My wife wanted to spend her birthday weekend in Portland, Oregon.

I thought that was a great idea: Milltown to Stumptown. “Stay close, go far” as the local college slogan goes.

We wanted PNW culture. We wanted flannel and books. We wanted questionable tattoo parlors blasting honky-tonk hardcore. We wanted vintage boutiques and cocktail bars where for some reason the bartenders put sage leaves in a Moscow mule. Just to be fancy.

Our goal was to get across the Columbia River and back without getting behind the wheel.

No autos. Cars are hot lava.

I ordered Amtrak tickets online. 

On a sunny Saturday morning in March we walked our bikes down Colby, got muffins at Pave Bakery (RIP) and hopped a train at the Everett Transit Center. There were racks for our bikes on the Amtrak. We sat down in the passenger car and watched the Pacific Ocean coastline roll past.

We got off in PDX several hours later, jumped on our bikes and pedaled downtown.

It was an idyllic and rainy weekend of Powell’s Books, tiny art galleries, Italian cuisine, urban exploration, and microbrews along the Willamette.

Part of the fun was getting lost in a different city, a city that was small and scrappy and damp…not unlike Everett.

The next evening we pedaled back to the Portland station on our bikes and caught a train home. We disembarked at the Everett Transit Center on Sunday evening. Back to work the next day.

Never touched a car once. No parking. No lose-lose debate of 1-5 or 405.

Surveys show that millennials value two interrelated things.

We like being able to get from point A to to point B without a car. And we like dense urban settings.

(Also, if Instagram is any indication of our generational mindset, we like to indulge in wanderlust—at least long enough to get a decent cell phone pic).

You see where I’m going with this.

Put these ideals together and a picture emerges. A picture of Everett, Washington—a place where you can Uber, taxi, or bike your way to the local station and hop a bus or train to any number of great PNW destinations: Bellingham, Seattle, Vancouver B.C., Leavenworth.

Or beyond.

I’ve since come to think of the Everett Transit Center as an underused civic asset.

Everyone loves to complain about Seattle metro traffic. One way to circumvent the seemingly-perpetual gridlock of local highways is to catch the Sounder Train to downtown Seattle, whenever possible. I’ve done this a few times out of sheer practicality. The SEA-EVT line runs through Mukilteo and Edmonds— incidentally, both cities make for a good day trip.

Sports fans often take the Sounder to local games because there’s no parking required. And you can day drink to your liver's content without a the need for a designated driver. 

Traveling regionally is also made easier these days by the advent of the ORCA card.

The ORCA is a credit-card sized pass that gives access to local ferries, buses, light rails, and trains. Money can be added to the card online or at a kiosk at the Transit Center. So there’s never that awkward fumbling for change to pay your fare.

ORCA is accepted on Community Transit, Everett Transit, King County Metro Transit, Kitsap Transit, Pierce Transit, Sound Transit, and Washington State Ferries. Mix and match the above to see to see how far the ORCA can take you in your Instagram-induced wanderlust. 

Where will your next day trip take you? Boho brick wall Bellingham? The arts districts of micropolis Spokane? Indie rocker/hippie Olympia? 

Just remember: all roads lead back to the small, scrappy, drippy city we love. Everett. Gateway to the PNW.

Richard Porter is a musician and Live in Everett's word typer. He lives in North Everett and enjoys running, bicycling, and endless cups of coffee.