Finally, after months of planning and anticipation, train tickets have been purchased, panniers are packed, and the bikes are loaded onto Pat's Prius. Today we head up to St. Paul for our afternoon departure on the Empire Builder to Portland, Oregon for our annual bike tour. This year we're riding down the Oregon coast from Astoria, Oregon to Crescent City, California. Looking forward to the renowned hiker/biker camp sites dotting highways 1 and 101 every fifty miles or so to the border. The trip to Portland takes two days, plus however many hours late added on.
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Waiting for our typically-tardy train at the beautifully restored St. Paul, Minnesota train station. Looks like our 11:15 AM departure will be about 3 hours late.
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| Pat's new-found friend, Welcome Bear. |
Stuck inside of Minot with those Fargo blues again.
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| The rolling hills of Harrison, North Dakota. |
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Waiting for rail repairs in Montana. Time to pull out the heavy hitters, starting with this little number, an Ommegang Three Philosophers Quadrupel Ale (A lite beer at only 9.7% ABV & 500+ calories).
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| Full moon in Big Sky. Nighty-night beer: Rogue XS Imperial Stout (11% ABV) (danger Will Robinson!). |
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| Goldendale, Washington and the Columbia River. |
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| North Bonneville, Washington |
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| Crossing the Columbia River inVancouver, Washington, heading into Portland. |
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| Finally arrived in Portland seven hour late. Bikes and panniers picked up from luggage. Now we have to wait for the 6:00 PM bus to Astoria since we missed the early bus by a couple of hours. |
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| Waiting for the bus to Astoria, Oregon on the coast, and the start of our bike tour tomorrow. |
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| Portland Union Station. |
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| Enjoying a Northwest Red Ale at Buoy Beer Company, Astoria, Oregon. Tomorrow we ride Highway 101 on down the coast to Nehalem Bay State Park. |
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| We took the Amtrak Empire Builder from St. Paul to Portland, then an Oregon Point bus to Astoria. |
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