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Amtrak Cascades Round Trip From Portland To Tacoma and the Flight Home 5/12/2008

I awoke at 6:00 AM and after showering, checked e-mail which included they corrections from Winston Walker, my proofreader, before I uploaded the trip to Portland on the Coast Starlight. I enjoyed a continental breakfast at the Portland Airport Days Inn prior to checking out then walked over to the MAX 82nd Street NE station and took it into town, detraining at Chinatown. My usual walking route to Portland Union Station was disrupted due to light rail construction so it took me a few more minutes than normal. Once there, I joined the queue to have tickets taken and seats assigned. Tom Anderson joined me and we received seats 13 and 14 in Car 6 of Train 500 then we waited for the train to arrive and the gate to open, which they announced was a sold-out train.

This train arrived on time which would take us to Tacoma. Tom boarded first and found our seats with me quickly joining him.

Tom was making his first trip aboard Amtrak Cascades and their Talgo equipment.

I felt right at home aboard the Cascades. We visited the bistro car where I bought a chocolate chip cookie as we departed on time. I pointed out the scenic and railroad highlights as the we proceeded towards the Columbia River. After crossing this mighty river into Washington, the train arrived at Vancouver. Tom was impressed by the Talgo ride and the quietness of it. Before Kelso-Longview, a film was shown.

The film was the classic "North By Northwest".

A BNSF freight train welcomed us to Tacoma.

Train 500 doing its station work.

The northbound Train 500 departed for Seattle and we went inside the Tacoma station then Tom walked over to Freighthouse Square while I plugged into the station power and worked on this morning's story. The southbound Coast Starlight arrived about fifteen minutes late then Tom returned and I walked over to Dairy Queen to get some lunch to take with me on the next train. We went out onto the platform to wait for our train to arrive just five minutes late.

Upon arrival, we found a table in Car 6. Once on the move, I ate my lunch before I watching Rush's "R-30" DVD Disc 2 which took me almost to Portland, where we arrived on time and ended two great trips aboard Amtrak Cascades.

Tom and I walked over to the Chinatown MAX station and caught an Airport Trolley which had us there in plenty of time for our flight home to John Wayne Airport. We ate dinner at Stanford's Restaurant and Bar before going over to Security, which was quick with no delays. Once inside the terminal, I learned our Flight 590 would be leaving at 7:45 PM {7:00 PM} then at the gate, I was informed that this flight left Las Vegas 45 minutes late with mechanical issues.

At 7:10 PM, boarding commenced and this is one thing that airlines do not do well. If the plane is late, why not change the way the plane is loaded? Instead of First Class first, why do not load the plane from the back first so passengers do not have to wait for people to get into their seats, which would speed up loading the airplane. You could easily save ten minutes by doing this and get into the air more quickly.

We took off at 7:40 PM and flew over a sea of clouds. Coming through the marine layer was the bumpiest ride I had had landing at John Wayne. We met my mother up on the Departures Level and I drove us to the Santa Ana station, missing Pacific Surfliner 595 by a few minutes. In fact, we saw the rear markers as we crossed the tracks to get there. I drove Tom north to Fullerton, where we found Pacific Surfliner 595 at the station then dropped him off in front before I drove back home, thus ending another excellent Amtrak adventure.