Margin Notes: Burgers, Water, Steam

BELLEVUE, WASHINGTON - For the first time in memory, I had the opportunity to eat at In-N-Out Burger (in Rancho Cordova, California) and Burgerville (in Portland, Oregon) within a few days of one another recently. The two chains, both heavily identified with their local regions and fresh ingredients, make for an interesting comparison. I have to say that I prefer In-N-Out's french fries, but Burgerville makes a tastier burger. I suppose it should, considering that their prices are significantly higher than In-N-Out--I paid less than $7 in California for what cost nearly $10 in Oregon. Burgerville also should receive credit for a very tasty chocolate hazelnut shake.

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Neither burger establishment serves doughnuts. I doubt there would be any policemen at In-N-Out anyway, as in the Sacramento area they all seem to be downtown. Maybe I'm just unlucky, but it seems to me that whenever I have walked around the "Sacramento Valley" railroad station and the state capitol building, I run into at least two police cars driving with their lights on, and my recent experience was no different. I didn't think Sacramento had a reputation as a center of crime, but I've not seen the density of police activity in any other city I've visited in recent years.

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Lookout Point Reservoir east of Eugene, Oregon was quite low in level on 12-December-2009

I was in Sacramento to catch Amtrak's Coast Starlight for the trip north to Portland. The train reaches Klamath Falls, Oregon by morning and then passes over the Cascade Mountains between Chemult and Eugene. The snow at high elevations was to be expected this time of year, but I was a little surprised to find Lookout Point Reservoir to be so low in December--taking the Starlight north was once my routine during my undergraduate years and I don't recall it being anywhere near this low in December.

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This unusual sign was located at Oaks Park in Portland, Oregon--next to the location where the steam locomotives left the station for "Holiday Express" runs--on 13-December-2009

They cannot be to blame for low reservoir levels, but steam locomotives need water to turn it into steam. When departing after a long stop, they have to "blow off" steam, which creates a nice show for observers some distance away, but also means that in this day of lawyer-induced liability concerns, volunteers had to be stationed to keep people from being surprised by steam in their face during the "Holiday Express" event, and leading to the very unusual sign above posted where the "blow off" would occur at Oaks Park in Portland, Oregon.

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As always when passing through town, I sampled the Portland, Oregon radio dial. KEX surprised me somewhat by still maintaining its full hour of news at noon--a rarity on newstalk stations these days--but the real stand-out was KPOJ. The "Power of Justice" progressive talk station actually feels like a local station by having a full local morning show and then local news inserts throughout the day on syndicated programming. I can't think of another left-wing talk station that operates this way--it's not hard to see how it is a rare major (well, #23) market success in a left-leaning station, most of which barely appear in the ratings at all. With Thom Hartmann filling in on its morning show and doing his national show afterward back-to-back on Monday, it was a bit of Thom overkill, but it was still quite listenable for talk radio, something I could not say for Lars Larson on KXL.

Margin Notes: Drill, Repel, Jackson, Bicycles

A drilling rig installed a post near the CN Tower in Toronto, Ontario on 27-August-2009

TORONTO, ONTARIO - Are they drilling for oil near the CN Tower? (And if so, who are "they" with the black drilling rigs?) It sure looked like it for some of this week, as the above drilling rig roamed about the area south and east of what until recently was the world's tallest free-standing structure. However, after a "drilling session" next to one of the paths, a post was found left behind, so apparently that's all the exercise was about--why a drilling rig was required for that is not clear. File it under you never know what you'll see in Toronto.

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A man repelled down a support column of the Canadian Pacific bridge over the Humber River in Toronto, Ontario on 26-August-2009

Even mundane places can provide surprises. While waiting along the Humber River for rail photography possibilities near sunset last Wednesday, I was surprised to see a man repelling down one of the bridge's support columns above the Humber River. I'm sure the Canadian Pacific would not have been happy to know he was engaging in that activity.

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This Union Pacific concession car, named the "Sherman Hill" as it passed through Carkeek Park in Seattle, Washington on 18-May-2007, will soon be re-named for Reed Jackson.

Out west on another railroad, the Union Pacific decided to name one of the cars in its excursion fleet after the recently-deceased steam program conductor Reed Jackson. The "Sherman Hill" concession car has been renamed the "Reed Jackson". While this is certainly a classy move on the part of Union Pacific, I have to admit that it would be a bit weird to me if I were working on their train. The concession car is often a focal point of on-board services, and I remember many times in 1995 being told "go to the Sherman Hill and get {something}." It would be distracting to be told "go to the Reed Jackson and ..." as my mind would drift off the memories of Jackson--and I barely knew him. I have a feeling the on-board crews may have to just call it the "concession car" now in day to day operations.

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Sometimes when hauling things from the concession car to the end of the Pacific Limited train, I wished I could have been riding a bicycle. That's one area where a bicycle is not allowed, and apparently the drive-through lanes at the Burgerville chain was another. The Vancouver, Washington-based burger chain with most locations in Oregon has apologized to a cyclist for not serving her at their drive-through window. Long-time readers of this blog know that I have been a fan of Burgerville and see no reason why they should not serve bicycles at the drive-through; it matches their green image.

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It certainly helped my self-image to be reading Ruth Walker's column in the Christian Science Monitor and find her citing the same episode of WNYC and NPR's On the Media that was my weekly radio pick a couple weeks ago. I guess I may be operating in the media bubble after all.