I took the Sunday evening train from San Jose. The train arrived on time and the dinning carriage was still serving, so I ate dinner as the sun set over the bay, and we pulled into Oakland in darkness. I went to sleep with lurching carriage jostling me throughout the night. I woke early to dawn and the sun rising against a backdrop of Mount Shasta.

The rest of the day took us over the Cascade Mountains and into Eugene, which I passed through on my tour last year. We continued to follow the Willamette Valley, through Portland, and up the length of Washington, pulling into Seattle a little early. I was able to walk down to the piers to watch the sunset before calling it a night.

Again I was up early to catch the next train from Seattle to Vancouver. For much of the trip the train traced the coastline making a very scenic journey. As we got near to Bellingham, where I took my sailing course earlier this year, we traced around Pleasant Bay where we anchored on a final night. We crossed into Canada and continued to trace the coastline. One section had a large number of bald eagles perched on the sea rocks and soaring overhead. The mountain backdrop to Vancouver was pretty awe-inspiring.

We pulled into Vancouver, and the border agent suspiciously asked me why did I choose to start my trip in Vancouver specifically, I told him because that’s the start of the route. I spent the afternoon today doing a bicycle tour of Vancouver, around Stanley Park, which was really pretty, and finally watched the sunset again over English Bay, the weather was perfect and despite it being a weeknight the bay was humming with people.

Tomorrow morning I’ll get up early and start my journey south, can’t wait to get on the bike!