Around the time September became October, I found myself on Amtrak’s Coast Starlight route between Seattle and Los Angeles. Riding the rail is one of the most honest forms of transportation. Freeways are modern constructs designed for speed along sheltered corridors away from the population, and you have to keep your eye on the road. Compare this with rail, where lines were laid in a different time, and then cities and towns grew up around them. You can observe, appreciate, and investigate the terrain as it continuously drifts by. Trains run along industrial sections, old water ways, and the communities ‘down by the tracks’. One passes through agricultural and wilderness interspersed with urban and rural. In rail travel we get a deeper look into cross-sections of history and humanity. We meet new people, and with very limited wifi, not much room to wander, and a day and a half’s travel, we also get the opportunity/challenge of meeting ourself more. This doesn’t happen that often in our busy 24/7 connected lives.
Travelling down nearly the whole length of the United States’ West Coast by rail is a spectacular thing. I greatly enjoyed the service and the views, the thoughts and the journey.
And since I am the Photography Editor here at Wandering Educators, it isn’t too surprising that I took pictures.
My train journey starts one morning in Seattle (after catching an Amtrak coach from Vancouver, British Columbia much earlier that morning)
Puget Sound, part of the Pacific North West’s Salish Sea.
Washington's Forests Changing Colours Before My Eyes
Ages and Eras: The Passage of Time
Scrap Metal and Grain Elevators
It’s Raining in Portland
Everyone’s Got Somewhere to Be
Green Growth in the Misty Lands
Going Round the Bend in California
Creations and Expressions
Waves and Layers
A Slow Farewell in Process
Stories Never Known, Often Seen
Overhead They Soar
Hiding in the Shadows
Coming to a Salad Near You
Goodnight Railway Reflections
A Misty Morning in Oregon
Water and Wires
Passing the Past
Snowy Surprise
Savouring the Sights
Jordan Oram is the Photography Editor for Wandering Educators.
He has a passion for encouraging and empowering others to realize the combinations of their unique passions and strengths. In April of 2012, with $250 to his name, he travelled more than 10,000 km, over 8 months, across Canada and back, to encourage people to rock out their awesomeness. Find him at www.maplemusketeer.com
All photos courtesy and copyright Jordan Oram
Travelling down nearly the whole length of the United States’ West Coast by rail is a spectacular thing.
Posted by: Jordan Oram