It just so happens that I have a team working at our shipyard in Seattle a few minutes from Lumen stadium, and somehow through happenstance my annual trip up to see them and our business unit customers there aligned perfectly with the day that the San Francisco 49ers would be playing the Seattle Seahawks that evening. What good fortune.
I had an excellent and enlightening visit to the yard, spent a good portion of the day there, met with a number of our business unit customers hearing about how IT was supporting them and what issues they had, took my team to lunch to reward them for their hard work and much additional work will come from that visit.
It’s quite the trip back down Hwy 5, often taking 4-5 hours if one gets stuck in traffic (Which seems to happen to me every time. Additionally, with an electric vehicle I have to stop to charge), so I booked a room for after the visit so that I could head out the next morning. For this post I’ll skip past the rest of Thur. to later in the day when I made my way from the hotel over to the stadium to watch the Thursday Night Football (TNF) game.
I got into the stadium about an hour before the game and wandered around checking out the view from my seat along the 50-yard line (but up in the nosebleed section). The stadium is actually pretty nice. I’ll give our division rivals that much credit (and no more). There is a great view of Elliott Bay, the cruise ships coming in, and the Seattle Great Wheel. With the partial roof overhang, the sun mostly stays off spectators, but on this low-to-mid 60s day that was not an issue.
Additionally, the food at the stadium is really top notch, and I opted for the crab sandwich with a side of crab bisque for a dipping sauce. USA Today ranked Lumen Field the #3 ballpark for best food (They obviously didn’t make it down to Levi’s Stadium whose food is still superior).
We had the requisite national anthem with a flyover, this time by a helicopter squadron, probably out of Ft Lewis.
At halftime, the original members of Seattle area 90’s grunge Rock band Candlebox played their last concert ever, with a setlist consisting of three of their most popular songs from their eight albums.
As the Niners have seemed prone to do this season they went up strong in the first half, then squandered away the lead, almost losing in the end. However, after a very exciting game, where a lot of our backups (and for once, the defense), came to play, and the Niners came away with the W.
The view of the Seattle skyline from the stadium was never sweeter than that evening.
The next morning I got up bright and early and headed out to get a bite to eat before heading home. I stopped in at 13 Coins a Seattle eatery with a 57-year history. The vibe is pretty old school with the high-backed counter chairs and booths.
I ordered up what I thought would be a simple biscuits and gravy, but what I got was something else (in a good way). They split their biscuits, butter them, then grill them on the flattop. I’ve never had them done this way, and they come out soft and cloud-like on the inside and a little crispy on the outside, and they have a mouthfeel almost like a well-made pancake. It was truly a unique experience for what is often such a simple and mundane meal.
With a full belly I headed next door to the King Street Train Station. What I hadn’t mentioned earlier was that I had taken Amtrak up and was taking it back because it offered an opportunity to work the entire time rather than simply be stuck in traffic, getting nothing done. Totally worth the cost compared to mileage, hotel parking etc. and I love taking the train (I used to do this frequently when I had to head down from Sacramento to the Bay Area in a couple of my last roles).
The 118-year-old station was completely remodeled about 10 years ago to its original glory and it is quite the building to observe. It reminds me of the surprisingly younger Grand Central in New York City. I arrived to the station early and spent some time walking around observing the refinished architecture.
Boarding time arrived and we were allowed to get on Amtrak’s Coast Starlight which travels between Seattle and Los Angeles (though I’d say the name is a misnomer for most of the trip, as it doesn’t even come close to the coast until it gets below San Francisco).
I proceeded to car 1130, then upstairs and down a hallway flanked on both sides by roomettes (the smallest and cheapest private space you can purchase and still have it be a room that holds two people and entitles each rider to meals along the route included). I settled in, logged in and got to work.
My lunch reservation was set for 1230, so when they called my seating I headed to the dining car and sat down at the communal table, meeting Becky from Phoenix, Arlene from Alaska and David from Salinas all riding the rails simply for the experience. Our waiter, also a David, took our orders, served up drinks and left us to get to know our dining-mates (It is an Amtrak tradition that any groups under 4 people will be seated with other guests to fill up the 4-person tables).
I’ve only ridden in the sleeping car one other time, but I remember during that experience the food was pretty good. This time around I ordered up the Patty Melt and I have to say, it’s one of the best I’ve had. The meat was perfectly cooked, not overdone and dry, the bread was buttered and lightly toasted, but what really stood out and made the sandwich was the perfectly grilled caramelized onions. I was using a fork to grab up every last morsel that dropped to the plate. I’m told by the other riders that dinner consists of steak and other higher end meals with lava cakes and the like for dessert.
We actually arrived into Portland Union Station about 30 minutes early, so I had a chance to get home and continue my work day from there.
What a great quick trip and what a way to take it. I encourage anyone considering whether or not they should take the train to just do it. Look, aside from the little roomette that I got, which is actually very reasonably priced, the rest of the rooms are more expensive, so don’t do it if you are going on a multi-day trip expecting to save money. It’s probably cheaper to fly and stay in a hotel. However, if you are looking to hearken back 100 years or more to a different time where life slowed down, you had an opportunity to meet people and get to actually talk to them instead of being buried in your phone, and you saw beautiful landscapes and small country towns up close, take the train. The bigger cars have bathrooms, full beds and room to stretch out (I’ll be posting next month about our trip back from the Bay Area to Portland in one of Amtrak’s largest Family Rooms).
Alright, well, it’s an unusually warm Portland October Saturday so I need to get out and enjoy it. Stay tuned for my next post where I’ll explore a local distillery, some great local eats and the Oregon Symphony Orchestra.