Conquering the Cascades

South of Seattle we parallel the Puget Sound for a while. The weather continues to be spectacular.

Not too much of note between Olympia and Portland. The station in Vancouver (WA) was cute.

Some naval vessels tied up in Portland.

Lots of agriculture through northern Oregon as we follow the Willamette River south. Mt. Hood hovers over the fields – hard to get a picture. Hopefully they are growing me some nice Willamette Valley pinot noir here.

Long stop in Eugene, which seems to be a cute town.

Then it's on to the Cascades. This is a long pull up a heavy grade. Southern Pacific used distinctive steam locomotives called "Cab Forwards" on this line. Part of the reason the cab was at the front was the boiler would keep the engineer from freezing.

There are 22 tunnels on this grade.

Hard to get much in the way of pictures because of the tall evergreens on either side of the tracks, but every once in a while it clears.

We are over the summit and headed down the long grade to Klamath Falls.

Tonight I am enjoying a truly lovely J.K. Carriere "Provacateur" Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley of Oregon. When in Rome…