This is part 1 of a multipart series on my long-awaited Amtrak sleeper car trip, which took place last Memorial Day weekend. This first post is a work-in-progress, so follow along as I develop it in the coming days...
I never really intended to do much in Portland when I got there. It was only for a 24 hour period, a good part of that was spent doing schoolwork towards my long-delayed Bachelor's Degree. So everything I did that weekend in the City of Roses - Powell's Books, standing in line for over one hour to get into Voodoo Doughnuts (highly recommended, BTW), and a few other things - was leading me to the moment when I stepped onto the Coast Starlight at just before 2:00 that Sunday afternoon.
From my hotel (The Marriott Courtyard off Fifth Street), I took the Trimet light rail, which took me to within steps of Union Station. The station's archetypal red-brick exterior stood out like a lady in a red dress in a sea of black tuxedos. I walked in, and immediately seemed to feel the atmosphere of the past around me - the marble-facade walls, the marble flooring, the solid wood seating areas, the entire place, just seemed to take me back. The attendant at the ticket booth was friendly, noticing my sleeping car reservation and pointing across the way to the Metropolitan Lounge. Free sodas, internet access, and TV while I wait, away from the hustle and bustle? I bit.
I waited about 45 minutes in the Union Station Metropolitan Lounge, a room which also seemed to function as a time machine of sorts, and only available to sleeping car passengers. The furnishings, interior fixtures, and general atmosphere of the place, was reminiscent of the times when rail travel was the way people got around between cities, prior to the time when air travel become affordable for the masses. Many of those waiting with me in that lounge were probably from that time period, as well. But you can't beat "free" coffee, beverages, and a separate rest room from the one in the station the rest of the passengers have to use.
The train arrived a bit early, the room attendant alerted us of its status, and about fifteen minutes later, after the train had arrived, it was "all aboard", and time for lunch in the dining room car.
To be continued...
