Day Five Travel: End of the Line

Dear reader, this will be the final installment of our current five part travel series. It has been so much fun taking planes, boats, trains, and automobiles. I am going to celebrate the conclusion of this trip with my birthday, which will include a nice long nap.

Already, writing is coming more naturally as a free expression of thought. I have hopes this will translate to clearer communication throughout all aspects of my life. One example is that while I am unable to connect to my website, I am typing this entry on my phone notes.

Enough rambling!

Sleep was not amazing, as one might expect, being on coach seats and all, but the sun started to rise when we were in Washington. At Spokane, our train split (don’t ask me how, I didn’t see it, but it sounds super cool); half the train left destined for Seattle, while our half of the train headed on toward Portland.

While we marched along the Columbia River, the landscape on either side morphed from slightly hilly, dry, and tree-less into the deep green forested Cascades. The sky was overcast, and I spent a long time trying to find a word for when two rivers of slightly different colors meet and show a clear distinction before fully mixing further downstream (the word is Confluence, if you were wondering). I noticed a confluence on the Columbia so that’s what sprung the idea.

We trekked further along the tracks, the man from dinner last night passed by several times in the morning to chat with his friends he had apparently made on the very same walks back and forth. What a character.

Portland, the Last Layover

As the landscape reached the peak of how I imagined Portland, a grey, wet, rustic city with some fantastic murals and architecture, along with lush green growing everywhere there was dirt to grow in.

After disembarking the train, I immediately went to check the larger baggage to free up our hands for walking around. Tony and I decided to head to the Deschutes Brewing Company for lunch. Pretty good beer (I had the Nitro Stout) and the food was solid (spicy mango shrimp salad).

Powell’s

With a few hours to go, we decided to check out Powell’s city of books, maybe two blocks up the street. To say that this place is a bookstore doesn’t do it any justice. The size of an entire city block, with 3+ floors of bookshelves, Powell’s is a treasure. I was overwhelmed for sure, not to mention I had my backpack, guitar, and wheeled bag with me, so I felt a bit in the way, but my curiosity took hold.

We walked through each section, before settling a bit on the top floor, the quietest, but also the most fascinating for me. It had books on art and old typewriters for sale, but it also housed the rare book collection. Of course I went in (I had to wait for a pass though). Nothing really caught my eye, except for a $100 dollar book on making your own cheap race car, and a few 10 cent comics that were priced a few pennies over cover price. I didn’t buy either of those things, but I did get a DIY vintage map kit, so I can make my own map with that old look to it.

After Powell’s we headed back to the station, got in line and boarded for home.

After a few hours on the train, we went to the cafe to get some food for dinner. We ate our microwaved Stromboli’s and drank our stone ipa, telling long, drawn out jokes with no punchline and thinking about how we would format our podcast, given the parameters of comedy. When that happens, I’ll make sure you all know where to listen.

After dinner, back in our seats, the train pulled us closer and closer to home.

In Closing

I began writing this late at night as I got ready to drift off to sleep for a few hours on the train, and while writing, I turned 27. The first person to wish me happy birthday was my loving fiancée, Ysabelle.

It made it all that much sweeter to see her when we arrived in Martinez. Once we had the bags packed into the car, we decided to stop at the Farmer’s market for a spell and maybe some bread. Not too long after, I had to sleep. I asked Ysabelle to take us home.

I greeted our cats and then I hopped on our king-sized bed, adjusted that mattress for comfort and slept well into the afternoon.

Day Four Travel: Tracks