Super-liner Roomette 10, Car 1130, Amtrak Coast Starlight

My blog writing has become more neglected as I write this 3 months later sitting in Vancouver Airport awaiting our flight to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Oh well.

On the morning of our departure from Portland, Stell hands me an envelope. Inside is a postcard, a still from Some Like it Hot on one side, on the other the address of a Superliner Roomette onboard our train to San Francisco! We had already booked the train tickets, but she had upgraded us as a surprise. When we arrived at Union Station, we were directed to the first class lounge, in which I lost my cool at the complimentary beverage counter. As we boarded the train we were shown to our room and unpacked our bags. The room had a panoramic window, which made the views all the more amazing! Before shutting ourselves away for the 18 hour trip, we headed to the dining car for lunch. We were seated with a very cute Chinese grandma and her grandson, who was just slightly too old to be holidaying with her, and remained silent throughout. I had sandwiches and cake and Stell braved the meatloaf. We then retired to our room for an afternoon of guide-book reading, and eaves dropping on fellow first classers. 

Mid afternoon we enjoyed a wine and cheese tasting in the parlour car. We also explored the first class area, and found both the board games cabinet and the onboard movie theatre!! The views of northern California were lake and forest filled and we spotted Mt Scott during sunset. After we enjoyed a very questionable evening meal and the Game of Life, we returned to our roomette to find a bed in place of our chairs and a bed that folded down from above that I had to strap myself into for the night. When we awoke the luscious greenery had been replaced with dry grass and vast fields. We washed and dressed as best we could, and were sad to say goodbye to our timewarped life aboard the Amtrak Coast Starlight.

Next should follow Los Angeles... If I can remember it!

PORTLANDIA

I've been really silly and left it really late to write about our west coast trip, because now I can't remember everything, but I'm giving it a shot...

POPPY HOUSE

It's June 6th, and we get up so early it feels like when you’re a kid and you’re uncontrollably excited to go on holiday and also super tired. We get a taxi to Pacific Central station, were we get the train to Portland. We arrive extremely early because we have to clear customs in Vancouver. Once in the queue, we almost have to end the trip there and then as we get told that we need an ESTA to enter the US (which we already knew wasn’t true in the case of entry by land). So the officer goes away and we’re feeling pretty sick, but he doesn’t really say anything when he comes back and we just go through into the next room anyway. How about, ‘SORRY for making you almost cry in front of the border police.’ We got an ESTA pretty sharpish after this, just in case, and no we didn’t need it on our trip, not once.

So we get seated on the train, where every coach is the equivalent of first class at home. Very comfy, and we’d brought lots of childish travelling games. Even though it was an 8 hour journey we barely had time to make it through all the reading material and puzzle books. We had limited view in our seats, but the view from the dining car was awesome, beautiful lakes and snow capped mountains.

We arrive in Portland early afternoon and face our first challenge of navigating an alien public transport system. Here, it was the MAX light rail, followed by a bus to get to the Hawthorn District where our accommodation was. These were always the most dreaded parts of our journey, the heat, the heavy backpacks, and the sense of confusion, were definitely testing of our temperament! But we arrived at Jill’s fairly happy, a little tired, but ready to locate a beer garden and explore the area. Jill was our host at Poppy house, which we’d found on a website called Air BNB, which proved to be a very successful and cheap way of staying here, and in San Francisco and LA. The house was lovely, old fashioned, and definitely catered to her guests. We were also the only ones staying there so we had the house to ourselves, and she only used it as an art studio during the day. She also lived in a great area, between two neighbourhoods packed with third wave coffee shops, vintage stores, and painfully cool residents. We spent this first day walking down Division Street, and stopped for a local beer at the hedge house, just in time for happy hour (a concept lacking in Vancouver). The weather is perfect for drinking outdoors, and we stop by a whiskey lounge for cocktails, so experimental they are disgusting. We sit on the sidewalk watching Portlandians bike past. It’s a very green part of town, and feels very small and local. We have a wonderful dinner at a restaurant called Pok Pok that includes south Asian style sprouts. YUM.

The following morning is the day of my tour at Stumptown, which I’d organised a few weeks before. They are a Portland roaster whose coffee we carry at the cafe where I work, and they seemed pretty thrilled that I wanted to come and have a look round. I got the full tour of the warehouse, coffee shops, roastery and plenty of swag, including Stumptown cold brew which was delicious. I had a Hair Bender espresso in their flagship store, which was so beyond what I’ve been able to do since I started working at Salty. Still, it makes me want to be better! My tour guide, Skip, got me into a cupping with one of the most influential coffee buyers/tasters on the west coast. I obviously embarrassed myself, having never been to a cupping before! I got the coffee all down my front when trying to make use of the spittoon. But I got to taste some of the newest single origin coffees coming out of Central and South America.

Afterwards I meet Stell and we head downtown to a parking lot we’d read about filled with food trucks. Its obviously really popular in California too, but they are crazy about them in Portland! Lots of super healthy food as well as obscene burger vans. We obviously plump for the famed burger van that serves a grilled cheese- cheese burger. Yes, that’s a burger, where instead of a bun, its 2 grilled cheeses. So disgusting... and amazing.  We wonder around downtown, feeling pretty ill, and work off our lunch in Powell’s book store, the biggest new and used book store in the world! We purchase a Californian feast of lonely planets and John Steinbeck, to prepare us for the rest of our trip. 

On the whole we find downtown Portland very small and we’re not sure where the good areas are. It seems the majority are outside of downtown. Before heading back out to the Hawthorn, we head to the 15^th floor of Macy’s for happy hour and catch the sunset. That evening we explore more of Hawthorn Street, that includes sitting on the sidewalk enjoying real pints! (not the 16oz sleeves we’re used to) from Portland’s oldest brewery at the Bridgeport Ale House, we also head to the Hophouse which carries 20+ draft beers, of which we try the blackcherry and apricot beers.

The following day we head to the Belmont area and to another of Stumptown’s coffee shops were we have a cup of an Ethiopian Mordecofe I got to sample the day before, brewed with a chemex. We then take the bus to Nob Hill, where we stop to book flights from LA to Vegas because we’ve read too many awful reviews of the greyhound stations and we’re scared. The Nob hill area is gorgeous with tree lined streets and lots of fancy shops. We stop by a New York style deli for super stacked sandwiches, and an ice creamery where we opt for the tasting flight of flavours that includes an amazing almond brittle and salted ganache flavour- so delicious. We walk around lots more back toward downtown via another recommended caffeine stop ‘Barista’ where I’m close to shaking from all the caffeine! The baristas have a very professional image, and every brew method imaginable is available.

We take a walk through the Pearl District and China town, which feels a bit neglected, although we do find a printing press and stationers. Where I can’t quite justify a purchase and begrudgingly leave. We’ve spotted a few sailors by the this point, and assumed it was a fancy dress thing, but we keep seeing them and realise that they are REAL. We walk to the waterfront park alongside the Willamette river and see the ships, and the naval recruitment tents and it all makes sense. It feels about happy hour time and we find a bar down a cute alley way with very cheap beer. It also happened to be beside an Italian restaurant we’d heard about so that pretty much finished up our last evening in Portland. Oh, apart from a quick late night pudding from voodoo donuts, another recommendation, which was more gastronomic obscenity than enjoyment. A bacon maple donut is not for me, no matter how much I love Canada.

PORTLAND. I’M FULL!

MINI BREAK

Our MINI Adventure

Since our trip to Vancouver Island, we have been working hard, saving some money and making bigger plans for the summer. In the mean time we’ve had a few smaller trips and one MINI adventure. In November, we went to a Bingo night at a local gay bar. I thought it would be terrible, and it was amazing! The evening ended with me winning the top prize of a MINI goody bag, which included the rental of a mini cooper for one weekend. We finally got a chance to use it when we were invited to stay at our friend Emily’s cabin at Pender Harbour on the Sunshine Coast in BC. 

On the map above, Vancouver is just below the bottom right corner, the cabin was roughly at number 7, and the Skookumchuck rapids we visited were at 27.

 I had to drive the car through Downtown Vancouver to pick up Emily and Danielle, and the fun began as we (and passers-by) soon realised that 4 humans, all with luggage and booze, was just waiting for a bad punchline (I'm yet to think up one that does it justice).

In addition, the car itself had been branded with a Canucks (Vancouver’s Ice Hockey team) logo for the Stanley Cup tournament. However, the Canucks had been knocked out of the cup. So off we went, not caring about ice hockey (sorry Canada), in the most British of cars, to test my driving capabilities in the smallest vehicle on the road. Our first stop was Horseshoe Bay village, from here we took the ferry to Langdale. We took many pictures of the surrounding snow topped mountains, passing islands, and 3 eagles that were flying overhead. 

Danielle, Emily and me

Only half an hour from downtown and everything was suddenly very wild. Once at Langdale we drove along the coast stopping at Gibson’s Landing and Sechelt to catch the views (and buy beer). We arrived after dark to Pender Harbour and the treacherous road that lead down to the house, the road was then following by a woodland path that brought us to the cabin. I thought 'cabin' was just a cute way of saying house, but this was actually a cabin. The original structure of it had been floated down the coast on logs years ago when Emily’s ancestors decided they wanted to move house! Since then I guess it hadn’t changed much, as there was no heating, and the decor was adorably dated. Although we couldn’t really tell in the dark, the cabin was just metres from the water with a private pebbly beach and a jetty shared with the neighbours, most of whom were relatives of Emily. 

We had arrived late and naturally were worried about the logistics of getting to the pub. Going by boat was mentioned, but when we called ahead to the Garden Bay pub, they were about to close (at 9.30) but said they would keep the kitchen open for us! So we drove around the harbour to the local pub, which defies description. It was mostly like a social club, but with tv (naturally), local beers and AMAZING pub food.  We headed back after a good feed, and shivered in the cabin until we’d had enough cans to forget that we were cold. 

The following day we drove to Madeira Park, and watched a boat race in which local schools raced homemade boats around the harbour. It all felt very local and it was pretty remarkable that even one or two boats made it to the finish line. We walked around the harbour, and went to the Copper Sky Gallery/cafe for delicious salmon chowder to set us up for our walk to the Skookumchuck rapids. The walk was through beautiful woodland with lakes on both sides. I was scared about bears the whole time, but all we saw was a notice that politely asked us to call the ‘turtle hotline’ if we spied one in distress. 

Stella at Skookumchuck Narrows

We went to two viewing points at which we could see the rapids, but they weren’t at their full potential as the tide was going out. The Skookumchuck narrows is an ocean inlet where some of the fastest tidal rapids in the world occur. You can see on the maps, how the Sechelt, Narrows and Salmon inlet are all filled from water that rushes through the Skookumchuck. Unfortunately it didn’t look too impressive when we saw it, but it made for a famous destination of our afternoon walk. 

Just looks like your average Dicker family walk, only bigger!

 We also stopped by one of the many local art galleries on the coast, which can be identified by flags that people fly outside their homes, so passer’s by know an artist is resident there.

Our last evening mainly involved ginger beers, and getting to know our new wonderful friends. Emily and Danielle did an amazing job of representing, Danielle's entrance on Saturday morning in her Canadian Olympics attire brandishing a bottle of Maple syrup was definitely a highlight. And I was really glad that kayaking to the pub was just a cruel joke in the end, meant to scare us unadventurous Brits.

The following day we drove back to Langdale via Robert’s Creek, to see more inspiring coastline and some even more impressive holiday homes of the rich. We stopped by another very artsy cafe for soups and smoothies, before taking the ferry back to West Vancouver. 

It was such a change of pace to get out of the city, unfortunately without a car of our own, it is nearly impossible to see these bits of real British Columbia, so it was a great experience, short as it was.