Trip Report: May 12 - June 2, 2002
by Ted & Sylvia Blishak
SPRING JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT AND RETURN
PORTLAND TO SPOKANE
And an inside look at the American
Orient Express dome car
Day 2. May 13, 2002
From our room on the eighteenth floor of the Westin, we could see Mt Hood last night, but this morning it is overcast. We check the hotel dining room for breakfast at 9 AM but nobody else is dining. Across the street and down the block, we traipse through the elegant lobby of the Marriott to their restaurant, which is quite small and under-patronized. Then Ted remembers the Hilton's lavish breakfast buffet, so we head over there. We are reassured to find that the restaurant is crowded, but disappointed that there is no buffet. Why?
"We have low occupancy right now, and we only present the buffet when there are more people here which is usually on weekends," the hostess explains. We order the oatmeal which is served with a lavish collection of fresh blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries.
Thinking that we would have the morning to lounge about our hotel room or do some leisurely sightseeing proves a false hope, as there are emails and phone messages to answer, and a Brewster Train Tour of Canada to book for a client from Pennsylvania. Before long, it is checkout time and we taxi to the Amtrak Station.
Scott Hurd, the senior Amtrak agent at Portland Station, greets us as we walk in and points to the platform, where the American Orient Express is stabled. The upscale train is on a northbound Pacific Coast Explorer itinerary, which started in Los Angeles and will end in Seattle, with stops for "shore excursions" along the way. Workmen are servicing the train now, and the passengers are off sightseeing. Knowing how jealously the AOE staff guards the privacy of both the train and its occupants, we quickly phone the company headquarters in Illinois and ask one of the executives if we may have permission to go aboard to inspect the train's new full-length dome car, the "New Orleans". Since we book many of our customers on the train, we get the green light, and are welcomed aboard by the train's Hotel Manager. The dome is beautifully decorated with rosewood tables and pale green and rust-colored upholstery.
Both dining cars have exquisite place settings awaiting the passengers' return for dinner, and chefs are busy preparing delicacies in the galley, while the cleaning crew is at work keeping the luxury train in spotless condition both inside and out.
We just have time for a lunch of Tenderloin Salad at Wilff's Restaurant, located in the Portland Station building, and then settle into the station's first-class Metropolitan Lounge to check our emails and phone messages.
Scott tells us that today, passengers from the late-running Coast Starlight #14 were bussed from Eugene to Portland to make a connection with the Empire Builder. And, although the Builder's departure is delayed from 4:40 to 4:53PM, #14 is nowhere in sight when we pull out, due to the same slow orders we encountered yesterday between Eugene and Portland.
Our train is announced, and we walk past the AOE to our waiting Superliner. Donald, our car attendant, carrier our luggage upstairs to Bedroom B in the 2730 car. He explains that we do not have a dining car on the Portland-to-Spokane section of the Empire Builder (it will be joined to our train along with the Seattle-to-Spokane section about midnight) but that he will bring gourmet meals to our room. We wonder about the "gourmet" description, but the cold meal is excellent, roast beef, coleslaw, potato salad, cheddar cheese, fruit, and a chocolate dessert to die for.
Departing Portland in the rain, we cross the Willamette and then the Columbia to Vancouver, Washington, and then turn east along the Columbia River. The high overcast is punctuated with rays of sunshine and the river churns with whitecaps as trees bend and twist in the west wind. The skies began to clear, and Mt Hood, wrapped in a gauzy cloud, appears. Riots of wildflowers line the tracks as the Builder begins to highball. The Columbia Gorge is lush with green grass and trees, and cascading waterfalls can be seen across the river on the Oregon side.
We have a stop at Bingen-White Salmon right next to the BNSF office. Back on board, we race eastward again. The Dalles, Oregon, appears and suddenly, the hills are brown and sage-covered and we're in the treeless desert where the basalt ribs of the Gorge lie rugged and bare in the crystal light.
There is a brief smoking stop at the BNSF office at Wishram. We get off for some fresh air and photo ops and talk with an old timer from the Spokane, Portland, & Seattle, where he started working 37 years ago. He is now a freight conductor for the BNSF.
Our next stop will be in Pasco, where we should be able to get a Sprint signal to send and receive wireless email. We do get a signal here , but not for long enough to send out all of our pictures and text, so we will be up tonight for our Spokane stop, at 1215am, which has the last Sprint PCS signal until we reach Fargo, North Dakota, at 210am a day later. The Empire Builder Route is a wilderness in more ways than one.
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