Day 58 (June 29): Riding the Rails between San Diego and San Francisco

As per above, I took the train from San Diego to Oakland, with a bus connection to San Francisco. The train ride had two legs:

- San Diego to Los Angeles, departing at 6 in the bloody AM and taking almost three hours. The train mainly follows the coastline, providing great views of beaches and surf.

- Los Angeles to Oakland. This is a gorgeous route. Lasting 10 or so hours, It starts off heading north-west from Los Angeles for about 90 minutes, and then angles towards the coastline, which it follows for two hours or so, at times paralleling Highway One.  It then cuts back towards the interior, where it cuts through heavily agricultural land, foothills and the odd US Air Force base (Vandenburg Air Force Base; through which my seat mate and I tried to make sense of some of the many structures [Radar towers? Rocket launch pads?] that were visible from the train). It eventually goes through some tidal flats near Monterrey (very interesting geography, and wildlife; I am fairly certain I spotted a White Pelican).

This is a great train ride; the vistas are gorgeous; the geography changes through the route and there is wildlife to be spotted (e.g., mule deers, vultures, various raptors; on a previous trip, I had seen some wild turkeys).

Some pics:

Random sea side view, oh, two hours north-west of Los Angeles.

Santa Maria Valley, North of San Luis Obispo.