End of Journey

The week of the convention was a busy one, sometimes too busy, as we had no time for seeing Portland on our own, thanks to arriving back from our excursions too late to go anywhere. The hotel was on the wrong side of the river, making it necessary to take the tram over to what I call the main part of town. We did do it one night so we could indulge in a dinner at McCormick & Schmitz on the river. It was nearly nine o'clock by the time we got there which made for a late dinner. Most of the excursion departures were correspondingly early so late night dining was not in order.

Some excursions were more interesting than others, either because of the destination or because of the equipment used to transport the riders. The trip to Wishram, Washington, (not a particularly historic or interesting destination) was outstanding because of the locomotives carrying the train, two very historic SP engines, a Daylight in brilliant orange and black and an SP&S in shiny black. It was a very long train and must have looked wonderful to chasers and people on the other side of the Columbia River. Our barbeque lunch at Wishram was an event in itself, quite marvelous as they handled so many people and never ran out of delicious barbeque, salad, dessert and liquid refreshment. There was another excursion that had a lunch as its end point but the ride wasn't as spectacular as the one to Wishram. Some of the private varnish accommodations we had were outstanding, one so-so. But I can honestly say it was overall a fine convention.

Returning home we rode the Empire Builder (noting new lounge car equipment) to Chicago where we caught the Lake Shore Ltd to New York for an overnight stay before taking the Silver Star back to Columbia. The last two sections were not very good, schedule wise. We should have been in New York about 3:30 but didn't get in until 7pm which shot my hopes for dining out somewhere special. We ended up dining in the hotel's restaurant and turning in early. The Star was a little late leaving New York the following morning and lost time all along the way, getting us in Columbia at 4:30am instead of midnight. Good thing we had our taxi waiting for us. Once in the house we just dropped everything and fell into bed.