little kid, I’ve always thought that the US on a map looks like some sort of deformed animal viewed in profile, with Maine as the head, Florida as the front leg, Texas as the back leg, Louisiana as the genitals, and Seattle as the poophole.
My stay in Seattle will last three days. I’m staying at a hostel in a central part of the city. The bed I’ve booked is in a mixed dorm, which means guys and girls in the same room. In all of my travels, I’ve never even heard of that before. Should be interesting.
My name is Jeff. I'm a