Since I was already downtown running errands and my TAP card was about to expire this weekend (major sad face), I figured I might as well make some good last-minute use of it, and so randomly hopped on the Metro Gold Line for the first time. I initially meant to take it up just to Pasadena to do some window shopping and what not, but ended up taking it all the way to the last stop at Sierra Madre since I bumped into a friend who was heading there, and decided to ride along.
Verdict: Why didn’t I ever do this before? It’s so clean and comfortable! And nice views, too (especially of the Arroyo Seco). Once again, I am convinced that suck-age of LA public transit is merely a myth. I wish I didn’t have to drive so much…
It also made me realize how much I miss traveling on the train. I used to do it all the time. During the first two years of college in San Diego, before I had my car, that is how I came home on weekends. And come to think of it, I’ve taken some awesome trips via rail: the Coast Starlight from LA to SF as well as the California Zephyr from Chicago to SF. Both were such beautiful routes, with breathtaking scenery of some of the best elements that this country has to offer, such as the Pacific Ocean, the Rockies, and the Sierra Madre. The California Zephyr trip is especially memorable since it was an intense 3 day-long train ride with no showers and in the strange yet cheerful company of ex-convicts, hippies, and the aerophobic. I think I’m up for Portland next, and perhaps after that…Canada! After all, train rides are always an adventure, for better or for worse.
Deep yet Transparent 