Cascades Vancouver to Seattle

[MARC Rider]

It's 5:45 AM, and I'm now sitting in a Horizon business class car sitting in Pacific Central Station. Aside from the fact that there are no overhead luggage racks, the bright, harsh, commuter-rail lighting is making it hard for me to fall asleep. The Customs interview was a breeze, and business class might be worth the extra price, because you get priority boarding. I didn't have to stand in line very long, but now I'm sitting and waiting.

 

[MARC Rider]

Finally across the border. We crept through Canada, rarely exceeding 50 km/hr. The bridges over the Fraser River are sort of cool. There's the low, presumably moveable bridge used by the train, a high level highway bridge, and a futuristic cable-stayed bridge used by the Skytrain. After we crossed, we sped up to 130 (or ~80 mph). Go figure. At the border, a bunch of customs agents got on the train, walked through, looked at our passports, and took our customs declarations. Given that we had been examined in Vancouver, the whole thing seemed kind of pointless.

 

[jis]

Finally across the border. We crept through Canada, rarely exceeding 50 km/hr. The bridges over the Fraser River are sort of cool. There's the low, presumably moveable bridge used by the train, a high level highway bridge, and a futuristic cable-stayed bridge used by the Skytrain. After we crossed, we sped up to 130 (or ~80 mph). Go figure. At the border, a bunch of customs agents got on the train, walked through, looked at our passports, and took our customs declarations. Given that we had been examined in Vancouver, the whole thing seemed kind of pointless.

Technically, final customs inspection is at Blaine where they do that and collect the Customs Forms. Yet another one of those quirks of US CBP. This was supposed to go away after the last treaty was ratified between the two countries on the matter of pre-clearance, but apparently it did not.

 

[MARC Rider]

This is really a pretty scenic ride, especially if oyu can score a seat on the right (west) side of the train. A good bit of the trip follows the shorelines of the Strait of Georgia and Puget Sound, and once the fog lifted, you got a pretty nice view of the Olympic Mountains. Also -- shades of Baltimore! -- you have to ride through a tunnel under city streets in order to approach the station. A nice ride, but the Horizon cars are definitely old and rattled around a good bit, plus there were no curtains or window shades, plus, there were no overhead racks (but they did have a decent size luggage storage area at the end of the car.) The new Airos can't get delivered for Cascades service fast enough.

 

[TrackWalker]

Straight of Georgia/ Puget Sound? That is so 20th century.

It is now the Salish Sea. (SAY-lish)

Salish Sea - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

(Personally, I still prefer using the geological term for the area, "Georgia Depression")

 

[Bob Dylan]

Straight of Georgia/ Puget Sound? That is so 20th century.

It is now the Salish Sea. (SAY-lish)

Salish Sea - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

(Personally, I still prefer using the geological term for the area, "Georgia Depression")

Most places that have name changes, after having its original name for a long time, still are called by its original name by locals!

 

[Matthew H Fish]

What scenery did you find more attractive---the totally "natural' scenery, like the ocean and the hills, or was the small towns and farmland around Mount Vernon better?