Santa Barbara or Bust

"It looks like the old West!"
"That's because it IS the old west!"
Monday morning dawned chilly, but sunny. Up and ready early, no less....we headed up the road to Solana Beach, past the gay surfer statue to catch the Amtrak Surfliner to Santa Barbara. We packed an overnight bag, and a cooler filled with sandwiches, drinks and munchies. We packed books, magazines, cameras and playing cards. I stink at cards.
The ride to Santa Barbara was glorious. Sunny, relaxing, the Surfliner was a double decker train with a cafe car. Dotty had pre-purchased our tickets.
"I got a senior discount on the tickets, Dotty said, so I don't know if they're going to make you pay the difference. They're supposed to ask you for a photo ID.No problem.
"May I see an ID?" The ticket agent asked....
"Ummm, sure!" As I fumbled through my crap to get to my license. "Here you go!"
He looked at it and simply handed it back to me."Thank you!" He said. So much for a youthful appearance. I didn't know whether to be relieved or annoyed. Whatever.

"Make sure you get off the train when we get to Los Angeles so you can check out Union Station! It's really, really nice. But you have to be quick..the train only stays in the station maybe 20 minutes."

As we rolled northward through Santa Ana, and Burbank, home of Bob Hope International Airport and Yahoo Headquarters, the terrain began to change. Snow covered mountains loomed in the distance, surrounded by a mixture of ranches and small, single story, businesses.

"Next stop...Los Angeles Union Station!"
"Okay, here we are....get off quick, but make sure you check and see how much time we have." I grabbed my pocketbook and camera and off we went...we did not see a conductor, so we did not ask anyone how much time we had. We were at Track 10, and as we hiked up to the main lobby we pased scores of passengers hurrying toward the gate in the opposite direction. Why are they hurrying? I thought to myself. We decided to use the restroom, and hurry back. "I am not liking this," I said, "I think we should get back there.. you see one station you've seen them all. And I've seen a lot of train stations! Penn Station, Grand Central Station,Union Station in Philly, even North Station and South Station in Boston.

As we approached Track 10, I ran up the ramp....no train on the tracks. "Excuse me...the train that was just there....is that it over there?" As I pointed to Track 9(What was I thinking??) "That train? The train to Santa Barbara? Oh that left already."
"What???!!"
"It left at 12:25....it got in to the station late and made up time."
"Great."
So, there we were, in LA...and Dotty was cruisin on her way up to Santa Barbara...with all the food, but without us. I had a camera but no battery. But I had a cell phone and money, and the train ticket. So LA here we come. The next train didn't leave for two and a half hours, so we headed out of Union Station onto Los Angelas Boulevard, into the sunshine, and across the street. For the next two hours we explored Olivera Street, the Mexican Cultural Center, and Union Square. We took pictures, ate hot dogs and churras, and sat in the sun. Not a bad way to spend a couple hours.

We hopped the next train to Santa Barbara and were on our way...through mountains, canyons, and rocky hills...past ranches, farms, and trees. This reminds me of a Disney ride. But it's the real thing. This IS the OLD WEST.