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Saturday, December 31, 2011

Transportation Vancouver and Portland

Posted by Charles Mudede on Sat, Dec 31, 2011 at 4:00 PM

For reasons that are both political and aesthetic, traveling down to Portland is best done by train. Traveling up to Vancouver, however, is best done by car. In this case, the aesthetics soundly beats the politics. The car ride is undeniably more beautiful than the train ride. The opposite is true for the trip down to Portland. The car ride is simply unpleasing and dull, while the train ride is really something else. These considerations were made here at Harrison Hot Springs, the closest thing the Northwest has to the mood of the Alps.

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"The closest thing the northwest has to the Alps"

You mean like the cascade range?

You just get stupider everyday, maybe you need to get out of the city, maybe even drive a , millions of acres or untouched wilderness. Great mountains peaks with all kinds of climbing and skiing and shit.

But you wouldn't know anything that isn't pseudo-intellectual psychobabble .

Posted by Cascadian Bacon on December 31, 2011 at 4:26 PM

Obviously you've never taken the Amtrak N to Vancouver-it runs all along the water, passes through beautiful agricultural vallies and sandstone formations, and generally provides approximately 2/5 hours of justification for the perspective that you are a fucking moron. Keep up the "good" "work". Can't wait for you post next week on the inherent gender and capitalist inequities of Hipstamatic from a Marxian perspective. Fuckin' mutt.

Posted by whomever whilst have me on December 31, 2011 at 4:33 PM

Headed to Portland? Prepare to be the ONLY black dude there. They're sooOOOooo progressive and open-minded though (or so they tell themselves). Don't be offended if they all clutch their wallets when you get near. The timing was just a coincidence. *Ahem*

Posted by Confluence on December 31, 2011 at 5:02 PM

I agree with Charles. I've driven and ridden the train, both south to Portland and north to Canada many times. The drive to Portland is a dull chore, with minimal scenery of note. The train to Portland is far, far more scenic. The drive north to Canada, once you get past Everett, is quite pleasant, even soothing.

Posted by Reverse Polarity on December 31, 2011 at 5:07 PM

Charles when you're right you're right, if you have the time, you should ride the coast Starlight down to Jack London Square in Oakland, and while in Oakland among other things you should eat at The Fat Lady, Nations Giant Hamburgers, and the Trappist, drink at Merchant's and Hienlolds, and don't forget The White Horse Saloon up on Telegraph Ave, then wander over too Alameda, for pinball at the pinball museum, and eat at La Penca Azul, there's lots and lots of joints to drink at in Alameda, but for sure hit up the Lost Weekend, and for sheer Campy-Tacky -Tiki fun there's Forbidden Island.

Later take the ferry across from Oakland to The City , The best view of Oakland's inner harbor, and the water front that made the city (unlike Seattle Oakland embraces it's working class roots, and even has a container ship on it's city seal) but I digress, once in the city the Castro is a major blast of course, but don't forget North Beach, where you can shop at City Lights Bookstore, then drink at Vesuvio's, Specs', or The Saloon, if you're hungry dinner at the Stinking Rose is worth the wait.

make sure you plan at least one day to head down to the peninsula to San Jose, the Winchester Mystery House is well worth the trip...

Posted by Merchant Seaman on December 31, 2011 at 5:11 PM

@4: Really? I've only gone to Vancouver by car once, but what I remember was 2.5 hours of mind-numbing traffic, continuing up far past Everett.

Maybe it's beautiful (or at least pleasant) on a quieter day?

Personally, I'll take a dull but guaranteed-traffic-free train ride over a sometimes-pretty-sometimes-dreadful car trip any day.

Posted by aleks on December 31, 2011 at 5:23 PM

I've made the round trip between Vancouver and Seattle maybe... 400 times in the last dozen years, roughly an even split between train, bus, and car, with the odd bicycle trip thrown in. For aesthetics, I'd take the train every time, particularly in the summer when it's light out, and particularly if you sit on the west side of the train. It's true that there are beautiful parts of the drive north- notably between Bellingham and Mt. Vernon. It's also true that there are a few dull stretches on the train. But on the whole, there is no close comparison. I5 is I5 and even the best bits are none too good.

Posted by stinky on December 31, 2011 at 5:44 PM

Driving is the AMERICAN way, you people aught to be ashamed of yourselves for suggesting a train. THOSE things are for Godless socialists like the ones that rule Canada and Europe, China, Russia and other places of horror and privation. We don't need no stinking trains, We're Americans.

Posted by Sargon Bighorn on December 31, 2011 at 5:44 PM

Swimming to Victoria is undeniably more beautiful than the ferry ride.

Posted by Wicked Virgin

on December 31, 2011 at 5:59 PM

The awesomest way to get to Vancouver from Seattle is to take the float plane from Lake Union to Victoria, then a second one to Vancouver. You fly low enough to see the ground the whole way, and you realize just how short a distance it really is.

Caveat: in bad weather you might barf. I did, coming back.

Posted by Fnarf

on December 31, 2011 at 6:16 PM

Fnarf dear, that's much too adventurous for me. While I would hope that I would never be vulgar enough to "barf", I wouldn't want to risk it.

For the record, I've driven I-5 between Seattle and Burlington a million times for work. It's dreadful. North of there isn't bad, but once you get to Vancouver, you're stuck with a car. You can either risk on-street parking - and it is a risk in Vancouver - or pay an extra twenty bucks or so a night to store the dumb thing.

If they would just fix the tracks north of the border, the train would be the only way to go.

Posted by Catalina Vel-DuRay

on December 31, 2011 at 6:30 PM

But when you drive to Portland, you get to laugh at the overly simplistic musings on the Uncle Sam billboard just outside of Centralia.

Posted by Tingleyfeeln on December 31, 2011 at 7:42 PM

Wrong. The train to Vancouver is beautiful, traveling along the beach much of the way. Outside of Bellingham is drop dead gorgeous. After Blaine it's definitely not great, but until then it's amazing.

Posted by Sandman on December 31, 2011 at 8:16 PM

My favorite part of the train ride, north or south, is going through White Rock, BC. Liked it so much we went there and had an ice cream and watched the Amtrak pass.

Posted by Fnarf

on December 31, 2011 at 8:24 PM

Isn't there a rendering plant or slaughtering facility you roll past in the train along the Black River as you head south? Somewhere Tukwila-ish?

Definitely unsightly, to put it mildly. I remember seeing a pile of bovine rib cages stacked maybe ten deep and fifty wide once.

Also, who the hell calls another human being a mutt? Oh, that's right. A racist troll.

Posted by TVDinner

on December 31, 2011 at 10:30 PM

Thank you, @5 Merchant Seaman!
Good stuff.

Posted by Fire Chief on December 31, 2011 at 10:37 PM

Hey that first post, the psychotically vitriolic one, ignored the "mood of" part of the phrase in question. Grind that ax baby!

Posted by torvald on December 31, 2011 at 11:31 PM

Fnarf - you've probably heard it said that White Rock is Canada's Malibu (when Malibu was Malibu). I love it that the locals - always out strolling on the sand and sidewalks - wave as the train pulls through. It's a very sweet reminder that life needn't be all hard.

Posted by Bauhaus I on January 1, 2012 at 6:16 AM

In my opinion, one of the best things about train travel -particularly the long haul trains - is that it is so diverse. One minute you're in a beautiful pristine area that you can only see from a train, thirty minutes later you're rolling through some small town looking at people's dirty backyards, or some old factory buildings.

Posted by Catalina Vel-DuRay

on January 1, 2012 at 8:23 AM

Interesting comments. I've yet to take the train to either Portland or Vancouver. I've always thought that the ride to Vancouver would be more scenic.

My favorite train experience (in the U.S.) was back in the early '80s, shortly after I'd moved to Seattle. I took the train back to the Twin Cities, and left on New Year's Eve Day (or the day before.) I had brought my guitar along, met two other guys with guitars and one with a banjo, and we ended up playing bluegrass on New Year's Eve while rolling across Montana.

5/Merchant Seaman, thanks for the recommendations for those places in Oakland. I've been to the Bay Area numerous times but, aside from one visit to Lake Merritt when my brother-in-law used to work nearby, I've never spent any time in Oakland.

When I was in San Francisco this past fall (for my second Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival) I visited the Mission district for the first time. I loved the colorful murals and found a great taqueria on Valencia.

Posted by Roma on January 2, 2012 at 12:04 PM