The Action-Packed Adventure Part 3

It was the morning of Friday, May 19, 2017.  I was in Seattle, in the midst of an action-packed adventure of traveling in the Pacific Northwest.  I journeyed to Seattle onboard Amtrak's Empire Builder route.  If you haven't had the chance yet, you can read about that segment of my trip in part 1 of my Action-Packed Adventure.  I then spent time in Washington and British Columbia, which you can read about in part 2 if you haven't had the chance already.

On this Friday, it was time to head south to Oregon to visit my friend Roy, the principal reason for my journey to the Pacific Northwest.  I began another intercity journey this day at Seattle's King Street Station.

The interior of Seattle's resplendent King Street Station

I had booked passage for a 7:25 departure on Amtrak Cascades train #501, my first trip on the Cascades train.  I really enjoyed riding this route, from the moment I headed toward the train on the platform (please see the picture below).

The cars are manufactured by Talgo, a European company, and have a cool design, and the colors are swell, especially the lighter tones in the car interiors.

Conference-style seating in the middle of the coach class car

This picture of me, enjoying the ride on the Cascades as it nears Portland Union Station, was taken by Laura, an employee with the Washington State Department of Agriculture, who was in the seat next to mine.

There are glass doors in the passageways between the cars, and they open automatically, which I thought was pretty neat (please see the picture below).

The Cascade trains also have a bistro car with regional specialties and a lounge car with conference seating.  There are monitors in the cars that have information, like about the cities where the train stops, and there are displays with the train's speed.

Ceiling display monitor

Display with train speed

The one aspect I didn't like as much was that in the coach class cars some seats face forward, and some face backwards, with conference table seating in the middle of the passenger cars.  So as I rode, I was facing the opposite direction that the train was traveling because of the seat I was assigned.

I rode the train from Seattle to Portland, passing along Puget Sound (including the industrial facilities just south of downtown Seattle), right by the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, within sight of wide open fields, the Cascades, and various rivers.

The train car I was in was just passing underneath the Tacoma Narrows Bridge when I took this picture.

A scenic view I photographed with mountains off in the distance.  Most likely, those mountains are of the Olympic Peninsula.

It was a lovely sunny day, and a bit on the warm side, too.

The view northwestward as the train crosses the Columbia River, from Washington into Oregon

The view northwestward as the train crosses the Willamette River

Around 11 AM, we crossed the Columbia River into Oregon, soon followed by crossing the Willamette River, and then we arrived at the Portland Union Station, where, 20 years ago on my family's great train trip, we arrived onboard the Empire Builder, and where we transferred to the Coast Starlight to travel south to Sacramento, CA.  This time around, I transferred to a bus and rode it for about an hour to the Salem Amtrak station.

A fellow passenger who rode on the same train and then bus as me, got this picture of me upon arrival at Portland, by another Cascades engine.

This was my first time riding an Amtrak motorcoach bus thruway service to connect from a train to another city--although Salem is served by Amtrak train service, the bus supplements the Cascades service.

The Thruway bus shortly before its departure from the Salem Amtrak station to continue its journey southward to Eugene.

There I waited for Roy, who arrived shortly after 1 PM, at which moment we greeted each other joyfully.

First, we headed to lunch at a Korean place called Happy Bibimbap House.  Per Roy's suggestion, I had the Dol Sot Bibim Bap, a hot stone bowl filled with vegetables, rice, and beef, with an egg cracked on top, which delightfully cooks as I stirred it around.  Before the entrees, the server brought some appetizers to us, and Roy got me using chop sticks--I actually managed to do okay with using them.

Roy took this picture of me before I enjoyed my lunch.  For the remainder of this post, any picture in which I appear by myself was taken by Roy.  For the entire post, any pictures in which I do not appear were taken by me.

Following lunch, we went to tour the Oregon State Capitol (please see picture below).

It has a cylindrical dome, rather than a round one.  And the exterior walls had a very solid, almost sterile kind of look with the stone material used.  The interior had more straightforward geometric shapes, especially in the rotunda (please see picture below).

The tour took us to the governor's public office, used for ceremonial bill signings (please see picture below).

We also looked at the House and Senate chambers, which together have the names of 100 important figures somehow related to Oregon--I was delighted to see Washington Irving included.

The Oregon State House of Representatives chamber

Here is the Oregon State Senate chamber.  The mural above the central podium depicts the scene when news of Oregon's statehood was proclaimed.  If you look closely, to the left of the speaker's podium is a piano.  There are times when people, like school students, are invited to play before legislative sessions.  A piano is also in the House chamber, to the right of the central podium.

So far as I can recall, Washington Irving's name appears in the Senate chamber.

There was also lots of artwork in the building, as a specific line item in the state budget is for capitol building artwork.  I also noticed some of the past governor's portraits had backdrops from nature, rather than more generic backdrops.  It all added an interesting kind of touch.  After the tour, Roy and I looked at a collection of stones and gems on display.  Roy was in his element explaining them to me, because of his geology studies.  Certainly, from what I experience of Oregon during this weekend, the state prides itself on its vast array of natural areas, and it was fitting to see that on display at the state capitol, as I gained a sense of what the state is about at its seat of government.

We then made our way through Oregon State Capitol State Park, clearly an urban park, and wandered around a little in Salem before going to visit with Craig Hammond, who I knew in high school when he was the pastor of the youth group I attended.  We had a nice visit with him at his home in a lovely Salem neighborhood, and it was great catching up with him and his family.

Roy and I then went back to downtown Salem and ambled around.  We started at Willamette University, the oldest university west of the Mississippi River, and located across the street from the state capitol.  As we wandered down State Street, we passed by a place called O'Sushi, and Roy immediately decided we would head inside for food.  We sat at a long table with a conveyor belt running from one end to the other with plates of various kinds of sushi (please see picture below), and patrons could take what they wished, as well as asking the server for something not on the conveyor belt, but on the menu.

We both enjoyed plenty of nice sushi plates and even desserts like moshi ice cream.

After we left, we continued down State Street, and I casually pointed out a tapas place.  Roy immediately decided to have us go there to enjoy tapas--not only for Spanish food, but also the Spanish style of eating by hopping around various restaurants for a diverse array of dishes.  We shared a Spanish tortilla dish made of eggs and potatoes, and a plate of artisan bread, and churros for dessert.  We then wandered down to the Willamette River waterfront (please see picture below) and walked around, enjoying the absolutely pleasant evening.

Salem is another fine modestly-sized, with a nice historic touch, as well as a delightful green touch all over.

It was around 8 PM and time to head to Albany, where Roy lives.  We met a friend we both know from ValpU at a restaurant and spent some time visiting as night came on.  And that was a wrap for my day entering Oregon for the first time in 20 years.

The next morning, Roy took me to Universal Coffee, which serves a variety of Hispanic-style hot drinks.  I had a Champurrado, a hot chocolate-style drink, and I had the kind infused with mango flavor, which was quite tasty.  We had a nice time chatting with the person working there.

A little later, we departed for our day's outing to the Pacific Coast.  First, we stopped at Jack-in-the-Box, a Pacific Northwest fast food chain place that sells burgers, tacos, and breakfast food.  I had French toast, since I had a hankering for it.

On our way west, Roy floated the idea of going to the farmers' market in Corvallis, just a short distance west of Albany.  I thought it would be nice, so we stopped there around 11 AM.  The market, a very happening place, had a large selection of vegetables (including chard and kohlrabi), meats, jams, and fruits, like Oregon strawberries.  It was there that I learned about the marionberry, a fruit created by scientists at Oregon State University, hybriding two different types of raspberry.  We also enjoyed some corn on the cob, and then doughnuts at Benny's Donuts, which was started by students at Oregon State University in town:  Their specialty is doughnuts that have a sweet glaze drizzle over them.  I had a doughnut with marionberry glaze and rosemary--an interesting sweet and savory mixture.

Then it was onward toward the Pacific, driving on US Route 20 all the way to its terminus at US Route 101 in the nice coastal city of Newport, OR.  And the big moment came at approximately 1:20 PM PDT, when, for the first time in my life, I saw the Pacific Ocean with my own eyes, a view you can see in the picture below:

The Pacific Ocean is the bluish area appearing in the center of this photo.

In about 10 minutes or so, we reached the beachfront at Don Davis Park by the Oregon Shore State Recreation Area.  We walked down to the shoreline, and I put my feet into the Pacific Ocean, for the very first time, as you can see in the photo below:

And was it cold!  It was like stepping into intense ice water.

Our next stop was the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, managed by the Bureau of Land Management, a short drive up north along the coast, beyond the main business district of Newport.  There, we parked and walked along a path, which then took us to an area down some steps where we could look around at tidal pools, filled with sea creatures.

Looking into one of the tidal pools

The view of the area with tidal pools

A group of sea lions appears just to the left of the center of this picture.

We also took a walk over to the Yaquina Head Light, which is in the photo below.

It was then onward further north to see the Devil's Punchbowl, a natural cave-like feature (please see picture below).  We also walked around the shore area nearby, and trekked our way into a cave-like cutout in the rock.

We then returned to the Yaquina Head Area to climb Salal Hill, with some pretty good views of the surrounding coastal area.  And we made it to the top and back to Roy's car before the area closed at 5 PM.

A fellow visitor got this photo of Roy and me at the top of Salal Hill, as friends enjoying a splendid time together.

The view of the Yaquina Head Light descending from the top of Salal Hill.

The view from the top of Salal Hill, looking south along the Pacific coast

The view from the top of Salal Hill, looking north along the Pacific coast

It was dinnertime, and we ended up at Mo's Annex, in the district of Newport by Yaquina Bay, and we could look out at the bay through windows at Mo's, a seafood restaurant that has several other locations in the area.

Looking out at Yaquina Bay, near Mo's Annex

After ambling around some shops and getting sweets at the Republic of Candy, we went to Sacred Heart Church for the 7 PM Spanish Mass.  The church interior's darkened wooden paneling, in the photo below, made the white Easter decorations stand out even more, highlighting the beauty of the Bride of Christ that is the Church, brought alive more fully by Christ's Resurrection, as we celebrate for 50 days each year.

After Mass, we went south of Newport to a beach where we sat on a log that we made function like a couch and watched the setting sunlight and took in the glorious sound of the waves (please see picture below).  The overcast skies that had been prevalent much of the day had receded earlier that evening, and while it was still on the cool side like it had been all day in and around Newport, it was so pleasant to sit under the clear skies watching the fading daylight and the beautiful Pacific Ocean shimmer in it.  Indeed, the coastal area is so scenic, especially since there are many preserved areas in Oregon that allow people to experience the nature of the Pacific coast.

With that, we got back on US 20, at its western terminus at US 101, with a sign indicating the mileage to Boston, MA, over 3000 miles away, and headed back to Albany.  (It was notable to drive on US 20, since it passes through the Chicagoland area on Lake Street, Mannheim and Lagrange Roads, and 95th Street, before heading east into Indiana and traveling through Gary, not too far from the Indiana Dunes.)

Sign indicating the western terminus of US Federal Route 20 at US 101 in Newport, OR

We stopped in Corvallis, as Roy wanted to give me the opportunity to experience another unique piece of Pacific Northwest culture: Dutch Bros. Coffee.  I had a smoothie and a lemon poppy seed muffin top--a muffin with just the top, which is usually the best part anyway.  We brought a close to our incredibly scenic day back at his place in Albany.

The next morning, Sunday, I got myself packed up, and we went to Roy's church in Albany, Hope Church for the 9:00 service.  One of their missionaries was the guest preacher, talking about his work with using media to proclaim the Good News in Asia.  After the service, Roy introduced me to many people there, and it was a delight to be introduced as a dear friend who had traveled a great distance to spend time together.  I also took up on an offer extended to all first-time guests to get a free drink at the coffee shop in the church.  I got a white chocolate-flavored hot drink.

With that, I wrapped up my two-night-period staying in Albany with Roy:  It was time to hit the road with more of Oregon to experience before I headed back east to Chicagoland--and you can read about it in part 4 of my Action-Packed Adventure.