San Jose to Portland cheap & back on time for school?

June 16, 2009 12:29 PM

How can I take my 9 year old to the Portland stop of the Alli Dew Tour from San Jose, CA cheaply? Should I?

We went to the Baltimore stop of last year's tour because my parents & sister live there & we were already visiting. I was disappointed that he didn't brave the heat to see every minute of it (esp. 1/2 pipe BMX) considering the cost & opportunity (missed Boom Boom Huck Jam the year before), but he was an eight year old kid.

It's August 13-16. First day of fourth grade is Monday August 17.

With airport fees, Southwest SJC-PDX for two is $500, but the last flight out Sun night is kind of early. OAK or SFO is fine.

I considered driving 670 miles each way, but the return trip would be me trying to stay up (dangerous) and and him trying to sleep. The train is cost comparable to flying and has a much lower carbon output but is 19 hours each way, so doesn't work for Sun. night.

There's a Motel 6 downtown near the arena & there's an American Youth Hostel nearby via light rail that would be more of an adventure. I'd like to go a few days early & see more of Portland & visit area bike shops, but I don't know if he'd be game.

My wife & I work at a fruity high tech company in Silicon Valley, so we can sort of afford this, but we moved closer to work last summer (sold a house in a crappy market) and we're still not saving as much as we should.

posted by morganw to travel & transportation (5 comments total)

I would keep Amtrak on the table. Just allow for some time. The Coast Starlate is not bad, once you get on it and get in the rhythm. You can take the Caltrain to SFO and back, it seems, also.

My daughter has stayed at that hostel and loved it. Some bar under-age people, but this one appears to allow them. The MAX light rail goes right by the venue, and is (I think) only a few blocks from the hostel.

I can't speak for the tour, but the rest of the logistics is doable and should be a great adventure for your kid, and a great memory he will take with him for the rest of his life.
posted by Danf at 12:54 PM on June 16

Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but it's hard to get a sense of whether this is a trip that would be fun for your son. You were disappointed that he didn't brave the heat to see every minute of last year's tour, and you're not sure whether he'd be up for checking out PDX and the area bike shops this time.

If this is his passion too (and not just yours), I think you should do it. But if you think the first day of school is important, fly. Otherwise your kid will be exhausted and cranky on Day 1. (Plus, not really all that safe to "try to stay up.") If you don't think it's important, do the road trip and just let him skip the first day.
posted by janet lynn at 12:58 PM on June 16

Do NOT take Amtrak if your trip is at all time sensitive. The Coast Starlight typically runs 8-12 hours late; the last time I was on it we were 2 hrs late leaving Portland and almost 24 hrs late arriving in LA. So if you're coming to Portland, fly.

To answer your "should I" question, there is very little information in your post but from what it does say, I'd say no you shouldn't. You mention that he wasn't particularly up for it last year, and that you don't think he'd be up for exploring Portland this year; maybe the Dew tour and bike scene isn't really his bag. If you can only "sort of" afford this, maybe you'd be better off taking the money you'd spend on this Portland trip and then finding and doing something he'd want to do - either closer to home or somewhere else you can trek to?

And yeah, I wouldn't recommend his missing the first day of school, either - especially for something it sounds like he's not 100% sold on doing.
posted by pdb at 1:37 PM on June 16

The Coast Starlight is a lot better since about a year ago. Last summer some friends took it from Seattle and the train was only 15 minutes late arriving in San Jose.
posted by zsazsa at 2:28 PM on June 16

If this is his passion too (and not just yours),

I left out a pretty key piece of info there, huh? I don't skate/ride upside-down and while I like watching, it's mostly to stay in tune with his interests.

The kid skates & attempts BMX tricks, but he's a normal 9 year old- no Chaz Ortiz. He thought the thing he wanted to see most was skate-park & we saw that, but BMX-vert is what awed him. After a couple of days of the big crowds, heat and noise, he begged out of the skate-vert final which I went to almost as a dare-- I thought he'd relent & come along as I went out the door, but he had a fine time with his aunt & cousin. I enjoyed it, never having seen skating on this level up close, but I had a hat. Plenty of people had sunblock & were drinking water, but I think I was the only one with an old fart sun hat. The Dark Matter Kid had a baseball cap on which at least kept his cheeks unburned.

--

The lesson I need to learn from last year & ponder is his (unrealistic) expectations as someone who's only been talking for 5 years. We stood in line for Ryan Sheckler's autograph for a while only to learn that only the girls that had been there since the arena opened in the AM would get autographs. They handlers didn't mention this (though by the way the roped-off lines were configured, it dawned on the adults) because they wanted a crowed whipped into a frenzy. The kid's seen Sheckler's stupid TV show, so it's like he thought he knew him.

Simply: I need to make choices for the kid and not put too much weight on his preferences.

A little local exhibition in Petaluma might be a better idea & we can see Boom Boom Huck Jam if it comes to Mountain View again.

--

The train really doesn't work even if it's on time because it takes 19 hours to make the trip which means Sunday afternoon departure gets to SJ after school starts. I wasn't too serious about driving -- it was mostly to compare cost- fuel only is 1/3 of flying (false economy if I don't count depreciation). Jet Blue flies from PDX and SJC, but not between them. Horizon Air makes the PDX to SJC trip a bit after 8 for only a little more than Southwest, so it is feasible to see the Sunday finals.
posted by morganw at 4:15 PM on June 16