Ok so we left off after a fun filled night at downtown Disney in California. Oh wait, did you miss part one? check it out HERE. Ok, moving on. So Sunday the weather was equally beautiful. I woke up wide awake at 6:00, even got up and did some things on the computer and called Bobby. Then I realized I was still sleepy and fell asleep again. Time zone fail.
Me, Crystal, and Kenji went to lunch at this cute little place by her house, and then we decided to go for a nice walk. I was still hurting from some pulled muscles and pain from playing volleyball on Castaway Cay, so we decided to walk, instead of run.
We set out to find some newish trails by Crystal’s house. We found them, and some fun parks/scenery too!
Gorgeous weather, gorgeous landscaping, I was having a great time! We just talked and talked, and then we stumbled upon this little gym. It was like a circled track/spongy material right off the trail, and every few yards was a piece of outdoor workout equipment. Of course, I wanted to be silly and try them all out!
of course I made Crystal try some, too. I laughed pretty hard when she got on the pull up bar and her feet didn’t touch the ground!
hehe.
We finally decided to turn around and realized we were a LONG way from her house! We ended up walking for TWO HOURS. Of course, Kenji fell asleep when we were FIVE MINUTES from the house! Crazy kid.
We dipped our feet in the pool after the walk to cool off.
I wasn’t really starving because I had a big lunch, so we decided to grab a pizza and I just ate Fro Yo for dinner, no pizza. HA! I can do that, right? I got a mix of pomegranate and watermelon YUM.
I was SO tired from the walk and still wacky from the time difference, so I decided to go to bed early. We had a 4:00 wake up call! I called Bobby then crawled in bed at 8:15. it was still daylight! I can’t remember the last time I did that! But guess what? I slept ALL night until my alarm went off at 4!
Crystal was so sweet to offer to drive me to Union Station so early in the morning. a true friend! We got me there about 5:15 for the 6:00 train to San Diego. Now, I will admit I was a little nervous. One of my fears is going somewhere that I have NO idea where I am going. I have never even BEEN on an Amtrak train before, or at a station like this, so I was totally clueless. Plus it was pitch black dark when I got there, so I was slightly nervous.
I walk in, and within 5 seconds a homeless man approaches me and starts asking me for money. I told him no, sorry, and started to walk away and he FOLLOWED me and kept asking. I headed for the ticket counter where a man was working and finally the dude walked off. GAH! Just what I needed when I was already freaked out! So I pulled out my ticket I was supposed to scan at the kiosk and surprise surprise, it doesn’t work. So I go to the ticketing counter, which ended up being a good thing, because the man told me where I needed to go, but said the train doesn’t board till 5:50. Ok…so…I didn’t know if I was supposed to head that way, or wait in the main area…I was so clueless! (ok please stop laughing!) so I stood around for a few minutes in the main area and just watched to see what everyone else was doing.
I thought about going to Starbucks but the line was really long. I had a major headache from not having coffee, but decided to just deal with it for now.
Finally at about 6:40, I decided to start walking down the tunnel towards my platform just to see. I got down to my number, looked up the tunnel and realized it was COLD! I did not want to go stand on the platform. Alone. in the dark. and freeze. SO I stood around outside the tunnel for a few minutes until I saw a couple people going up and to the platform, so I followed them.
We stood around outside, and I even had a guy ask me if this is the train to San Diego. I told him yes, I thought so, but what I wanted to say was “does it LOOK LIKE I know if this is the train to San Diego?!”
looking back down into the tunnel. Sorry my ticket got in the way.
I tied to be sneaky and take a picture of the train without looking like a tourist, sorry it’s blurry!
Ok, so, train is here, doors open, and people start getting on, and heading upstairs, so I follow. (Such a sheep today!) I followed the few people into the first car we got onto, and sat on the last row after putting my suitcase on the rack at the back. Luckily, there were not many people so no one sat next to me the whole way. Here are a few pics I took of us leaving Los Angeles. Let me just say I was so relieved to finally make it onto the train, I knew the rest would be smooth sailing!
It was a 3 hour train ride which I thought would be so boring, but the scenery was great, that and I slept on and off the whole time!
When we got closer to San Diego we went along the coast/ocean, and it was so beautiful! I was of course sitting on the WRONG side of the train to see it. But I did get some houses up on the cliffs. it was crazy to me how they were just sitting on the edge! Sorry the quality is bad…cell phone camera against a window with the sun coming up!
Here is one I took of the inside of the train
We finally made it to the last stop, San Diego! When we got off, there was another train right in front of me, and people were going both ways around it. um…so I asked the lady where I should go if someone is picking me up and she directed me in front of the other train inside the station. By the way, as soon as I stepped off…the weather, SO PERFECT! Breezy, sunny, about 68 degrees! I made it into the station, texted the Running skirts twins that I was there. They said they would be about 20 minutes, so I got a cup of coffee and sat down and enjoyed the pretty station and day! (I felt much better after my coffee!)
On my next California post…picked up by the twins, meeting the other reps, and getting spoiled rotten!
QOTD: Do you get nervous going somewhere you have never been before?
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So fun! I’m so glad you made your final destination 🙂
I only get nervous driving to new places because I’m afraid I’ll get into an accident when paying attention to signs instead of the road. I love public transportation!
I get so nervous when I’m by myself too! However, navigating in Hawaii with 16 teenagers quickly changed that 😉 Your description of California weather makes me want to move there! Sounds perfect!
Faithful reader hear with a few questions: Who is Crystal (a fellow blogger perhaps)? Somehow, I missed that along the way. Also, I hope we get the background story of how you got this fabulous opportunity with RS.
yes! she blogs at mouseketeerlee.blogspot.com, and did the guest post while I was gone about running moms, running at work, etc. She has been my friend for about 5 years now, we met through another message board and got to hang out a couple years ago in Disney for marathon weekend. shes great!
Gotcha, remember her post, just didn’t connect the two.
That’s me! But…I don’t even know if I qualify as a blogger since my last entry was…I don’t even remember how long ago…haha
last AUGUST crystal, get with it!
I’m glad you made it to SD ok! I think the last time I was on Amtrak was when I was in 5th grade, so like forever ago. I also get a little nervous driving somewhere I haven’t been, but with gps, it’s not that bad (although I DID get lost in the suburbs of Dallas). LOL.
Haha, well, I can’t thread that comment anymore but yeah, I just checked my last post and I guess I have some catching up to do! lol. My life is just not as exciting as yours is…;)
That outdoor fitness stuff is awesome!! Our parks have things like that, but they were built in the 1980s so you can imagine how fancy they are.
I used to get nervous traveling to places before the Internet. Now I can stalk every bit of information. 😉 I think living abroad helped, too, so I am more comfortable with trains/public transportation. But I do still get pangs of panic if I’m not sure what I am supposed to do.
Love the outdoor fitness equipment!! I like riding trains!! But I get nervous when I’m visiting some place for the first time.