The View From The Train

Off on another adventure, we left Saskatoon late Thursday night on the westbound train. Well, early Friday morning to be more exact because the train was two hours late. We are so fortunate that Via Rail runs through Saskatoon. Other than known for often being late (freight trains take priority) they provide great customer service.

The fall scenery along the way was quite beautiful despite the cloudy skies. The larches are bright yellow amongst the green pines, with various other trees providing splashes of red and orange.

Beautiful fall colours.

The train was a long and busy one due to the Thanksgiving weekend.

Just west of Jasper.

Rain drops on the dome car. Fraser River.

Mist on the Fraser River

From the train's dome car, looking at the #1 Highway bridge between Surrey and Burnaby.

Last bridge before Pacific Central Station in Vancouver.

During our half day in Vancouver we dodged rain showers, had lunch at the Sylvia Hotel overlooking English Bay and went to the Aquarium. Which was extremely busy between holiday weekend, Saturday afternoon, a rainy day and member appreciation week!

Very early the next morning we left via Amtrak and followed the scenic coastline southbound to Portland, one of our favourite US cities. There were so many birds! Cormorants, seagulls, blue herons, a bald eagle and many more.

Inside King Street Station, Seattle

The clock tower on King Street Station, Seattle

By mid afternoon we were in Portland and spent the rest of the afternoon walking along the Willamette River trails. It's not as peaceful as Saskatoon's trails but still great to stretch the legs after a long train journey. The skies finally cleared enough that we got a view of Mount Hood -- which we summitted many years ago and in 2010 we did a hiking circumnavigation of this beautiful peak.

Mount Hood from downtown Portland.

Andrew did a blog post from the hike and took lots of photos. This was before I had my own blog.