Columbia River Dawn

About 2am this morning we stopped at Spokane, Washington where our section of the "Empire Builder" was detatched and then connected to another locomotive in order to continue our journey on to Portland, Oregon.

The railroad line to Portland runs through the Columbia River Gorge. We purposely chose this route as a climax for our "epic" train adventure. The scenery certainly was spectacular! Columbia River Gorge
The books say that Columbia River is the largest river flowing into the Pacific Ocean from the North American Continent. Columbia River

We boarded the Coast Starlight #11 train in Portland for the final leg of our ride home to Eugene.

Our little home seemed to greet us with open arms and a smile. So fine to be back in our home, sweet home.

Larger view of the river...