South through the Pacific Northwest

I rode comfortably in my roomette for the first hour or so. Shortly after departure, the woman in charge of the dining car made an announcement that she would be coming through the sleepers for lunch reservations. As this train is the only route with the Pacific Parlour Car, I opted for lunch there instead of the dining car. I figured I would have lunch in the diner the rest of the days. By the time Veronica got to me, all the way back in the crew car, there was only one slot left (12:40 pm) and I had to order either the steak sandwich or the entree salad. I opted for the sandwich. One has to preorder all of the meals in the PPC. 

Around 1- am I headed into the PPC and snagged a swivel chair to watch the scenery go past. 

The PPC has four sections. Upstairs are the swivel chairs, a middle section with sofas that face forward, and then six booths for dining. Downstairs is a movie theater. 

I lounged there until I was called for lunch. I ate with another single traveler who had been in Vancouver for work but lives in the Bay Area of California. We had a nice lunch and just finished up as the train pulled into Portland. 

We arrived early into Portland and this had over an hour in the city. We were allowed to disembark. I ventured into the station which was cute but small. 

There was a welcoming sign thanking passengers as they walked off the train and I to the station. There was a little newsstand inside where I picked up a few mixers for cocktails and some tills ok beef jerkey. You always have to be prepared for delays. :)

We pulled away from Portland right on time and I went back to my room to read for a while. The crew car was very quiet as most of the staff was working. There was only one other paying customer in this car. 

By mid afternoon I decided to go back to the PPC - and just in time as it was time for the wine tasting!  I sat with a couple fr Seattle and we enjoyed three cheeses and four wines, all from Oregon and Washington. 

The PPC attendent told us that this was the last week for the wine and cheese tastings. They have been cut starting April 1, along with the complimentary champagne and amenity kit I received when boarding. We had the Firesteed Pinot Gris, chateau st Michelle Riesling, erath Pinot noir and another red that I can't remember. It was a nice way to break up the afternoon and it's a shame Amtrak is cutting this amenity for sleeping car passengers. 

The scenery out the window has been beautiful all day. I saw some snow capped mountains as we rode south from Portland mixed with farms and cute towns. 

I saw sheep, horses, ponies, and cows from the train. As I ate dinner we started heading into the mountains and the fields gave way to pine trees and little waterfalls from snow melt running down the hills. We rode past a river that was pretty fast moving and a beautiful shade of green cutting like a ribbon through the landscape. 

I even saw a red covered bridge as we went through a little town that reminded me of Vermont. As we continued to head into the mountains we started going through long tunnels that cut through the hills. 

For dinner I went back to the PPC and had the shirt ribs along with the standard Amtrak salad and roll. The meat was kind of fatty. 

I finished off dinner with the cheesecake with raspberry topping. 

After a little more time relaxing and reading in the PPC I headed back to my room. I'll probably stay here for the rest of the night. I'm watching the sun set across the mountains and happy to be on the train.