Heading north.

18 October 2018

Up early to travel by Amtrak from LA to Pismo Beach. I'm glad I made an early start as the normal Los Angeles chaotic morning traffic was made worse by a bad accident. Again I'm travelling Business Class as it costs very little more and you get to sit in the lounge out of the hubbub and there are free pastries and coffee/tea. Also when your train arrives you don't need to wrestle with all your cases trying to get to the right platform. You get a free ride in one of these,  right to the door.

Amtrak transport door to door

It was another gorgeous day and travelling northwards the Pacific Ocean is on the left and very close to the train line. Some beautiful scenery.  The photos would have been better if the windows weren't so grubby lol.

Newspaper, Netflix, Coffee,
Muffin and beautiful scenery.
A nice way to travel.

Being a van traveller myself I was impressed with the wide variety of campers and motor homes parked along the way and I felt a wave of homesickness for my van and my dog.

Amtrak schedules are an oxymoron. I have never yet arrived at a destination at the prescribed time and this trip was no different. ETA was 12:15 pm and we pulled into Pismo Beach station at 2:30 pm. It wasn't an issue for me as I was just enjoying the trip but must drive regulars crazy.

I finally got settled into my Motel - which I hate but can't do much about. I'm here for 2 sleeps and I can manage that.
I went out exploring and looking for a late lunch or an early dinner - I wasn't fussy which.

Pismo Beach

I checked out all the food options and settled for the Cobb Salad with blue cheese dressing which came with the garlic bread. It tasted fantastic but was way, way too much. I decided to call it early dinner.

Cobb Salad

Garlic Bread

I need to either do some washing or buy some new clothes......maybe the washing can wait till I get to Monterey and I'll buy some T shirts meanwhile.  I'm pretty well addicted to T shirts as they are the most sensible and comfortable clothing ever but I haven't even bought one yet. 

Something big happened while I was in the restaurant. I came out and saw 2 cops doing some first aid on a guys hand and getting his details. Then a motorbike cop arrived plus two more cop cars. Then as I was walking away a big fire engine and a small one and an ambulance came by.  I missed all the excitement while I was feeding my face!!!

Early night with TV and see what tomorrow brings.

San Diego Zoo & return to LA

16th October 2018

I had an awful night - probably caused by too much chocolate cake and too much  food generally. I tossed and turned till way after 3 am and felt unwell in the morning but needed to get moving because it was my last day in San Diego and I wanted to see the Zoo!!

Two things hit me as soon as I saw the zoo. Firstly the sheer size and secondly just how immaculate it is. I rode the sky rail and took two different buses tours around the grounds and walked for miles seeing as much as I could. 

The sky rail was extremely high!!

My favourite animals were the Gorillas closely followed by the very cute Pandas.

This guy weighs about 300 lbs

Absolutely magnificent

This fat old boy didn't move but
he weighs approximately 450 lbs.

So Cute!

Then there were the elephants. I've been to a few zoos in my time but the elephant enclosure was the best - plenty of space and things to do to keep their brains active. This is actually a retirement home for elephants. The other elephants are at the San Diego Wild Life Park roaming free.

Mary

Just gorgeous

If I had to pick fault at all it would be with the terminology used to describe the Australian area.  It wasn't remotely like the Outback but having said that it was still a nice area.

Polar Bears    .....  Soooo Biiiiiig!!

Every animal seemed larger than life

Lunch was peppered steak and veggies and rice from an Asian Restaurant - luckily I was feeling a lot better by this stage.  Good grub!!   

The day itself was perfect - about 23 C with blue skies and even though it was a week day there were a huge number of people there. I'm so glad I went,  I doubt whether I'll ever see another zoo quite like it.   Although I was feeling a lot better by the time I got home a nap snuck up on me again so I think I'm caught up lol.

17 October 2018

Up and at them early this morning (after a good night's catch up sleep) to make sure I got to the Amtrak Santa Fe station ready for my return to LA. This time the trip was perfect and just as I remembered from my  previous visit to USA.

Thank you Susanne and Lachlan and Madison for my stay at your house. It was lovely to see you all and Thor helped me deal with my homesickness for Trevor.

I got to the station in plenty of time and checked my bags. Another glorious day weather wise in SoCal.

After my disastrous train/bus ride on the trip TO San Diego I was hoping for a better experience on the return trip. That's exactly what I got. It was wonderful - great views - great trip.

This is more like it :)

The trip is just long enough to
catch a Netflix movie and a coffee or two

The view of the Pacific Ocean  is one of the things that makes this trip special for me. Sometimes the train gets VERY close to the beach. On one of my previous trips the Navy base at San Diego was holding  exercises out at sea and we were treated to views of battleships and all sorts of navy vessels and helicopters lifting personnel from the ocean. It was a terrific show.

These are some shots from the train. Beautiful coastline.

 I finally arrived at Union Station LA and what chaos!! The MLB Playoffs are on this afternoon in LA and there were thousands of Dodgers fans pushing their way through the station and spilling out into the streets. One A**hole was face to face with me as I was going through a fairly narrow doorway. I was towing a suitcase in each hand and another bag under my arm so he decided to push me out the way and climb over my bags. All this rather than wait 20 seconds.  There are some jerks about.

By mid afternoon I finally arrived back to the same hotel I stayed in my first week in LA and decided to have a quiet afternoon and catch up on my blog and send out for dinner.

Again tasty but WAY to much

A quiet Day in San Diego

15 October 2018

I awoke with a sore throat after a less than a good sleep so I decided the zoo would be rescheduled and I 'd have a quiet day. This consisted of a trip to Trolley Square Shopping Centre to get a haircut because I'm starting to look like a very old yeti.

I went to a couple of big pet shops and bought heaps of presents for Trevor and Derek and Neville which I'm sure they're going to love....... even if they do destroy them in five minutes flat :)

Doggy presents 

On to Starbucks for lunch and  I found out that a white tea in USA means something quite different to a white tea in Australia. It was literally iced white tea. Eventually I got something that almost resembled what I was after and all was good.

An afternoon nap fell upon me whilst watching some Netflix.

Halloween is fast approaching and the houses are decorated with everything from gravestones to pumpkins to ghosts. Makes walking Susanne's dog entertaining. 

Boo!!

I'm not saying that I need help to put weight on but here are a selection of tempting food in the fridge .

Apple Crumble Pie

Pumpkin Spice  Cheesecake

Still most of the chocolate cake

The excess baggage I take back won't be all in my suit cases!!


We've just got back from  swimming lessons with Madison and Lachlan and Madison came out with another beauty.  Referring to a dreadlock she called it a padlock and the Chup a Chups I bought her from Australia are pork chops. Gotta laugh.

Los Angeles to San Diego

13 October 2018

When last I took the Amtrak train form LA to San Diego a couple of years back it was a wonderful experience once I got on board the train. Battling my way through Union Station with several bags in tow  and waiting, waiting and more waiting in the general waiting room proved stressful. However, once I boarded as a Business Class passenger life was great. Business class only costs about $15 more so was very worthwhile. On board there were nice comfy seats in a nice quiet carriage with stewards bringing tea/coffee and various munchies and newspapers. This time I was very excited about recreating the experience however it started off great and went from bad to worse.

This time when I arrived at Union Station I was bustled into the Business Class lounge by a lovely steward and given coffee and muffins and a promise to notify me when the train arrived. I had previously received an email advising that there was track work in progress so the train would only go to Irvine where we would be taken by bus into San Diego (2 hour ride). All was going well until the train arrived. We were herded towards a two level train and because we were going only a portion of the way on the train they wouldn't check our bags. This meant we had to carry our own luggage onto the train - up narrow stairs to the TOP level. I have two large bags and then a carryon bag plus handbag. This was quite a task with people pushing and shoving for no sensible reason. Finally we all got on, my heart pounding from the stressful exercise. There was no business class service.

Repeat all this in reverse when we got to Irvine. Again pushing and shoving. WHY?? The buses were lined up but they weren't marked as to their destination and the staff seemed clueless. Finally I got on the bus with the hope my bags were on the same bus. 

The bus had no working air-conditioning and was full. The driver then, at the request of a young "lady" in the front seat (I use the term loosely) put the radio on. We had rap music on full volume. It was too loud to read or listen to your own music. People yelled for it to be turned off so the driver changed it to a religious talk show. Next minute the young "lady" was sitting on the steps next to the driver fiddling with the radio knobs to change the channel. She chose something louder and equally unacceptable and people started yelling again. If the driver had braked suddenly she would have been through the windscreen. Finally, after half an hour he capitulated and turned it off to the thunderous clapping of all on board.

The troublemaker - great place
to sit at 65 MPH on the freeway.

We were finally let off the bus at the wrong station which meant my friends who were waiting at the OTHER station had to try and track me down because I had no idea where we were.

By the time we got to Susanne's house I was fairly frazzled and very disappointed in my much anticipated train trip.  I will be returning to LA by Amtrak in a few days and the up track has no maintenance happening so I'm hoping for a far pleasanter trip.

It was great to see Susanne again. We met in Adelaide SA when I was taking boxing classes and she subsequently married a US Navy man and relocated eventually to San Diego.

Another celebratory cake was had - the biggest chocolate cake ever and its taste matched it's size.

Enormous and very tasty

14 October 2018

The plan was to go for a drive to get pumpkins for Halloween from a Pumpkin Patch in a town called Julian - about an hours drive away through very hilly terrain. This was delayed when it appeared I may have lost my purse - something that I seem to make a habit of doing when I come to the USA. I wasn't too concerned as I had duplicate cards this time kept in a separate area but it meant putting a stop on all the cards that were in the purse. Time consuming and frustrating - especially when the purse reappeared in a different suitcase. My handbag was obviously sitting on top of it when I went to bed last night and it has tumbled in. At this end of the day I've got back on line and reinstated them all again. What a pain!!

Today however was lovely. Gorgeous weather and lots of pumpkins, a hayride, a petting zoo and a nice lunch. Could hardly stay awake on the ride home. Sorting out my card dilemma took second place to more chocolate cake and coffee.

Susanne, Lachlan and Madison
 at the Pumpkin Patch

The Hayride

On the hayride waiting to go

The Petting Zoo

I will sleep well tonight!