Day 12: THE FINAL LEG! Oxnard to San Diego!

I woke up very early in the morning, excited for the day but a bit sad that the trip was ending! We called our last taxi of the trip, and rode to the train station. The Oxnard AMTRAK station had a convenient building to wait in, and we bought our tickets at a machine outside on the platform. We were about to catch the Metrolink commuter rail to Los Angeles Union Station, so we had to wait on the platform to get on the train while it made a brief stop. A short while later, the train arrived.

Oxnard platform

The brand new train rushes in to the station

New interior of the Metrolink train

It was a pretty long ride on the Ventura County Line Metrolink, so I was asleep for most of the way. Eventually, the train opened its doors at the LA Union Station platform. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to visit Los Angeles, so we took the stairs from the island platform to the underground station area. We had a quick croissant breakfast at the Starbucks, then took the stairs back up to the platform labeled by an LED dot display showing "Orange County 800 Oceanside". This train was very important. If we missed it, we would have to wait 6 hours and only get to San Diego in the evening. 800 was one of the few trains that went all the way from LA to Oceanside.

Train 800 at the Union Station

People exiting a train

Interior of an older Metrolink car
Very similar to the Sounder commuter rail, but with different pattern.

View from the train

After a relaxing 2 hour ride, train 800 pulled into Oceanside station. This was where we would transfer to the very last train of our trip: the COASTER commuter rail. But we had about an hour to wait, so we headed down to the beach. Some people were taking a surfing lesson on the cloudy day (no way would I do that!), and I used my trusty NOOK for the last time of the trip. 

Back at the station, we bought our tickets at the TVM, and (with some delays from the credit card) we got our tickets: the last of the trip. Very many people were about to board this train, so we quickly walked to the right platform. It was pretty much the standard west coast commuter rail train, with the bright blue COASTER livery.

It was another scenic ride, like countless buses and trains before in the trip. But this was the last. No more getting up early in the mornings to catch a bus to some far off place, no more Pacific Ocean scenery as a standard part of the day, no more new regions to explore but San Diego.
Getting off the train, I was greeted by a bright red San Diego Trolley car, one of the really old ones.

We walked to our very last hotel, the Holiday Inn Express Old Town. Dropping off our backpacks, we immediately came back to the station. We still had one last thing to do.
The Trolley Blue Line took us all the way to our destination all along: the Mexican border! On the train, we met a man who used to be in the Marines, and is now the owner of a business which sells home security systems.
Once we got off the trolley, we were immediately greeted by a McDonalds, and many signs indicating the walking path across the border.

A short walk, then we were told that we couldn't go any further without going into Mexico. Here we were, at the Mexican border. The end of the trip!
(Note: More pix coming soon)

Porting Over Schedules

Recently, I have been porting over my schedules to epictransitjourneys.com. Check there for everything but the Vancouver to San Diego schedule.

Day 11: Santa Maria to Oxnard, CA

Today, we woke up promptly to catch a commuter bus to Santa Barbara. I looked out of the hotel window for the last time at the tiny planes at the Santa Maria Public Airport, brushed my teeth, and set out.

Ducks walking around near a stream

City of Santa Maria

We waited in a completely unmarked parking lot right next to a baseball stadium, with a ton of commuters heading to Goleta and Santa Barbara. Epic Transit Journeys tells us to take the Goleta bus, then take another bus to Santa Barbara, but we have decided to just take the direct route.

Clean Air Express bus

The bus dropped us off at a small, (again) unmarked bus stop in Santa Barbara. We were immediately greeted with a combination of a jungle and a city, with exotic trees and plants growing in areas of the wide sidewalk.

But before exploring the city, we went straight to the fanciest IHOP restaurant I have ever visited. There was a wooden IHOP sign in the front, and inside there were glass roofs and huge windows, but most impressive of all was the gigantic tree growing right in the middle of the ring-shaped restaurant! Yep, that picture above is not from the street, but from the inside of the restaurant! The service was very quick, and the food was good.  

After breakfast we headed straight to the beach on the Waterfront Electric Shuttle, a tiny little electric bus not unlike the San Francisco cable cars in size and openness. We got off at the beautiful Santa Barbara beach.

There were a lot of garbage/recycling bins on the beach, probably from a recent party. We relaxed on the beach on the cloudy day, happy that we have all this spare time.
Eventually, we made our way off the beach and to the Metropolous Fine Foods Market. It was kind of like an upscale grocery store/deli, and they made very good soups. The most memorable part of the store was that they called their brownies "Super Fudgy Moist Brownies". Unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures of it.
We took the electric shuttle back up to Downtown, and hung around Nordstrom until it was time to catch the (second) Coastal Express to Ventura. The wait for the bus was short, at a thankfully marked bus stop on the sidewalk. A crazy lady was trying to get someone to give her five dollars, so I was glad when the bus came. It was a brand-new Greyhound style MCI J4500, and I soon fell asleep in the soft, large seat. To get to our next hotel, we had to make an unexpected transfer at the Ventura TC, but the Gold Coast Transit route 6 was waiting for us.

Gold Coast Transit New Flyer C40LFR

The bus took us straight to the hotel, the Courtyard Marriott Oxnard. It was undergoing renovation, but still it was one of the more memorable hotels for me. The carpet was a bright blue color, with more brightly colored patterns on it.

The room. Notice the bright colors, soon to be taken away by the renovation.
Photo courtesy of mhnsaves.com

Our day finished with a walk along a busy highway/arterial street to a Topper's Pizza. The building was interesting, with brick walls and random street signs saying pizza related things. Topper's pizza was decent, but not one of my favorites. On the way back from Topper's, we took the (much nicer) residential route back to the hotel. After this, there was only one more day to go.

Day 10: Santa Maria layover: 4th of July!

On this day, we did not ride any transit at all. On the 4th of July, there is no bus service, so we just relaxed in Santa Maria. Since we needed to do the laundry, we walked through the park and to the laundromat.
Here are some pictures of the park:


It was very hot and we had to walk a long way, so we dropped our stuff off at the laundromat and had some ice cream at the Paleteria Linda Michoacana. It served Mexican ice cream, so the chocolate was not very good. However, the pistachio was apparently spectacular.

We had lunch at the Taco Bell nearby, then walked back to the laundromat, park, and hotel. Santa Maria turned out to be a nice little town to spend the 4th of July in, mostly thanks to it's great park right next to our hotel. We had dinner at Round Table pizza, because Marco Polo was closed.

Day 9: Salinas to Santa Maria

We woke up at 4:50 in the morning, and quickly brushed our teeth and got dressed. Last evening, we asked for a taxi a 5:10, so we hurried out of the building and boarded the taxi. In about 5 minutes, we arrived at the Salinas Transit Center. It was pretty well-lit at 5:20 in the morning, but we still had trouble finding GATE 8 for  our bus. It was hidden behind a big bush, and separated from the rest of the TC. I found an unmarked change machine, and we used it to get some quarters. It was very cold, so I zipped up my coat and read a book.


At about 5:30, the bus pulled in. It was the same big, Greyhound style bus we rode on the 55. I wondered: Why do they use such big buses on not-so-crowded routes? After five minutes, the doors opened, and we bought our day passes and settled in. We had front-row seats, so we could see out of the windshield! So I took some pictures and fell asleep.

A few hours later, we arrived at Fort Hunter Ligget. Someone got on the bus and took everyone's ID (except the bus drivers and mine). FHL is a large expanse with very few trees, and everywhere in sight there is only yellow, dusty ground. I was glad I would get out quickly! The bus dropped us off at a shelter in the middle of the complex, and turned off the engine. A few minutes later, another bus pulled up in front of the 82. This was the 83, out next leg of the journey. We had a 20 minute wait, so I pulled out my Nook, and Appa took some pictures. I felt like I was stranded, and was thankful that we didn't need to stay here any longer.

Then, the 83 opened its doors, and we got in. It had big, squishy seats, and we immediately fell asleep. I woke up in Paso Robles. We rolled in to the AMTRAK station, and got off. Paso Robles station was nice and quiet, and had lots of shade. The next bus, the 9, arrived soon to the station. It used the same type of bus as the 83, yet with less comfy seats. It winded down Route 101 to San Luis Obispo making many stops at intermediate cities. One time, a slightly drunk man got on the bus, and tried to pay his fare. The farebox said "Coin not valid" in a female voice, and the guy muttered "Only a woman would say that" .

We arrived in sunny SLO, at the transfer station. We took the 4 bus to IHOP, and had (in my opinion) one of the best breakfasts of the trip. The only problem was that when we finished our orange juice, they took it and refilled them. That was okay, until they started to bring more and more glasses of orange juice, piling them on top of the ones we finished! They kept bringing more and more, so I asked the maitre 'd to stop bringing us orange juice. A few minutes later, the manager came by, smirked, and said "How 'bout some more orange juice?" We all burst out laughing.

After visiting the Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, a super old monastery with an amazing garden and a museum full of really old artifacts, we hopped on the next bus #10 to Santa Maria. It took us to the Santa Maria transit center, an uncovered concrete expanse with small buses and vans occasionally pulling up to the curb. Then a small blue bus picked us up, and we rode to the Santa Maria public airport. It was the smallest airport I've ever seen! All it had was tiny 2-seater propeller planes! Our hotel, the Radisson, was right next to the airfield, and you could see planes from out your window!

Interesting Essay

Here is an interesting essay I found online:
For the first time
Trying things for the first time can be tough. And once you do it, the experience can change how you like it, forever. If you have a bad time, you may never want to give it a second chance. This exact thing happened to me, the day we roller skated in PE.

Room 408 was buzzing with excitement! My classmates were all thinking about the rollerskating unit in PE. I, however, was wondering if I would like it or not. The same question was repeating in my thoughts. Will I like it? Will I like it? Will I like it...

The class walked into the gym, and sat on the mat for instructions. We were supposed to try to walk in the skates, and propel ourselves forward.
“It’s just like ice skating,” Ms Cherkas said, as if that explained everything. As I feared, all the rollerskates my size were taken. That was the beginning of my very bad experience.

As soon as I stood up, I appreciated the 4 wheels on each feet. With rollerblades, I was sure I would fall down. Experimentally, I pushed forward with one foot.
“This isn’t so bad,” I thought, preparing to do it again. Suddenly, 2 of my classmates whizzed by me, one pushing me aside. Despite what the teacher told me, I moved my hands to break the fall.

“Ow!” I yelled. But the zooming rollerbladers didn’t stop, they just raced on, doing circles around everyone else. Instantly, a sense of hopelessness blossomed in me, almost as quickly as the throbbing pain in my wrist. I’ll never rollerskate again. No way!

Slowly, I got up. Standing up in rollerskates is hard work! Finally, I got my balance, and pushed forward. Unfortunately, I failed to notice my legs getting farther and farther apart. Then, I fell down (of course) this time doing a split.

“When will this be over?” I whispered, desperately clawing my way back to the mat. Exhausted, I sat there for a while. But then, like a ray of sunshine on a stormy day, I heard what I was waiting for.

“Okay, we’re done rollerskating for the day!” shouted Ms. Cherkas. Gratefully, I took off the skates and collapsed. I would never ever roller skate again. And to this day, I never have.



A few weeks after the incident, I was on a 2 week transit trip from Vancouver BC to San Diego! Before the trip, I was very worried, because I am an extremely picky eater who doesn’t usually eat out. And on this trip, that’s all we can do!

At the moment, my father and I were in Corvallis, OR, and looking for a place to have dinner. We settled on a Mexican place called Chipotle Mexican Grill. I had never been there before, and was very nervous that I would hate their food. Like I said, I was very picky, and only ate about 15 different things.

When we arrived at Chipotle, I wondered if we should just go to the pizza shop next door and save a lot of trouble! But I decided against it, and plunged into the restaurant. I ordered a black bean and cheese burrito, and sat down. Just looking at the doughy roll made my stomach churn.
“Will I like it?” I thought.
“NO!” screamed a voice in my head.
“Try it,” said a much calmer voice.
In the end, I shoved an end of the bean and cheese burrito into my mouth, and bit down.
It was delicious. And before I knew it, I had finished the whole thing! And to this day, I am a burrito lover.

In both these situations, there is a saying which entirely sums it up:
“The first impression is the last impression.”

Day 8: San Francisco to Salinas

In the morning, we packed up and checked out of our room early. I had changed the schedule for today  to give us a few more hours in San Francisco. We missed the breakfast at the hotel, but we were able to get some oatmeal for a good breakfast.

While we were eating in the 'jungle', a piece of ice fell from one of the floors above, and shattered on our table! We left quickly, and asked the front desk when the next shuttle to the airport was. There was one right outside of the door, so we ran and caught that one. We BARTed into the city, and took the Muni N Line to the same area as last night, except we ate at Patxi's Chicago Pizza this time. Because we wanted to get to the Caltrain Station early, we took our pizza to go, and hopped back on the Muni Metro. We got off at 4th and King, the last stop, and walked into the station. It was very open and bright, with walls made of glass and no doors. The wait was about 40 minutes, and we sat on a bench and ate.

A while later, a line formed next to the door to our train and they opened the doors. The Caltrain was like no other commuter rail I have ever seen. The inside was separated into only 2 levels, and the top level had a wide gap in the middle! There was a very thin staircase connecting the top and the bottom. The train stopped every 5 minutes at stations, and then I understood why they have separate "Baby Bullet" trains; the local ones were so slow.

After a few hours of sleep, the train reached San Jose. We had to go through an underground walkway to get to the main station, which was very small but pretty. Immediately we walked out of the waiting area and into the transit center. I saw the Highway 17 Express bus, the one we originally would have used to get to Santa Cruz and on to Salinas. The bus stop was on the other side of the station, with a small sign saying 55 San Jose Express with a picture of some palm trees as the background. Because there was no time for dinner today, we walked to the (relatively) nearby Chipotle for an early dinner burrito. It was very hot in San Jose, but thankfully there were many trees near the sidewalks. Once we got back, we met a lady and her teenage son who came from Salinas. She said that, every night, a gang goes around Salinas with guns, and I got scared by that. Luckily, our hotel was not in the gang's area.

The bus arrived, and it was a very shiny Greyhound style bus with a large MST sign on it. Every so often, an annoying cheerful masculine voice coming from the inside of the bus said something like "This is line 55. Monnerey! Service to" and then got a lot quieter and said the stops along the way to "Monnerey!". When we got on, the farebox said (a female voice with an annoyed tone) "Please pay amount shown.". We paid our fares, and asked the driver for day passes. The driver said that we should have asked him before paying, but gave us the passes anyways. The seats were very big, squishy, and dark blue. When the bus buzzed to life, I was surprised at how noisy the bus was, because the equivalent buses in Seattle are much quieter. The bus took about an hour and a half to reach Prunedale Park and Ride, a parking lot with a bus shelter in the middle of nowhere. Because I changed the schedule, we had to wait for half an hour for the next bus, the last one of the day. 8:04 PM. Appa chatted with the woman and teenager, and I read a book on my Nook.

After waiting for what seemed like eternity in the cold, bare park and ride, the small Gillig bus displaying ROUTE 29 TO SALINAS was welcome. The bus was warm, and had brightly colored seats with an interesting pattern in it. The ride was about 15 minutes to the Salinas Transit Center, and once we got there, we were wondering how to get to our hotel. Luckily, there was a line of taxis right across the road, and we took one (littered with cigarette boxes and cigarettes) to the H.I.Express. The new hotel was very clean and our room was modern and spacious. At the end of a long day, I went to sleep.

Here are some photos:
                                                            The faults of Embassy Suites

The view from our suite

Me on the BART to San Francisco

View from the Muni Metro

Muni Metro station by the Caltrain The train, in the distance,
is ready to come to the station.

Us inside the Caltrain station

Our train's information board

22nd street Caltrain station

SOUTH
SAN FRANCISCO
THE INDUSTRIAL CITY

SOUTH
SAN FRANCISCO
THE INDUSTRIAL CITY

San Jose Diridon Station

HP Pavilion in San Jose

The bus stop for the 55

People getting off the 55

                                                    Pictures of the 55

View from the 55

Inside the 55

Big, comfy seats on the 55

View from the 55

Gilroy Caltrain station

View from the 55

View from the 55

Prunedale Park and ride

MST route 29

MST route 29

Interesting seats on the 29