A loooong train trip from Reno to Portland/Oregon

Leaving Reno by train. A different adventure,,, When we got up at  6 am for our scheduled 8:30 am departure to Sacramento, we already tracked on the internet and found out that our train will be about three hours late. Well, we left the hotel and checked in our luggage at the railroad station (photo left), then explored downtown Reno (below) with the famous Reno Arch, all its casinos, the Truckee River Promenade (center), and, ended up in a nice little coffee shop with internet. Pretty happy and relaxed still. Around 25 deg F in the morning, but sunny, and, warming up during the day.

 

Since train delay increased, we spent time in two casinos (not gambling, just enjoying free internet!). Around noon we walked back to the Reno station - very simplistic, no electical outlets, no internet, rather "historic",  - to find out that train in the meantime was delayed for 6 hours. Started to think about "plan B" (flights), in case we missed our connecting train in Sacramento.

Eventually, the train arrived around 3:45 pm - hurray! - and about 40 people were cheering.  But,,, once we had boarded the train, it rolled backwards to another track to get passed, first by a freight train, then by the Amtrak train from the other direction. Standing with a view of our hotel in Reno in the distance until almost 4:30 pm.

That was not the plan, since we were looking forward to spend a couple of hours in Sacramento, which was cut back to about 2.5 hours, at night, in the dark. Also, the beautiful train trip itself, over the Sierra Nevada (photo below) was happening mostly in the dark now. Train would have been pretty comfy, since this California Zephyr from Chicago (to San Francisco Bay) had new coach cars (the same ones we had later as "Business Class" cars for a higher rate), but we were angry and frustrated and tired. A free dinner was offered briefly after departure, which we skipped. Have been on many train trips in the past, but never ever had a 7 hour delay!

 

Arrived to Sacramento seven hours late, at 9:15 pm, and walked straight to Old Sacramento, the historic district of the capital of California. About 10 min to a brewpub called "Railyard" (far below). Not much has changed in this neighborhood since our last visit a couple of years ago, with the exception of appearing rather unpopulated for a Friday night. Had excellent local IPAs as a night cap before we walked back to the station. For food stayed with crackers and cheese, roasted almonds and apples for two days. How many hours did we spent in railroad stations (Sacramento on the photo below) today??

Neither stations nor trains have changed much since our first train trips in the 1990ies. Still VERY old-fashioned, no progress at all, no WiFi at stations, no plug-ins, same plain food being sold, same folks on the train: elderly couples and not-so-well-off people. 

Sitting in the Coast Starlight's observation car (LA to Seattle) - see photo above - as I am writing this.  Slept a bit, despite having a mask on all night (and day), in any case, slept more than on a plane, definitively more space here (photo on the left), seats are further reclineable and there are footrests. But, no blankets or pillows anymore as in the old times, and, so my coat became my blanket. Fully awake at sunrise, beautiful view with thin fog layers over the meadows and still some snow along the tracks. High desert, east of the Cascades, somewhere in Northern California heading into Oregon. One photos shows one of the volcanos of the Ring of Fires in CA/OR.

It got lusher and greener towards Eugene/OR around noon: sheep herds, cattle, nut trees, green houses, fields. To our full surprise train arrived about half an hour earlier to Portland, and, in the course of about 15 min. after arrival we had picked up our luggage and taken an Uber to the hotel: the fancy, hip and new Moxy Hotel Portland Downtown. Out  for a first walk through downtown and the Pearl District, ending up hungry at Von Ebert Brewery for a pizza and a beer.