Tuesday January 21 - train to Tacoma

After between three and four hours sleep, I was woken up by the noise of the stop at Klamath Falls, OR. We arrived one hour early so spent some time at the station. Klamath is a centre for many outdoor pursuits having National parks and many wild rivers in the area. Klamath is very fortunate in having a lot of geothermal power available even the sidewalks are heated! I saw my first snow here and as we traveled further north, many frozen ponds and lakes.

After breakfast I made my way to the Parlour Car to connect to the Wi Fi that was advertised, but typical Amtrak, no Wi Fi. Not sure when I will be able to upload my blog! Someone out there might recognise the railway station picture on the right!!!

There are so many trees through this part of Oregon, reminds me of the rail trip across Canada where Ontario was very similar. The summit of Cascades is 5000 feet high and highest point on the west coast of the Union railroad. As we descended the snow disappeared and the blue sky and sun also disappeared to be replaced mist/fog. Apparently, Oregon is known for its fog and we travelled for many miles surrounded by it. I did see some sheep and there were a few lambs around, seems a bit early for them!

We stopped at Portland for about an hour and were allowed off the train to stretch our legs. The Union Station was named a historic building in 1996 when it had been operating for one hundred years. The weather was on the improve and plenty of blue sky could be seen, it is rather cool though!!

We crossed over a bridge from Oregon into Washington and not long after we were treated to a beautiful sunset over a lake!

We arrived at Tacoma a few minutes early! I wandered into the waiting room just as Cheryl and Jim arrived. The baggage was available almost immediately so we made our way towards Port Orchard. We stopped at a restaurant for dinner and the soup was enough for me!! So on to Cheryl's and a meeting with Mandy and Serenity the two dogs. For some reason, Mandy took fright at the stranger and it took some time for her to settle down. Finally, she seemed to accept me so all seems to be well!!