Saturday, July 05, 2008
Day 2 of West Coast Trip (Part A)
"It's cold in here!"
I slowly roused up, only to find that my cellular phone read 05:55. As I was sleeping on the top bunk with only a foot and a quarter of space to the ceiling, I slowly flipped myself around so as to avoid bumping my shoulder or hip on the ceiling and causing some unforeseen severe internal bleeding. When I successfully turned my torso to face the cabin instead of the wall, I hung my head over my bed to find my father wide awake with one of the curtains open. I asked, "What?"
"It's really cold!"
"You woke me up just to tell me that?"
"I think we're in the mountains."
Still in disbelief that my father actually woke me up to tell me it's cold, especially when his second blanket was tossed aside, I sheepishly responded, "If it's cold, why don't you cover yourself with the second blanket?" Then I tried to return to sleep. But then curiosity got the better of me. And of course, it didn't help with the curtains open either. So I fired up Google Maps on my Nokia N95. Within seconds, I got a triangulated fix on my location on the map, and surely enough, we were passing through Mt. Shasta, a little bit south of the California and Oregon border. I dipped my head to look out the window, and I saw a beautiful creek with snow-covered rocks. But like a groundhog, the sight disappeared behind the trees by the time you turned on the camera.
And of course, when you thought it was impossible, the scenic view of the creek returns the moment you shut off the camera. Urgh!!!
I tired to go back to sleep again, and my dad mumbled something. I tossed and turned, and finally looked down and said, "You know what, since there are only two of us, I don't know why you're talking but I have to assume you're talking to me, and you're keeping me awake. I might as well wake up, even if I only had four hours of sleep."
After putzing around in the stateroom and getting it prepared so that it is habitable by sitting passengers, I finally got my father to change into regular clothes. But because the Dining car did not take reservations for breakfast, we walked down there to put our name of the waiting list. But it didn't take long for us to get seated anyway, so we found ourselves having breakfast with two lovely girls.
Knowing my father doesn't have any inclination towards French toast, cold cereal or omelets, I went with the safer route by ordering scrambled eggs. I knew he loves scrambled eggs and I definitely knew that I love scrambled eggs too. But with all that anticipation, we were quickly let down when I found out that the scrambled "eggs" were nothing more than powdered eggs mixed with water and left to steam. Yuck. And the weirdest part of all? The croissants had an round bottom that stuck out by about an eight of an inch, as if the chef had mistakenly baked them in some kind of a cupcake pan!!! At least the croissants were tasty.
Then for some odd reason, the girls and I began talking politics. This time, I wasn't really bashing Republicans. I simply mentioned that we should never trust conservative Republicans, as they are typically the most hypocritical of them all. And so thus began the whole political discussion. I noticed that in all of my conversations, I always tend to talk about human excrements, human anatomy, or politics. Weird... Thankfully, that political discussion ended quickly when we started going along the Upper Klamath Lake. We had overheard someone who rode this route several times mention that if you looked real hard, you might catch the Klamath Falls. But when I pulled up my Google Maps, I was quickly disappointed that we would not see Klamath Falls, because by the time that experienced Coast Starlight rider mentioned it a few yards away from us, we had already passed it.
Despite having a built-in shower in our stateroom, my father had long declared that he would not shower for two days, instead opting to shower by the time we get to our hotel in Seattle. I agreed with him yesterday morning when I saw how small the combination lavatory and shower was, but this morning, for one reason or another, I changed my mind. Maybe it was due lack of sleep, or sheer rebellion in me, I decided that the full Amtrak experience can only be had if I take a shower in this tiny two and a half feet by one foot square space. After all, we paid for this upgraded room, so why not use the amenities we paid for, right?
Let me keep this paragraph short. I had the hardest time taking a dump and a shower (not necessarily at the same time) in that tiny combination lavatory/shower. I can't imagine girls taking a shower and having to shave their legs, because the moment you bend down, you smash your head against either one of the three walls or the door. If you instinctively switched lifting your leg up instead, you would end up banging your knees. And add to all that complexity, you have to deal with holding the shower head, lathering yourself, and hold onto something to keep you from tipping over!
But in the end, yours truly prevailed. I stepped out of the lavatory feeling mostly refreshed, followed by a good teeth brushing. Ah... Now I was ready to tackle the Lounge car and take in the scenery. I saw Odell Lake, the rocks, then Lowell Lake right before getting to Eugene. My goodness, Lowell Lake is huge! And filled with party revelers. I saw many boaters out there having a good ol' time.
It didn't take long before it was lunch time. If I had known that the lunch and dinner menu would be the same every day, I would not have made lunch reservation at the Dining car. I tried to see if I can squeeze ourselves into the more upscale Lounge car dining, but we were promptly greeted with disappointment that it had been booked full already. So back to the Dining car we marched. I really did not want to eat another cold turkey with gravy, or another burger, since my father and I switched plates yesterday. So my father got the angus beef burger, while I got the yucky tuna salad. I'd much rather have yucky than a repeat.
Because the Coast Starlight was unusually on time, a fact I learned from all the crew members, the wine tasting event today would be started earlier, followed by similarly earlier dinner in anticipation of arriving in Seattle slightly early. But this time around, the company wasn't as great, and there was a self-proclaimed wine snob who clearly didn't know what he was talking about. Although he may be construed as annoying, at least he was flamboyantly gay and full of character. Believe it or not, he livened up the crowd. But before he could finish the second tasting of wine, he promptly ran off to the theatre room below to catch The Wizard of Oz. Again. Only because I knew he made a scene with the kids yesterday afternoon exclaiming how much he loved The Wizard of Oz and ran downstairs in similar fashion.
Unfortunately, not only was today's wine tasting not as fun in terms of company, but the wine selection was not as good either. I'm not quite sure why, but I suspect the fact that I was getting pours of half the glass, unlike yesterday when I had pours that filled almost to the brim, may have something to do with it. Regardless, I had the following wines... Hogue Cellars Chardonnay from Columbia Valley in Washington, bottled in 2006. This was one of the driest white wines I've ever had, and the sweetest Chardonnay too. I didn't like it. Next up was the Snoqualmie Whistle Stop Red 2006, also from Columbia Valley. It was a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and it tasted pretty decent. Unfortunately, it was way too fruity for my liking, especially when two of my favorite red wines are concerned. This was followed by yet another red, the Columbia Crest Shiraz Grand Estates, also from the state of Washington in the Columbia Valley. Now, this one I loved. I know Shiraz is one of my favorite types of wine, but even if I did not know it was a Shiraz, my taste buds would have told me that it was extremely agreeable. And I asked for "another" tasting, which Scott happily obliged.
Before we could conclude our wine tasting event, we pulled into the Portland station. At first I didn't think it was Portland, considering the grisly sight that welcomed us. Then I saw a junk car shop with a blazing sign that read "Portland Auto Repair Shop." Damn... I thought Portland was supposed to be this beautiful town much similar to Seattle. But I suppose I have to give the Board of Tourism kudos for doing a good job painting a picturesque view of the entire city. But one thing was for sure though... The light rail and bountiful bicycle paths were clearly visible throughout the city, even from the station all the way through the city as we pulled away.
Finally, the last wine was nothing to write home about. It was a Rieslings from Columbia Winery, located in Yakima Valley which is also located in the state of Washington. Again, like yesterday's Riesling , it was super sweet and didn't taste like wine. At least I didn't drink it like wine. I didn't finish that, instead opting to save the last flavor to stimulate my palate with the second glass of the Columbia Crest Shiraz Grand Estates. And mmm... I've been milking that baby out for the last hour and a half while sitting up here on the Lounge car writing this blog at this very moment.
I tried to get my father to come join me in enjoying the beautiful scenery touted by many as beautiful between Portland and Seattle, but unfortunately he fell asleep. So I thought it best to let him rest, despite having a momentary lapse in temptation to wake him up by proclaiming out of the blue, "Wow, it's cold in here." Instead, I am enjoying the view by myself. The weather for sure is much akin to Seattle, with constant gray haze overcast. That's not to say that this is the only kind of weather that prevails in Seattle or Portland, but more like the popular notion that many people hold in their mind as the only weather that exists.
Well, I must stop now, as it is only twenty minutes till our dinner reservation at the Lounge car dining room. Mmm... Scallops... At least I won't be having a repeat dinner like yesterday...
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