Day 5 or our Amtrak Rail- Pass Trip

Tuesday January 19th

We called Uber for a ride from the AirBNB back to King Street Station after a quick shower and arrived at about 7:00 am. We wanted to hang out near the station because we knew we could get breakfast nearby and walk back to the Station to avoid additional UBER costs. We walked 2 blocks to the King Dome Deli and got a breakfast sandwich and a refillable COFFEE!

When it got close to time to board the train we walked back to the station and got our baggage from checked baggage. We got in line so we could get choice seats on the Amtrak Coast Starlight train that would take us to Sacramento. 

The day in Seattle had been completely dry and we almost missed not seeing the famous wet weather Seattle has so often. The rain must have known about us missing it cause it started soon after we left the station and didn't stop till it turned to snow in the cascades later in the evening. We rode along the water's edge to Tacoma and saw tons of boat sheds along the water's edge where folks stored their boats to protect them from the snow and rain the region is famous for. We followed along the water past several Puget Sound bays. Poverty and Commencement Bays were the last two bays before Tacoma. 

After Tacoma we left the water and began passing lots of agricultural lands and made a brief stop at Vancouver where Willie Nelson started his recording career. countryside. Eventually we reached the Oregon border and Portland and continued south. Eventually we started following the Willamette river. We saw the awesome Oregon City Falls that was likely the last sight many early settler boaters saw before their demise. Probably a good thing Lewis & Clark didn't choose this river to reach the sea. 

We had a lunch from the stuff we brought aboard and continued south through the drizzle. 

The rest of the day we were kinda bored by the scenery and chatted with some fellow passengers to pass the time away before it got to dark to see anything. We had a dinner of tortillas home canned meatballs in a veggie sauce that we had brought along.

Just about dark we were told the train was about to enter the "awesome snow covered Cascade mountains". Once again we had been foiled in or hopes of seeing some snow covered mountains from the train. In an effort to improve my attitude regarding the elusive mountain view I resorted to digging through the "don't ask don't tell" bag and digging out some "attitude improvement medicine".

After the medicine we stayed up with the party crowd in the Sightseer Lounge car (Observation car). till almost 11:00 pm We like to sit at one of the tables at end of the car. There are tables in the Lounge on the lower level too but the ones at the top are more convenient to our seats in coach in case we want to run back and get something out of our bag stored above our seats.

Sneak your own aboard in your "don't ask don't tell" bag or pay 5 or 6 bucks for beer, wine or airline size booze and $2 for a 10oz bottle of soda. We got up at daylight when we arrived at Sacramento and got off at the station.