Day 33 - Klamath Falls OR to Quincy CA

Good morning Klamath Falls, OR. In one of those 3am moments I have remembered everything about my apparently forgettable motel here. Believe it or not but it was run by an Aucklander; I didn't get to meet her though, but I did get good service, and a rather large & clean room with suitably powerful heater. From my window I could see the snow flurries coming in as I looked down the backstreets of Klamath Falls. Lots of small two story brick buildings here, and as the temp plunged well below freezing I could hear the trains rolling through this junction town late into the night. Klamath Falls also has a great Thai restaurant within easy walking distance of my motel.

So goodbye no-longer-forgettable motel, and hello highway. Not an especially long drive today, just 4 hours. At least it would be if I took the direct route. Naturally I went at right angles towards Dunsmuir, one of the famous "snow towns" in railroad circles. Soon I crossed the border into California and almo...

Day 32 - Madras OR to Klamath Falls OR

(Yes, I’m a "little" behind!)

Day 32 and I wake in the little town of Madras, Oregon to another dull gray day. Some quick GoogleMaps-snooping showed a good trestle up the road, so I went to have a look. Indeed, yes, it was quite a bridge, spanning a vast canyon that lead down from the plateau above Madras. Unfortunately it was very dull and gray, and with no trains around, there was nothing photo worthy. I sighed and hit the highway.

Half an hour down the road I hit the jackpot though, at the Peter Skene Ogden State Park (what a mouthfall). You know you’re in for a treat when they warn of 300ft cliffs and the warning signs feature flying dogs!

   

The history was pretty interesting, with the railroad being first across. Given the sheer drop a single span is the only way to bridge the gap, which made construction a little challenging; photos show rop...

Day 31: Portland, OR to Madras, OR

Another morning and this time I was, I have to admit, a little bit excited because I was in Oregon, and it was raining. It's just what Oregon is supposed to do! I decided that today would be my last day in Portland, so I packed up and headed off to the Lloyd Center for some final book shopping. Hopped on the MAX into town and visited Powells again to load up on more books. It was perfect book shopping weather, being dark and gray and raining. I had a lot of fun riding the light rail into town, dodgy rain showers as I ran from building to building down to Powells, and then browsing the isles of books watching the rain pouring down outside.

After Powells I went on a bit of a walk around Portland, since it wasn't raining any more.

A street car, very flash looking.

 

Another type of street car, and a street.

Portland MAX, also runn...

Day 30: Portland, OR - OMSI

Another day in Portland. I set the GPS for OMSI and headed off there. Was a little worried when I arrived and say many many school busses lined up outside and huge crowds of kids assembling. Uh oh. However my trek across the car park was interrupted by the sighting of railway carriages, so I went to investigate. Nice line up of iconic and famous "name train" carriages, including ones from the Southern Pacific "Daylight" series, and the Great Nothern's "Empire Builder". Plus some straight stainless steel corrugated side carriages. Was nice to see all these up close through the deer fencing.

Went into OMSI and yep sure enough there were thousands of kids. I guess I was a little disappointed because I expected more of a museum (as in Oregon Museumof Science and Industry) however it was very much an educational facility designed to teach children about various scientific phenomenon (think Science Alive here in Christchurch)...

Day 29: Portland, Oregon – Tree Museum and Japanese Gardens

So I find myself in Portland; what to do? After some frantic Googling (I planned my day for once) I found worked out how to use the MAX (their light rail system) and where he nearest stop was. I drove down and ended up parking the middle of a construction site, which made for quite a lengthy and complicated walk across the road to the station. Caught the train and sat back for the ride into the city. Nice trains these, very fast, quiet and spacious. A lot of the time they share the road with car; sometimes they have their own grade but still cross the road at intersections, and some times they have their own right-of-way alongside the highway.

I took the train all the way through the city and into Washington Park where we zoomed into a tunnel. There were some interesting passengers on the train; one was a big old lady, and while she looked like she'd suit a park bench just fine, I rather liked the idea that she was secretly very rich and just dressed this way to blend in.</...

Day 28: Cascade Locks, OR to Portland, OR

Took another look at the Bridge of the Gods in the morning, although it was a fairly gray day.

Looks like a giant Mechano set I think.

I jumped back on the freeway and set the GPS for Springfield, Oregon (not Springfield, Idaho which I had done briefly the day before!) and started heading through the Columbia River Gorge. The scenery here was pretty amazing and I was glad I waited till daylight to complete the journey. The smells reminded me a lot of the West Coast back home; the damp leafy smell and the cool humid air.

 

Up the road a bit I stopped at the Bonneville Dam and had a look around. Driving in there I crossed several dams and a navigation lock as well, which had HUGE steel doors.

End of the lock / first dam

Second dam / other side of the first dam, I think.