On the rails again

Aloha, my darlings!  We are on our way!  I am blogging from onboard Amtrack enroute to Seattle.  Amtrack in business class has free wifi, and I'm taking full advantage.  Wish the picture was lighter.  It's a cloudy day, of course, but all the trees and bushes are leafing out amidst the firs and cedars so the world is a million shades of green!  It's just a feast for the eyes.  The first leg of the trip is alongside the Columbia, so we get to enjoy all the waterside and bottomland birds and critters. I saw one seat tree that sprouted about two dozen cormorants!  And the herons are hunkered down all over the place.  They look like pteradactyls when they fly.  Fields full of contented cows are succeeded by fields full of muddy sheep.  Then a glade of maples with undergrowth browsed clean by hairy highland cattle.  Here, a couple of colts frolic on the new grass, there, someone has dumped a dead water heater and several bags of miscellaneous garbage which the dear little raccoons have strewn far and wide.  Useless varmints! And I don't care much for raccoons, either.

DH has chi laptop out and is watching a movie.  I can hear clicking all around as other passengers get on with their daily work.  I do LOVE taking the train!

In the dining car I ran into a charming young couple - he was from Mississippi, she was from Alaska.  They are exploring!  Good for them!  I was ahead of them in the line, and gave the counter lady some extra cash to pay for part of their meal.

Anyhow, we will arrive in Seattle about 12, and transfer to a bus which will take us the rest of the way to Vancouver, BC.  We will spend the night at the Pan Pacific Hotel, the embark on our cruise ship, the Holland America Oosterdam.   The weather looks a bit rough up here in the North, but we have motion-sickness drugs.  And these modern ships are so big and stabilized that it takes a LOT of weather to make them pitch and roll.  I'm not worried.

People have asked us, "Aren't you worried something might go wrong with the ship?"  Well, it's a lot more dangerous to get into the car and drive down the street, and I don't worry much about that.  Our cabin has a veranda, so if the power goes out, we can still get fresh air.  If the engines quit, someone will come get us, and we'll have a great adventure to tell stories about.  AND, the cruise line will give us a free cruise to make up for it.  We take most things in stride.

So, happy trails to you and may your travels be smooth.

Oh, I was getting some knitting set up on a  size one wooden pointed circular and - yup - the point broke.  This time, I have lots of other needles and projects, so I changed my mind and my design and am using the yarn doubled on a size 5.  This will use up the yarn so much faster, though.  I might even need to buy yarn in Hawaii. Too Bad!