Off for a Few Days

I'm a little excited to hit the road tomorrow. It seems like a long time since the old pickup has had any long-distance exercise. There are at least nine sets of traffic lights on my 7-mile commute to the BCIT Buranby campus, so I hardly ever achieve speeds of 100 kph. It's been a while since we left the Lower Mainland at all. Last month, we must have made a shopping trip to Bellingham but that usually necessitates spending more time waiting in queue at the border than at highway speeds.

More exciting than just the driving is the fact we don't know where, exactly, we are heading. A couple of days with friends in Washington state is the only definite part of the journey. I wonder where we will sleep tomorrow evening?


Pioneer Courthouse Square in 2009
I wonder if we will get down to spend any time in Portland, OR? That city along with Seattle and ours makes the perfect Northwest trifecta. It has been quite a while since we stayed in the City of Roses. The first time must be coming up upon a decade ago now. I am pretty sure we also visited in June of 2009 when their Pride was on. That is already five years ago!

Of the two, trip itineraries I posted the day before yesterday, I think I'm learning towards #1. It's time to run over a big chunk of I-5 asphalt!

Getting On Track

Right off the bat this morning, I put a link on my Facebook wall about the fact Amtrak is finally putting another train on the Eugene, Oregon to Vancouver, British Columbia route. Amtrak's Cascades route could connect important cities and boost tourism and trade. It will be great to grab the train for a trip to Portland on a long weekend. The current schedule is so inconvenient that if I wanted to travel tomorrow, there are three times that a Amtrak bus runs down to Seattle to meet up with a train from there. That's pretty stupid, as I may as well take Greyhound all the way, or better yet simply drive.

At least starting August 19th, there will be a 6:40 train departure from up here. That makes it feasible to get into Seattle at about 11:00. Mind you, I could blast down I-5 and make it in under three hours depending on the border lineup. Still, there will be returning trains every morning and evening. At least the idea of taking the train may not have to be dismissed outright. The service is only guaranteed to run until the end of the 2010 Winter Olympics here. I hope it proves popular enough to continue.

It's a shame the US Congress didn't shovel some of those US $3 billion in the 'Cash for Clunkers' program into high-speed rail infrastructure.

Talk about cutting one's nose to spite one's face.


September 14, 2005 - "Today we raced across Belguim
to catch a connection in Cologne for an even faster
ICE train to Frankfurt."

The Squeaky Wheel, Right?

I noticed a charge on my credit card well before I received my monthly statement. I knew I shouldn't have incurred any additional at the Crowne Plaza Hotel near the Convention Center in Portland Oregon. We flew down for a weekend in June but had paid via Hotwire.

After writing an email to the Accounting Manager, I found that they'd charged for parking. I knew it was in error as we hadn't rented a car. One advantage of Portland is free use of their MAX light rail in the downtown area.

A flurry of email ensued but after three weeks nothing had been settled and no charges were reversed. Strangely, after spotting this review on Trip Advisor, I got a kind note from the General Manager of the hotel this afternoon. I just forwarded him the email trail that had taken place. It's not much money but it is the principle. We'll see how long it takes to get my money back now!

Topless Since 1980

I just added a Facebook status message which implied that due to the weekend get-a-way, I'm finding it hard to get into the right frame of mind for this afternoon's class. These 5-week Intensive courses at BCIT really require a sustained effort from both students and the instructor!

So rather than doing online tasks related to class, I took a second to upload this picture of Mount St. Helens to Flickr. I was sitting on the 'inland' side of the Horizon Air turbo-prop on the way to Portland last Friday. Jay was booked on the opposite window seat for some reason. He got to look at the Pacific only. I saw Mt. Baker, Mt. Rainier, Mount Saint Helens, and Mt Hood. One really gets a better idea of Cascadia from the air.

Over So Soon?

Ah, where did the weekend go? It seems as though we were not in Portland nearly long enough.

There's something very quirky about the city. It's very urban Northwest and with that comes both good and bad. There are a sizable number of hippies still around. Of course, as the TV ad said, they enjoyed the sixties and now they're in theirs. We walked around the fenced-in park of the waterside park where the Portland Pride event was happening. We spent a great deal of time at the Saturday Market. Oh, Vancouver, you lack something like this. I don't need the permanent supermarket-like tourist trap named Granville Island, I want the crafty, ethnic food stalls, Tibetan beads, and bamboo-ware clothing here.

Seattle has managed to eradicate its 'skid-row-ness', but it's alive an kicking here. Migrant youth parade around in smelly old clothes begging for change. Near third-worldliness rubs shoulders with new-age yoga instructors. It's not equality but a sense of whatever goes is all right and maybe even it's cosmically-correct.

Surely, San Francisco is a cousin if not authentically Northwest enough. This city is urban Cascadia with 50 varieties of coffee and hiking boots. Up near the other end of the geographic coast is Vancouver. It's on the way to Alaska but an anomaly. It really doesn't fit in, as by comparison my city seems to care far too much of what people say behind it's back. It's a little too new too. And save for Hasting Street a little too clean.

Portland is a city that is not representative of much other than itself. I guess we could stay that's a good thing. It has to be the reason I like it. I wish the weekend had been longer. I've set this to post at about the time I should be boarding the first plane back. This time, we have to skip though Seattle in order to travel the mere 300 miles. We probably won't be at home until 8:30 pm.

'Green Land'

My bed was so comfortable, I didn't get up until 9:00. Of perhaps it was the very good hotel curtains. Of course, it couldn't been that we were downtown until nearly midnight. The MAX light-rail makes life so easy to get around Portland, OR. People think of this state and city as the epitome of being green. To me urban transit is simply logical. I hate that in most of North America we've organized our communities in a way that necessitates a car to do anything. It's not just energy use that's my concern. Highways are ugly and parking difficult and expensive. I read that even the waterfront park on the east side of the river here was a major highway back in the 1960's.

See'ya at Tom McCall Waterfront Park

The last time we went to Portland, we drove. That was during the last week of July in 2005. Today, we're heading there as we have some expiring air-miles to use up. Whereas it took six hours to get there on I-5, the little Alaska Airways plane will get us there in a bit over an hour today. I don't have class on Fridays and Jay just called in sick.


I can't remember the name of the hotel in which we stayed last time. It was near Portland State University. From there, we discovered the light rail that is free to take throughout the city's downtown. Today, even though we're staying on the other side of the river up near the Convention Center, we can still make use of the fareless-square area. Were it not for www.hotwire.com we'd probably not be staying at a hotel with stars as it's not our habit. Still, I'm a little looking forward to a few nights in the Crown Plaza.

Pride in Portland

We like the Portland that's on the west coast but it's been a long time since our last visit to Oregon. The picture below was taken during July of 2005.


We need to use up some Asia Miles flight rewards which will expire later this year. One of the possible short trips is down to Portland. We have booked for the second weekend of June but we'll leave on the Friday and return on Sunday the 14th. The Alaska Air flight leaves from YVR; however, getting the tickets is no easy task with this particular rewards program. I spent quite a while yesterday on hold with Hong Kong. As it stands I am sure the flights are confirmed but we've not yet received the actual link to the e-tickets.

It would be so perfect if Obama's proposal of high-speed rail through "Cascadia" comes to fruition. It'd be so convenient, and it would take so many cars off the road, were there a new rail corridor between Vancouver -- Seattle -- Portland. Rail in North America is about 100 years outdated. If given the option I'd prefer sipping a beer in the dining car to racing down I-5 choking on automotive exhaust fumes, hands clenched around a steering wheel.

Half a Calendar Back

It's wet and spitting snow outside. On a day such as this, it's nice to think about the warm, green days of summer. Here's Jay in Portland, Oregon.

They Do Highways Right

There's not a single toll booth between here and Tijuana.

US Interstate 5 is a very important chunk of asphalt. Although it's probably not environmentally-correct to admit, I love being able to roar through Seattle during non-peak hours. It reminds me of a video game.


This photo was taken on our way back from a summer trip to Portland, OR.

What've I Got?

The weather was extremely nice during the trip to Portland. I can't believe that it's Friday already. I must spend several hours preparing the materials for this weekend's classes. More importantly, I must take time to finish correcting the midterm examinations! I think I'm suffering from a short vacation hangover.

Miles to Go Before I Sleep

The truck's been idle for a while. Today, it will get a work out as we head back to Canada. I'll blog from home tomorrow!

Hot Days in the City

I'm a bit late getting in a posting today. We were out exploring before most of the city was up. Yesterday was an interesting day too. I'm glad I brought my walking shoes. Portland's streets are quite clean and surprisingly tree-covered. There appears to be quite a lot of recent development and I couldn't help make comparisons to San Francisco, Seattle, and Vancouver, BC. All are a bit quirky. Portland although small, or perhaps BECAUSE of being smaller, now beats Seattle on my opinion list.

As we've been walking around, I've been thinking about the wonders of the human mind. We sort of know that we can continue to learn information without running out of mind space. On most day-to-day activities it is of little consequence. Yet, when figuring out a new city, we don't automatically forget other cities we've learned about. Portland, OR is not replacing Istanbul, Turkey. Over time the exact names may disappear but knowledge of the 'lay of the land' remains intact. I think I've always been a bit special. Let's test: As you are reading this, do you know the compass directions? I am always aware of which way, say, the Pacific Ocean is. I've met many people who never know where they are.

Pleasant PDX

Things went without a hitch. We settled into a place that has wireless. So here's a picture from down by the river taken yesterday evening.

Portland, OR or Bust

We've only been there in passing. Portland, Oregon is more than 500 kilometers (300 miles) south. We have a few days off and it looks as though Jay will be working pretty much full-time during August; therefore, we're heading there today.

The weather report shows the stalled high-pressure system hanging overhead with highs on Tuesday at 33C (over 90F). Phew. I'd better pack the sunglasses and some extra sunblock.

Driving leisurely, it'll take the better part of the day just getting there. (I am positive we won't be on the road at dawn.) So, we'll stay for three nights, returning on Thursday. I'm not sure if I'll be updating the blog during the time away. Yet, you can surely check the reports upon our return to British Columbia.