Thingomy.co.uk

Right – this is going to have to be done in installments at there is a lot to say. I had trouble accessing affordable Internet while I was on my northern excursion, so now that I’m back in Texas I’m going to have to update on everything.

The last decent post I made was on Seattle. The last morning in Seattle was interesting. I managed to sniff out an opportunity for some fantastic scenery in the form of the *Columbia building* http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=columbiacenter-seattle-wa-usa in Seattle. There is an obs’ deck near the top, with a $5 entry fee, well worth it though. On walking up to the window you take a sudden step back as it is so high, one of the folks in the hostel had a photo looking down on a helicopter. I proceeded to take a panoramic photo of the whole view; the weather was a little murky, but it was still well worth it.

I then made a B-line for the train as it started to rain, to end up with it was dripping off my nose. The train left 2 hours late due to a fault in a carriage that had to be replaced. Once we got going all was well I saw some really cool scenery.

This was a 22ish hour trip, at about 5pm, an hour south of Portland, Origon, we stopped, trains regularly do these things, we assumed that we were waiting at a red signal, or something other basic like that, a few minutes later there was an announcement over the PA: “Ah folks… we’re having some major technical issues with the locomotives here, we’re going to be a while”. Now you know that something is far from right when they say something like that, they normally play down any issues they are having.

From about 6pm til about 10pm we were sitting there with the lights off (due to the lack of a connected locomotive), no air-con, no toilets, and some glow sticks to light the place.

We eventually got into Sacramento, Ca 9 hours late. Not impressed.

On the upside the entire train carriage started speaking to each other, and I met a load of people that I wouldn’t have otherwise, and I got to see the north Calafornia scenery during the day.

On arrival in Sacramento (1515 rather than 0615) I went to the hostel and found a most incredible place, the Sacramento International Hostel. It was a former mansion. It is directly opposite City Hall, ad is about 4 blocks from the main mall.

I had a look around the town, but found that it’s not a very useful place to be in the evening as everything closed really early, including the rail museum, which is noted to be one of the best in the country; it closed 30 minutes before I found it.

The rest of the Seattle to Sacramento pics are in:
Seattle
train form seattle to Secramento
Secramento