I travelled last week to Portland, OR for the Drupal Conference. I decided I'd take the train - it's been more than twenty years since I took the train through that part of the country, and I thought it would be an enjoyable mode of travel. Also, I recently was made aware of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with air travel: approx. 19Kg per person per 100 km travelled - or about 300Kg for a round-trip flight Vancouver to Portland.

The trip cost $65 USD each way... actually the first leg of the trip was via Bus from Vancouver to Seattle. This took 3.5 hours, what with the customs processing and all.

Seattle's downtown train station is currently undergoing renovations to restore some of its original architectural splendor, such as 43 foot ceilings. This photo shows a closeup of columns decorated with mosaic tilework in a beautiful glassy green and gold, in a design based on a traditional Islamic motif. Strange to think how this particular motif travelled through time and space to appear here.

This morning a letter to the editor in "The Republic" claimed that "islamicists want to destroy all art". Hmm. Islam itself has produced such a wealth of art - as have pretty much all religions.

Upon boarding the train, a voice over the PA system addressed us - in articulate, colloquial (if that's not an oxymoron) American English, inflected with a good deal of wit and humour, and a distinct Russian accent. I was reminded of Ensign Chekhov on the original Star Trek series. If you'd proposed this forty years ago as a scenario of the future people would have laughed in ridicule - or perhaps interpreted it as a nightmare vision of a Soviet-occupied America. Truth is stranger than fiction. We still have enemies, but the names have changed. And we still seem to be unwilling to admit that the greatest risks we face are domestic issues - poor choices in social policy, energy resource allocation, regulation of transportation, education, health policy.

The Amtrak train had convenient AC power outlets in Coach. Nice :) Now I can blather on at length!