fairviewroad

I had a B1G1 coupon to use on Amtrak's Cascades, courtesy of essxjay. ^

Mrs. fairviewroad and I boarded Amtrak 504 in Salem. It was running about 15 minutes late...which in the Cascades corridor, is effectively an on-time departure. With the inevitable schedule padding, we arrived into Portland just 7 minutes late...plenty of time for the cross-platform transfer to Amtrak 506 to continue the NB journey.

(I'm not sure why Amtrak splits up trains 504 and 506, instead of making it one through train.)

Train 506 left on-time and we arrived on-time into Kelso. One other passenger disembarked; about 10 people boarded.

Why Kelso? Since this was purely a pleasure outing (and something of a points-run for me, since Amtrak Guest Rewards currently has a Double Points offer.) We wanted to go someplace we could get to and back in a day without waking up early or returning home late. Plus, we'd never been to Kelso (just through), so we thought we'd give it a try.

Upon arrival, we started looking for lunch. In a three-block radius, our options seemed to be several dingy "Bar and Grill" joints, or "El Charrito Mexican Restaurant". Mexican food sounded good, and we were quite happy with our meal. Tasty and reasonably priced.

Next, we headed a few blocks down the street to the surprisingly good Cowlitz County Historial Museum. It's not large, but the exhibits are well-presented with a nice mix of photos and artifacts. Suggested admission is $4. We tossed in a bit less, but spent some money in the gift shop. Surprisingly, despite being almost literally in the shadow of Mt. St. Helens, the museum only mentions the 1980 eruption in passing. I suppose this is because the eruption is well-documented in other area museums and visitors centers. This museum operates on the principal that there's more to the Cowlitz County story than a single natural disaster. A fair premise, I guess.

We spent about 90 minutes in the museum and it was time to head back to the train station, with a quick stop for coffee on the way. A mark against downtown Kelso: Not much by way of coffee options. I settled for gas station coffee, which at least warmed me up for the walk back to the station.




The Kelso station is unstaffed, so I called the Amtrak 800-number for train status. Southbound train 507 was running about 10 minutes late...again, that's basically on-time in the Cascades corridor. While the station is unstaffed, there's a nice heated waiting area with restrooms. Here's Mrs. fairviewroad in a losing attempt to win a stare down against another waiting passenger:




About 5 people disembarked. We were the only two that boarded. The conductor expected us. "Two for Salem?" she inquired as we stepped aboard. She had a pair of seats waiting for us. The train crews on all three of our trains get huge thumbs up for being polite and helpful.

Train 507 is a through train from Seattle to Eugene, so there was no need to change in Portland. We recognized several people who boarded in Portland who we had seen on the northbound journey in the morning. We arrived back into Salem about 10 minutes late; by now you know that we consider this an on-time arrival.

Thanks again, essxjay, for the coupon which led to an inexpensive Amtrak outing...just for the fun of it!

greg999

Thanks for posting. It was interesting to read and good to see some trip reports from the northwest.

wsucougarchick05

Yeah, Kelso doesn't have much to offer. It's a bit of a sleepy town.

I've never been to El Charrito, but I'll have to remember that the next time I'm up there (I live about 20 min. from Kelso).