Thumbnail sketch

Here we are in Portland, Oregon which is, as I was told, the bicycle capital of the world. I also read "Keep Portland weird" which also happens to seem true. I always associated that phrase with Austin, Texas, but I suppose there certainly be more than one "weird" city in the world.

Also I am being charged $9.95 for the privilege of getting emails, read your blogs to catch up, and write this little ditty. But you are worth every penny of the fee.

We arrived yesterday and I flopped on the bed. I didn't rise for the free happy hour nor going to find a place to eat for dinner.

I wanted to catch you up on some of the things we have seen and done since we have been gone. I still plan to write them. I am going to try to write them in office and then move them over. I will just bet that won't happen though. The new office and I don't like one another! And I am finding writing anything on the train is difficult at best. It is meant for looking out windows and sleeping.

The thing this blog is the train. Ah, the train. This is the one that hugs the Pacific Coast all the way, but is really close from about Malibu (I think) until there are more mountains. We saw scenery that would be difficult from a car, although there were campers, trailers, bus RV's down there along the beach. What a beautiful place.

When we got on board and into our bedroom, there was a little welcoming gift on the sink. Everything in that room was new. It was just outstanding. The food was, as I imagined it, Amtrack food. The menu was basically the same, but this train puts a little more into it. We found, too late, that there was a meal served in the Lounge car. This car is the one that has swivel club chairs and then the booths like the diner.

In the diner you most always meet some interesting people. That is for another visit with you.

The afternoon, there was a complimentary wine tasting. That was really interesting. It was wine and cheeses to sample. That's when we discovered that those booths are made for the mini people in this world, to we didn't pursue eating dinner in that car. The food was the diner food - but fewer choices, but done "fancier."

The train really was great - it even got us here to Portland AN HOUR EARLY. That may not seem unusual or something, but when we travel Amtrack, it is usually very late!

So now I am off to see what you guys have been up to. And I haven't had the latest from DIL - things seem fine. She goes to the doctor on Thursday. So we will see how far I get reading!

After I take this post from the other blog. Train brain - must be

Peace.