“Sweet ride,” my daughter texts me from the bus taking her to the Oregon Zoo for a school field trip. “It has seat belts, a bathroom, overhead bins, the little buttons above that airplanes have, charging ports, and we think TVs.” How much charging, bathroom-going, and TV watching can happen on a 20-minute ride to the zoo I’m not sure of, nor do I know why Portland Public Schools is shuttling students in such luxury instead of on a basic school bus—maybe those were all checked out and they got the field-trip equivalent of a rental-car upgrade.

But I deeply understand the just-won-the-lottery feeling of taking a quotidian trip in a more glamorous ride. That’s what has me treating myself to a day trip to Oregon City via Amtrak one Thursday in March—well, that and the fact that I could buy a ticket for $2 each way, to get me there from downtown in 24 minutes. That’s 80 cents less than the same trip on TriMet’s 35, in less than half the time. (For the round trip, Amtrak would have charged me $2 to bring a child, $10 to bring a bike, and $58 to bring a pet.)

The train even promises something my daughter’s zoo-bound motorcoach doesn’t have: a snack bar. But the café car on my particular Amtrak Cascades route, the conductors tell me, was damaged over the winter in a fatal collision with a car involved in a police chase in Eugene and has yet to be repaired. Instead of breakfast burritos and Bob’s Red Mill oatmeal for purchase, there’s a free spread of candy bars, pretzels and chips, baked goods, and bottled water. I grab a few things that are surely worth more than the price of my ticket but feel sorry for the people who are heading all the way to Salem or Eugene and were counting on a hot cup of coffee on the train, which leaves Union Station right on time at 11:08am.

The train ambles over the Steel Bridge and through the Central Eastside Industrial District, passing a mural of Gargamel and Papa Smurf I haven’t seen on car trips, as well as the tiny homes of Clinton Triangle, one of the city’s new TASS locations (temporary alternative shelter sites). When we pause and then start backing up (due to “conflicting train movements,” an announcement tells us) I scan the QR code sticker on my tray table and am taken to a tourist website for Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a stop on Amtrak’s Empire Builder route. I’m several clicks into reading about the city that “brewed its way into the hearts of the American traveler” and am pondering something called “Midwest poutine” when I realize my train is already in the namesake town of Milwaukie, Oregon, pulling away from the river and heading toward Clackamas. There’s another slowdown as we pass the Bob’s Red Mill HQ and countless blackberry bushes and battered tents before we pick up speed again next to I-205. We’re 15 minutes behind schedule (but still well under the TriMet ride time) when we pull up to the platform at Oregon City. My return train is scheduled for 6:24pm, giving me just over six and half hours to wander around the city that was the Oregon Territory’s first capital.

The train station sits directly across from the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. While every Oregonian should visit the wagon-train-shaped museum at least once to don a floppy bonnet, dip a candle, and register a land deed, it’s not quite what I have in mind for my grown-up day trip, so I make do with a scan of the gift shop. This is where to get those pixelated “You have died of dysentery” T-shirts and hoodies, plus Davy Crockett hats, cedar-and-pale-ale-scented soap in the shape of Oregon, and a small but thoughtful selection of books on Oregon history and outdoor pursuits.

A few blocks south, Oregon City Antiques is an eras-spanning warren of Coleman lanterns, ancient beer cans, books (illustrated kids’ book The Adventures of Paddy Pork catches my eye), old-timey kitchen implements, prom-ready (and pricy) vintage dresses, and modern items like sushi-shaped Squishmallows and a Seattle Mariners lunchbox.

Continuing toward downtown, I pass Canard and wonder if I might be able to squeeze in an early dinner of steam burgers later on. (Spoiler: Nope. Next trip!) For lunch, though, I find myself overwhelmed by the choices at two dueling food cart pods across the street from each other and instead land on a different corner of the same intersection, at Tony’s Fish Market. The choices here—cod or halibut, regular or sweet potato fries—are more manageable, and the paprika-dusted salmon chowder is a real highlight. There would have been a larger drink selection at either of the pods: Corner 14 has a full bar and a varied tap list, plus a cart called the Krazy Kokonut serving a mangonada smoothie with housemade chamoy sauce, while Oregon City Brewing has a couple dozen beer choices for washing down a meal from the likes of Esan Thai and Ranch Pizza. It would take a few Amtrak day trips to try all the options at this one crossroads, let alone have any room in my stomach to spare for pizza at Mi Famiglia, Mexican plates at Don Pepe’s, or lefse wraps at Ingrid’s Scandinavian Food. There’s also serious pub-crawl potential: the no-nonsense Thirsty Duck, a four-hour happy hour at Hing’s, Nebbiolo Wine Bar, a trusty McMenamins in an old church hall, Arch Bridge Taphouse, Coney Island, McAnulty & Barry’s with its stunning back bar, Ranee’s with its giant skeleton, Trail’s End Saloon with its giant wagon wheel hanging from the ceiling….

But on this trip, I soberly stroll on. Oregon City Antiques is far from the only secondhand shop in Oregon City. Main Street offers books (The Pig that Danced a Jig is hard to resist—what is it with kids’ book and pigs in this town?) and wedding dresses and patriotic posters at Maizee Mae’s Antiques Retail Store and Vintage Flea Market, paperbacks and polyester at Main Street Thrift, the pristine seasonality and custom lighting of the Vintage Nest, and creepy cookie jars at the Odditorium/Ghoul Gallery. On High Street, I wonder if the buyers for Coin Corner & Hobbies somehow time-traveled back to my childhood bedroom and snatched my old Fisher-Price record player and Anne Murray Sings for the Sesame Street Generation album. There are also bins of Pez containers, rows of Garbage Pail Kids figurines, and an extensive R. L. Stine Goosebumps collection.

Oregon City’s secondhand charms aren’t just nostalgia-flavored. The Refinery and Consignment Revolution are two well-curated clothing consignment shops—at the latter I pick up a pair of wire earrings bent into a rounded w suggesting boobs, with little gold beads for nipples. I also spot tasteful boobs, this time as drawings in tiny frames, at Imperfecta art gallery, where the owner says she stocks a variety of price points “so everyone can take home something beautiful.” Wares include jewelry from Melissa Stiles, art prints, potted cacti, and images from an Italian street artist called Blub of Alfred Hitchcock and other celebs in diving masks.  

In White Rabbit, a shop that shares space with Black Ink Coffee, a well-curated book selection joins Harry Styles mugs and pen sets, novelty candles from Malicious Woman Co., Spirited Away pencil sets, Pride pens, sushi earrings, and Abbott Elementary notepads. A table and chairs on the sidewalk outside Oregon City Records is a good resting spot, or a place to contemplate whether you need to buy one of the shop’s turntable T-shirts. The staffed counter at the top of the municipal elevator offers more T-shirt temptations with its limited-run artist series celebrating the landmark billed as the only “vertical street” in the US. Also at the top, the McLoughlin Promenade runs past historic homes and an Oregon Film Trail marker mentioning Twilight—the former Blue Heron paper mill, perched over Willamette Falls, was a filming location. A walkway over McLoughlin Boulevard offers a closer look at the rushing waters. The Clackamas County Historical Society’s Museum of the Oregon Territory is a little farther down the paved path, for those who haven’t frittered away the afternoon eating and shopping and can get there before its 4pm closing time.

At least the Oregon City Library isn’t closed yet. It’s been so long since I used my Clackamas County library card that I need to get a new one (yes, Multnomah County residents can use our neighbor’s library system, too, but if you don't use it for a while you need to reregister), and I score one of the while-supplies-last Baby Yoda/Grogu cards. It’s a nod to the library’s long-running May the Fourth celebration, which features a scavenger hunt, a fun-noodle lightsaber workshop, and photo ops with patient costumed characters from Cloud City Garrison. This year, the Star Wars holiday falls on a Saturday, and the library’s event runs from 4 to 6pm, which would leave just enough time to walk back to the train platform for the ride back to Portland. If the train’s late, grab a drink or snack at Coasters Crossing, the brewpub that now occupies the station building, and watch out the window for the northbound arrival. Amtrak’s schedule says the run back to Portland takes 41 minutes, which is about how long I was on the train in the morning. But on this night it whisks me back to Portland in 24.