Multnomah County

At my office, there is a pool of cars that you have to reserve in advance of when you need one and sometimes they are all booked up. That was the case on a cold day in February for a meeting I had to go to in Portland, earlier this year. However, the Amtrak Cascades train has pretty regular service from Eugene to Union Station in downtown Portland. It is close to my office and the departure/arrival worked in my favor. It was great. I got work done. The scenery was good. The train was on time. And when the kids heard I took the train, they all chanted "NO FAIR!"

I like making things a surprise. It's hard to have expectations when you don't know the plan. So how can you be disappointed when you have no expectations? That is my logic and it may be flawed.

Surprise Spring Break train trip with Marla and the kids! I called it my 'secret plan'.  My original secret plan was to wake them at 4 am and take the 5 am train, but Marla voted that down. Too much packed in for a good time. So the 9:00 train it is! The train was on time and just as scenic. The kids didn't seem as excited with the train and I was hoping they would be. I tried to roll with it.  

We arrived on time shortly before lunch and went directly to Byways Café for a great lunch right off the train. I have been there several times for breakfast and loved it. The place is decorated with kitschy souvenirs; mainly tourist trap plates. During our lunch some really good music from the Kinks was on and very good diner food was provided.

Then we wandered over Powell’s Books and spent hours browsing before taking the streetcar to the tram which goes over the freeway and connects to Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU). We were hoping for a snack or hot chocolate up there but the hospital café was closed by the time we arrived.

We went back down the tram and walked along the river and had a snack at the Riverplace Hotel. The weather was pretty good for March but started feeling too chilly when the snacks finally arrived.

Our train was due to head home around 9 pm and we still had a bit of walk back to Union Station. The kids wanted Italian for dinner and we a nice Italian restaurant with a family connection to Beppe and Gianni’s in Eugene. We had a long wait getting a table (over an hour on a Monday night) but dinner was very nice. Evan gave up meat for Lent and he got some candy from the waitress for being such a good boy. At the train station, we discovered that our scheduled train killed a pedestrian in Washington so we had to take a bus back to Eugene. We got home around midnight and we were grateful for no school or work the next day.

The train is a great way to travel and Portland is easy to maneuver without a car and in many cases is easy without a car. The streetcar is free in fareless square (as are buses and MAX trains) and the tram is $4 round trip.