March 11

Today began early, before the sun came up, to catch our little bus to Corvallis. We were actually joined by another person at 5:45 a.m. this morning, which surprised me. The Greyhound from Corvallis to Portland was packed, as Greyhounds always seem to be no matter where they are going. No one talked loudly on the phone or had BO or too much perfume—or watched movies or listened to their headphones too loud—so we got some reading done and even napped a little.

We got into Portland at about 10:00 a.m., and our train didn’t board until 4:00 p.m., so we had a lot of time to spend in the city. It was a clear, sunny day, probably midforties. We walked up to the rose garden, about two and half miles from the train station and mostly uphill. The roses weren’t in bloom of course, but the walk up the hill was worth it for the view of the city and Mt. Saint Helens and Mt. Hood in the distance. Then we ate lunch at the Portland City Grill on the 30th floor, where we also had a great view of Portland. Sit in the lounge. We realized when we got back to the train station that even though we had our camera with us, we did not take any pictures of Portland. I took photos with my cell phone, though, which you can see here.

Now it’s dark in Washington, just past twilight, and we’re riding along the Columbia River. The green of the trees here in the northwest is the green trees should be everywhere. I love that we’re surrounded by evergreens. Cloudy weather is so much easier to handle when the trees aren’t gray and bare. We’re waiting to see if any stars come out.




Columbia River.




Washington evergreens.





Washington mountain.





Good moon rising.