Spokane-Seattle round trip: whittling down the old bucket list

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Joined
Sep 9, 2006
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Colfax, WA (CFX)
Last week I took another Spokane-Seattle round trip and as the title says was able to get some items crossed off my bucket list. It has been my habit over the years to track the train I'm departing Spokane from, in this case #7, and leave from my home for the station when the train is at Whitefish. That gives me several hours to drive at a leisurely pace, taking longer and more indirect routes, and have a nice long dinner in Spokane before boarding the train. This time it didn't go as planned as #7 was in Whitefish a minute or two late--then sat there for nearly an hour. And lost another half an hour between Libby and Sandpoint. That gave me all the more time to wait. For some reason it was hotter than Hades in the Spokane station which made for a less than pleasant wait. Due to padding, however, #7 rolled into Spokane just 40 minutes down. Unfortunately we had another long wait ahead of us as we were adding three private cars to the mix at Spokane, and as a result needed to add another engine to get us over Stevens Pass. For some reason it took a very long time to attach all the cables, and when we finally departed we were an hour and a half late. Not that it mattered to me. I had breakfast with a man from Virginia and a mom and her 9 year old son from West Virginia. I had the old standby of the omelet, croissant, pork sausage, potatoes, and diet Pepsi. It and the service was very good.

At Wenatchee, the sun had risen over the Columbia and made for a pretty setting.20170620_064633.jpg

The morning was a nice one, weatherwise, until we got over Stevens Pass and were going down hill to Puget Sound. From then on it was gray and drizzly, nothing new for Seattle area residents.20170620_104228.jpg

We eventually got into Seattle about 1:15 late. I walked over to the light rail station and rode it to Westlake, which is just a couple of blocks from the hotel I stay at in Seattle, the Moore. The Moore is just a couple of blocks from Pike Place Market also, and it's location is perfect for me. Despite getting there well before check in time I was able to get into a room right away, and headed up to the room and freshen up a bit. I hadn't been to Seattle since the Link light rail's route had been expanded from Westlake to the U of W to the north and from Sea-Tac airport to Angle Lake to the south, so, being the incurable rail junkie I am :p I went to Westlake to ride the light rail. I first went north, to the U of W, then south to Angle Lake, then back to Westlake. The entire journey took about 2 hours. Back at Westlake, I had a gourmet dinner at McDonald's :lol: and headed back to my room to retire for the night. Next up: bucket list item #1: Bus tour of Mount Rainier.
 
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Wednesday, June 22nd.

This day included one bucket list item, a bus tour of Mt. Rainier. I had tried to do this 4 years ago but the company ended up going bankrupt. So,4 years later, finally got the chance to take another tour.

On this tour, we were all picked up at our hotels. My pick up time was 7:40 AM, and I had just gotten to the hotel lobby at 7:25 when the driver came. Good thing I got to the lobby early!! :eek: Turns out he was only helping out the regular driver by picking a few of us up and meeting with him. By 8:20 we had met up with the other driver and were on our way. This tour is one of the only ones that takes you all around the mountain rather than just go to one place. The driver had taken several tours before and knew all the good places to stop for photo ops. We made several such stops. One of these was just inside the park entrance, at The Grove of the Patriarchs. https://visitrainier.com/grove-of-the-patriarchs-2/ This icluded a 1.5 mile walk in a grove of old growth trees. If I had known exercise was part of the deal I'd never have gone!!!! :angry: :p ;) The walk was easy, though, especially if you overlook the have-to-cross-a-rickety-suspension-bridge part. There is such a bridge over the White River, and I don't do rickety suspension bridges well. 20170621_114321.jpg I survived the experience, however, and enjoyed walking the trail, seeing all the thousand year old fir and cedar trees. It was a very nice day for a walk.

We stopped at several places for photo ops, and it was a great day for it:20170621_105302.jpg

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We stopped for lunch at the Paradise Lodge, where we stayed for over an hour. This was the halfway point of our tour. On the return, we made several more stops, and had another short walking tour, this one 0.7 miles, at a place called Longmire. Longmire is where the first commercial establishment was, back in the 1910'S, and included a natural spa. From there, we made our way back home. It was a very nice day for the tour. The weather around Rainier has been pretty dreary and it was a treat to have such great weather. The drive back to our hotels was a bit interesting. There were a few people who were staying at hotels near Century Link and Safeco Fields, and as it happened there were both a Mariners AND a Sounders (major league soccer) home game going on that night. As you can imagine there was quite a bit of traffic. But we eventually made it back. One bucket list item down, one to go!!

Thursday, June 22nd. It wouldn't be this day, though. I had no real set plans for the day other than a boat tour through the locks at Ballard, between Elliott Bay on the Puget Sound and Lake Union. I went to my favorite, Lowell's at Pike Place, for breakfast, where I had my Dungeness crab omelet. At almost $30, I can't do it too often, but what the heck. It's worth it to do it maybe once a year. After breakfast I had time to walk the few blocks to a prime railfanning spot, where I took photos of the Cascades train to Vancouver, BC, leaving right on time. I was going to take this train the next day as item #2 on my bucket list. After it passed, I wandered back to the market for awhile, then made my way back to my railfanning spot for the arrival of the Empire Builder. I was going to wait for the arrival of the Cascades train from Vancouver, but it was delayed, so I gave up and went down to the waterfront for lunch and the boat tour. After lunch, I made my way to buy a ticket for the tour, but discovered both sailings for the day were sold out. So I went with plan B, a ferry ride to Bremerton and back. Not a bad plan to fall back on. Bremerton has a very pretty waterfront park near the terminal and I enjoyed my time there, catching the sun and walking through some of the shops there. Another beautiful day!20170622_163841.jpg

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After I got back to Seattle I went back to my room for a bit, then went to dinner at another one of Seattle's finest dinner establishments, Subway. :lol: As I walked out the door, I kept hearing this odd, rhythmic noise, and couldn't figure it out. Turned out to be a Black Lives Matter protest by a group of people protesting the police shooting of a black pregnant woman. They were marching up the street behind me. After my gourmet meal :lol: I retired to my hotel room for the night.

Up next: bucket list item #2: Cascades round trip between Seattle and Vancouver BC.
 
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Jim, I hope I do Vancouver well by you. :) I left my hotel bright and early,catching the Link light rail to the stop nearest King St. station. I must have been in a hurry as I found I had left my printout of my tickets, phone charger, and daily dosage of medicine behind. :eek: :rolleyes: None though were a big deal as I had my ticket on my phone, somehow did remember to bring my portable power source I use to charge my phone when I'm away from an outlet for an extended period, and took my medicine when I got back. I was in business class and found the line to check in very short as opposed to the one for coach. When our car attendant, David, came by to check our tickets and ID (I have an enhanced drivers license) my lack of paper ticket did indeed become a problem. :rolleyes: For some reason, my ticket wouldn't display properly. So I had to make a quick trip to the Kwik-Trak. :lol: That crisis being averted, we boarded the train in plenty of time for an on-time departure. While awaiting our departure, I was approached by a man who was part of a group of 8 who were traveling to Vancouver for a cruise. One of the their group had screwed up somehow and was relegated to coach. He offered me $40 to trade places with the guy in coach. His screw up wasn't my problem, so I declined his offer. Had he offered $400 instead I might have thought about it. :p

At any rate, we departed right on time. I think it's highly discriminatory that the 2x1 seating in the Cascades business class always has the single seat, where they seat single travelers, on the east side of the train. We single travelers on the Cascades have all the crappy views. :angry: :p ;) Oh well. On the way back I planned to camp out in the dining car with a window seat with the better view. The morning was gorgeous. It has been so wet over the last few months here in the great Pacific Northwest, especially on the west side, but the weather was fantastic most of my time here. I went to the bistro car for breakfast and to take advantage of the $3 off. The line was long but the guys in the bistro car kept the line moving quickly.

We stayed pretty well on time for the entire run. I had no idea how the customs process worked, and finding this out was one amongst many reasons I wanted to do this trip. We were given a declaration form to fill out which we were to give to customs agents at the Vancouver station along with our ID's. Once in Canada, we stopped for about 10 minutes, waiting for the drawbridge over the Fraser River to close. Once we got going again, the wait was well worth it:20170623_111721-1.jpg

Once at Vancouver, at which we were maybe 10 minutes late, after they closed a gate behind the train, we were let off one car at a time, business class first. No wonder I turned down the $40 to sit in coach!!!! As I expected, the customs agent at Vancouver was skeptical of my story that I had just ridden up for the day and was returning the same day. At any rate, the first order of business once past customs was lunch. I spotted the A&W inside the station, and that fit the bill.

After that, I had no real plans for the afternoon. So I first wandered out of the station, and walked the few blocks to the Science Center, at which there was some sort of Chinese dragon boat show. I loved the setting for the Center, right on the water.20170623_125033.jpg

After poking around the Science Center awhile I went back to the station and alternated between people watching inside the station and sunning myself in the park across the street. We began the boarding process for us privileged business class passengers :p well in advance of our departure. For entrance back into the US we had to fill out another customs form and present it and our ID'S to the customs agent at the station prior to boarding. As I had decided to do, once I was boarded and got my seat, I went into the dining car to camp out and enjoy the views I'd missed out on earlier. This time I took advantage of my $3 off coupon for the bistro before the lines got long. Once again the crew in the bistro car was top notch. I was glad to view what I had missed out earlier in the day.

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A few minutes before the border crossing at Blaine, WA, we all had to return to our original seats AND vacate the rest room as the train would be stopping and Border Patrol agents would be boarding the train. At Blaine, the Border Patrol did indeed board the train to inspect our documents and ID's. The guy that boarded our car acted like some macho, arrogant cop. And then he just rushed through, barely examining our documents and ID's. I was left with the impression that for all his bluster, I could have declared I was importing guns and marijuana and he'd never have noticed. At any rate, the insection took maybe 10 minutes and we were on our way again. I once again camped out in the diner with an optimal window seat.20170623_193407.jpg

South of Bellingham the view of Chuckanut Bay I thought was especially pretty. I had been to Bellingham once before, a dozen years ago, and had driven along the bay once before but not gotten a chance to see much of it. This time I took full advantage of it.20170623_194327.jpg

Twice those of us on the right side of the train got some views we probably didn't want. :lol: In two separate places I saw young men enjoying the beach without any clothes on :D Not the kind of views I had in mind!!!! :lol:

We were on time throughout the journey, and we arrived back at King St. Sration right about on time. This time, I caught a cab back to the hotel. And got one more bucket list item crossed off!!!

This trip went great. Both trains on time or close to it, and the crews on both were great. I had no idea what Vancouver was like, and next time I go there have a couple of ideas for something to do.

Next up: the trip home.
 
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When you return to Beautiful BC, buy a Pass for the SkyTrain/SkyBus and ride out to the Airport and,back on the entire Loop, Wonderful way to see Greater Vancouver!. ( the Elevated Station is right outside Central Station)Its good for the 80 KM of the Light Rail Lines Trolley Buses and the Sky Bus (Ferry) over to North Vancouver across English Bay from Waterfront Station.

You can Google up the sights, but don't miss Stanley Park,Granville Island,Kitslano and Waterfront Station. (old Waterfront Rail Station under Canada Place where the Cruise Ships Dock.)

If time allows, ride the Bus to Victoria, (it crosses on a Ferry to Vancouver Island), then ride a Ferry through the San Juans back to Seattle.( it's a poor man's Cruise!)
 
Nice pics, and thanks for posting about your Spokane-Seattle and Seattle-Vancouver trips Jay. That's too bad about that US Customs agent you dealt with who briefly boarded the train in Blaine, WA, but somehow hearing that story doesn't surprise me. We dealt with a very rude US Border Patrol(or CBP, whatever it is) agent, when our car(traveled with my family to Sault Ste. Marie, ON) was randomly selected for a more thorough search about 10 years ago. And that of course, all of us had to briefly exit the car so that this rude agent could do his search. Of course they didn't find crap, and let us go on our way after that.

As for Mount Rainier, what bus company did you use that picked you up at The Moore, to go to Mount Rainier? I'd love to do a bus tour like that, which allowed one to see more than one part of Mount Rainier National Park.
 
Oops!!! I completely forgot that I hadn't finished this report! :eek: Thanks,Dogbert, for jarring my memory!! I booked my Mt. Rainier tour through Seattletours.us. There are many tour companies that do Mt. Rainier tours and this was the one I chose. And for the rest of the story.....

Saturday June 24

As the EB for Spokane and points east doesn't depart Seattle until 4:45 I still had plenty of time to kill. After checking out and leaving my bags in the storage room of the hotel, I first went to Westlake to catch the Link light rail to the stop nearest the new 1st Street trolley stop. I wanted to ride the trolley for the first time just for the heck of it. I did so, and as the last stop on the trolley is near the International District/Chinatown Link light rail stop, I was going to ride the light rail back to Westlake then walk down to the waterfront from there. But the tracks between the two were temporarily out of order. So I hoofed it to the waterfront instead. I spent the next hour or so wandering around the waterfront, then went to Ivar's where I was going to meet my sister and niece for lunch. My sister's birthday had been two days prior so I treated them to lunch. After lunch and after we went our separate ways, I went back for one last look-see through Pike Place Market, then went back to the hotel to gather my belongings and head to the station. As I didn't know if the light rail tracks would be operational, and was too cheap to pay a cabbie ;) I decided to walk to the station. It's just over a mile from the Moore, and downhill besides, so for me it is an easy walk. I did spend about as much time crossing the street back and forth as I did going to the station as there is a lot of construction going on in downtown Seattle at the present time and many of the sidewalks were closed. I eventually got there, and began the waiting game. I was impressed with the newly installed reader boards at King Street Station

20170624_133345.jpg especially in contrast to the one in Spokane ;) :lol: 20170619_232809.jpg Now if there was only some way to improve the acoustics in King Street Station!!!!

It seems as though the boarding procedure at King Street Station for coach passengers has been different every time I've been there and this was no different. The pre-recorded, garbled, almost unintelligible voice over the PA advised coach passenders to line up at the podium for the conductor to check and scan our tickets and to issue our boarding slips. However, one of the baggage handlers told us that we could stand in line if we wanted to, but they almost never check tickets until after boarding the train on Saturdays, so we could disregard the announcement. Good!! The PA voice was that of a female and so I got permission not to have to listen to a woman!!! ;) :p :lol: With that attitude no wonder I'm 57 years old and haven't so much as been on one date since my wife passed away 14 years ago!! J/K!!! At any rate, what the handler said was true. After the train had arrived, the conductor told us that since the train would be completely full by the time we left Everett, the coaches would be divided into sections with half reserved for groups of two or more and half for single travelers. And after sleeping car passengers would be boarded, those coach passengers traveling in groups would board first, and us single passengers would go pound sand--er, I mean board last. :p But the young man standing next to me and I decided right on the spot that we were traveling together :lol: Never mind that he was going to West Glacier and I to Spokane. The conductor who obviously had been around the block or two knew what we were up to, but didn't bat an eye. He just said, hey, as long as you get on the train together you're traveling in a group. And that was that. The young man, whose name was Max, was traveling to West Glacier to start his job, which I never found out what exactly was, and had just arrived in Seattle a few hours prior, having had a 16 hour flight from Taiwan. That made me tired just to think of it. After some small talk, Max (understandably) drifted off to sleep. Just before dinner, which for me was the 8:00 PM seating, the folks in our car were treated to a bizarre discussion. A young lady was freaking out because she couldn't remember where her seat was. She kept insisting to Steve, our coach attendant,that she was traveling in a coach car, but on the other side of the diner. And Steve kept insisting she was wrong. What made it funny was the more agitated the gal became, the more cutesy terms of endearment she would throw Steve's way, and he would throw them right back. I heard so many "sweethearts" and "sugars" and "honeybears" that I thought I was going to have to take a double dose of my diabetes medicines. :rolleyes: Finally, Steve, who must have been a direct descendant of Job, took her to the sleeper section to show her there were no coaches on the opposite side of the diner. Max and I concluded that if she was in a car on the other side of the diner and not in a sleeper she must have been in the baggage car. :lol: I never saw her again so I didn't know whatever happened to her.

At dinner, I was seated with three friends from the Midwest, two from Milwaukee and one from Chicago, who were returning to their homes after a golfing get-together with another buddy from Seattle. One guy was a complete jerk. He sat across from me and never uttered a word in my direction or even looked at me. The guy next to him was actually pretty nice, and the one next to me could be nice one minute and a jerk the next. When he found out I'd been to Seattle and had traveled by train, he asked me why in the world I'd ever take the train when I could have driven. I wanted to respond by saying why in the world would you take the train to Seattle when you could have flown, but I just replied I wanted no part of driving in Seattle which is true. That seemed to mollify him for the time being. It wasn't so much the question as the way he asked it, like I was some sort of moron. After that, Complete Jerk and Semi-Jerk amused themselves by making disparaging remarks about the houses in the area--around Leavenworth--and the people who lived in them, calling them hicks and hillbillies, and wondering how in they made a living. It was apparent they were impressed by Money. Pretty Nice Guy remained silent and seemed a bit embarrassed by his buddies. Dinner itself was a bit hectic. The staff, friendly enough, seemed frazzled and the service was glacially slow. And they had no baked potatoes!!! Fortunately I don't mind mashed. Semi-Jerk and Complete Jerk made more nasty comments about the Leavenworth stop, calling it a worthless stop in the middle of nowhere. It was evident by their reaction that they were convinced the train stopped for no reason just to **** them off. And it worked. :lol: I could have explained that the stop is actually a mile from the town itself and that Leavenworth,after the timber industry went caputsy in the 1960's, rebranded itself as a tourist attraction with a charming, picturesque Bavarian theme, but I chose to let them be miserable rather than do my thing for the Leavenworth Chamber of Commerce. :lol: . I had shrimp for dinner and it was good. At Wenatchee, Pretty Nice Guy was sufficiently impressed with the town to ask what the residents did to support themselves. I'd have thought the miles and miles and acres and acres of fruit trees might have given him a clue, but I simply said the fruit industry was very lucrative and that's how the townspeople supported themselves. It was here that dinner was over and we went our separate ways...thankfully. And soon after I returned to my seat, parted ways with Max, too, as the car emptied out at Wenatchee and he found an open seat. I spent the rest of the trip looking out the window, dozing, or, once darkness set in, monitoring my GPS to see our progress. We were half an hour late at Ephrata but 20 minutes early into Spokane. I rushed out to the parking lot to see if my car was in one piece and had no tickets on the windshield. Fortunately the answers were yes and no. And thus endeth another trip.

Great trip with no major problems. Now for the grand finale in September: several trains in the east topped off by a LSL-Empire Builder trip from Boston to Spokane. Can't wait! :)
 
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Enjoyed your report and learning about the North West, thanks for taking the time to write it JayPea. A question for you. Would it be too complicated to spend a night or two in Vancouver?
 
Enjoyed your report and learning about the North West, thanks for taking the time to write it JayPea. A question for you. Would it be too complicated to spend a night or two in Vancouver?
I don't know that it would be. I wanted to see how things worked with customs, paying with Canadian currency, etc, which is a part of the reason I went....to see the lay of the land, so to speak. I don't think it would be hard to do.
 
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