The Portland Not-Exactly-Express: Day 9/10 - Caveat Amtrak

The last couple days have been a bit of a slow but hectic period. I woke up early Saturday to try and get out and see a few more things in Portland before I had to head back to the train station, which as you could probably guess is called Union Station, and head on to Sacramento. There were only two places I absolutely wanted to squeeze in: the Japanese Garden in the far western part of Portland, and a museum/store full of the kind of oddities that I made the focus of my Truth or Consequences roadtrip called the Peculiarium. Things didn't quite work out as planned, not only did the Peculiarium have later than anticipated winter hours, when those hours came around they flat out didn't open. Before I realized they were going to be a no show I decided to kill time in the general area of the museum until they opened. I wandered around several shops in the calm, peaceful neighborhood nearby. It was full of brunch restaurants, coffee shops, boutiques, and a couple brewpubs. I started off by getting some good coffee and a great crepe at a cozy place called Vivace. The crepe was drizzled with lemon juice, dusted with powdered sugar, and stuffed with fresh strawberries and ended up tasting like strawberry lemonade. I walked around some more and then hit a passable, though not great, brewpub called The Old Lompoc. The opening time for the museum came, but they weren't open. I killed another 15 or 20 minutes and they still weren't showing any signs of life. Between the Peculiarium just not opening and the fact that the time I had wasted meant I couldn't spend any reasonable time at the Japanese garden meant I accomplished neither of my goals. Disappointed, I headed back to the guesthouse, grabbed my stuff, and sadly left the fantastic city of Portland for Sacramento.


The trip to Sacramento simply sucked on many levels. Something that I knew, but didn't fully comprehend (or believe would affect ME) about the Rail Pass was that each train only has a limited number of Rail Pass seats. Up until now this limit hadn't been a problem, and if had chosen any other time of year to travel it probably still wouldn't be. But as people are trying to get home in time for Christmas the seats are becoming scarce. Once a train runs out of Rail Pass seats, but as long as there are still regular seats, you either wait or can pay an upgrade fee. If I had scheduled all my stops in advance I would still be OK, but I was specifically looking for flexibility to change my mind (such as was the case with West Glacier) so I had only been making arrangements one or two segments in advance and typically the day before I left. The end result was me having to pay an extra $20 to get to Sacramento. The problems wouldn't stop there, and had I known how much ticket wrangling would be involved I'd have stayed another day or two in Portland, but I'm getting ahead of myself because I'm still bitching about getting to Sacramento. Aside from having to pay, the train was absolutely packed and there we're a higher than usual number of annoying little fuckers whose parents didn't do a damn thing to keep them in line. I got excited when the woman next to me got off and thought I was going to get to stretch out but then a weird and annoying old man got on. He spent the first hour dozing off for a few minutes, waking up, and repeatedly asking "Are we there yet?" At first I thought he was joking and gave him a polite fake laugh, but it kept happening and I finally told him that he had only been asleep 5 minutes and he looked confused and disappointed. He gave up sleeping for a while and then spent the next two hours playing with a small car GPS unit. He had programmed a route from Klammath Falls to Sacramento and he missed a lot of turns...namely all of them. Each time the train passed a turn the unit would chime and offer a new route...for 2 hours. I asked him to turn the sound down or off and he said he didn't know how. I offered to do it for him and he calmly told me "No, I like her voice" and pulled away like he was a kid who didn't want to share his toys. Instead of listening to this all night I hid in the observation car for a while and kept checking back until I finally found him asleep. It was 2am by then and I was tired so i was going to try and squeeze in a few hours before getting to Sacramento at 6am. No luck though, as gramps was a twisty, turny, mumbly, touchy feely sleeper. I finally admitted defeat and spent the rest of the night in the observation car where I got absolutely no sleep and was wide awake-ish as we pulled into Sacramento.

Having had such good luck with the Portland guesthouse, and at close to roadside flee bag motel prices, I decided to try another one in Sacramento that was part of the same group (Hosteling International - though I've been opting for private rooms instead of the typical though MUCH cheaper shared dorm). The train got in to Sacramento early at about 5:30 am, and the guesthouse wouldn't have a room ready until at least noon (granted check-in technically wasn't until 3), so i could stow my luggage at the guesthouse, which is in a beautiful historic 1840's mansion, but sleep was going to be a long way off. I found a coffeshop that was open early nearby where I tried mining the brains of the baristas and a few talkative patrons for things to do in Sacramento. I have a confession to make. Somehow I had overlooked a minor detail in my itinerary; in my head Sacramento was just a layover, but at some point I had made it a stayover. I had no clue what to see or do here. It turns out neither do the people who live here. In the end, I pretty much just walked around somewhat aimlessly. I had one oddly pleasant surprises upon getting to Sacramento, that being that it was really foggy which made the city very eerie and photogenic. I found myself walking all over town, through the Capital's park grounds, ending up at one point in the cities historic cemetery, and later walking through an open-air mall. The only suggestion that materialized from my coffee shop brain trust was to head towards the river to Old Sacramento (or Old Sac as they call it). Old Sac is the site of the original town as it was in the mid to late 1800's as a railroad and Gold Rush town. It is rows of preserved and restored buildings laid out much like you'd see in any old west movie. There's a state railroad museum that I was going to check out until I realized there was a school field trip in progress, but beyond that most of the old buildings are full of cheap old town and railroad themed cafes and restaurants, tacky souvenir shops, and (for no obvious reason) several lawyers and architects.

In the end, from about 6am to 2:30pm when I finally got a room, I ended up walking close to 10 miles and with no sleep I was completely beat. All I needed to do was take a much needed shower, call Amtrak and get my ticket to Salt Lake City (SLC). And that's when I learned the true caveat of the Rail Pass. Some trains were completely sold out and most had run out of pass seats. After about three different phone calls, hanging up to consult maps, the internet, and my calendar, I had changed my trip around and only had to pay one upcharge of $16. Now I'm going to Reno for the night, then I'll spend 2 nights in SLC (where I initially planed only one) , and then go to Chicago, DC, and back home with only layovers over the course of two and a half days. These changes mean that I won't make it home in time for Christmas, instead getting in early the morning of the 27th. At this point in the day, now night since it was dark, it seemed pointless to go to sleep then only to wake up 2 or 3 and be screwed up for the rest of the vacation. Instead I killed a little more time and then hit the streets to grab some dinner. I had a craving for a good burger and wanted to try some local beers so imagine my delight when a quick google search revealed Burgers and Brews. It turned out to be a great place for both as they had a great tasting spicy guacamole burger and a wide variety of regional beers on tap. I tried an excellent hoppy and refreshing Pliny the Elder, a rich and Smokey stout called Old Rasputin, and a crisp and clean Anchor Steam (which I've had many times before and knew I liked but can never find on tap so i took advantage of the opportunity. Finally I finished it off with a Guinness milkshake, which as the name suggests is a milkshake, chocolate, with about 1/3 pint of Guineas. And that ended my day in Sacramento.