Our Anniversary Vacation – pt 2: Portland to Vancouver

(continuing from pt 1…)

Following our wonderful stay in the Portland / Salem area, Mo & I boarded the Amtrak Cascades for our trip northwards.  I had thought that it would be a neat idea to take the train northward on what is a scenic route, but we were partially thwarted when BNSF decided it needed to do some bridge work north of Seattle.  We decided we would still take Amtrak, but instead of riding their bus service from Seattle to Vancouver, we would instead rent our car there and drive that portion.

Amtrak Cascades

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Our Anniversary Vacation – pt 1: Portland / Salem

Mo & I decided that it would be nice to take a week-long vacation for our 20^th anniversary this year, and the trip we finally put together was our first visit to Portland, OR and to see Vancouver, BC prior to the Olympics next February.  We chose to leave in early October, since it was after K had moved out to college, but before the rainy season in the NW begins in earnest.

The first part of our vacation was spent in the Portland / Salem area.  One ulterior motive of seeing Portland in the first place was to visit our good friend Jenny and her new husband Pat, and by extension, Jenny’s parents Steve & Laurie.  We ended up making home base at S&J’s beautiful 10-acre home near Salem.

Pat was a gracious driver for our two outings while in Oregon; the first day, we drove westward and saw many beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean from Lincoln City down to Newport.

Pacific Ocean at Depoe Bay