Presidents Day Weekend Day Trip To Santa Barbara (Pics)

[seat38a]

My parents and I decided that we would take a day trip to Santa Barbara on Saturday the 15th which was Presidents Day weekend. Since none of us wanted to deal with traffic all the way up north, and after our previous positive long distance trip on the Sunset Limited, we decided to go via Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner. Me living in Orange County, would take train 763 up north, and my parents would join me at Van Nuys. When I boarded the train in Orange County, it was clear that everyone else in Southern California decided to take the train up to Central Coast as well. Business class which we were traveling in, was pretty full and coach was almost 100% full. The conductor made multiple announcements about "One Ticket One Seat" and NO feet on the seats.


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Business Class Breakfast Snack

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Fullerton Station

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Freight Yard Near Los Angeles

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County Hospital


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[seat38a]

Below are pictures that I took after our stop at LA Union Station

Private Railcar Storage Area @ Los Angeles Union Station


P1000397 by seat38a, on Flickr

Observatory

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A couple that joined us in Los Angeles, did not know that Business Class passengers get free coffee and ended up buying a cup from the cafe car. They were not amused. At Van Nuys station, my parents boarded the train. It was their first time on Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner Business Class. Once we were all settled in, I went to the cafe car to get this:


IMG_0554 by seat38a, on Flickr

Scenes from around Carpenteria

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[seat38a]

Shot of the Business Class Car


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The Business Class Car That We Traveled In

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Santa Barbara Station


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The Superliner Car Attached To Our Train

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Conductor Working The Superliner Car


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[seat38a]

Superliner Conductor Waving As I Snap This Picture


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Our Train Heading For Goleta, The Final Stop

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Looking north from the track

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The best part of Santa Barbara is that the station is right in the heart of the city. The train drops you off right on State Street. If you turn right on State Street, you go to the pier and the other side takes you right into the city. Also, the Urban Wine Trail in right around the Station as well. Before anything else, we decided to have some lunch at "The Hungry Cat"


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[seat38a]

More Food Pics:


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Santa Barbara Sea Urchin

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Braised Mussels

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Cobb Salad

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[seat38a]

After lunch, we started our Urban Wine Trail tasting.


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Bought Two Bottles Of It

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Santa Barbara Station As We Walk To More Wine Tastings


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10 dollars for Wine Only or 15 for wine and chocolate paring

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Crossing The Tracks On Our Way To The Pier


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[seat38a]

The Pier


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Oil Platforms

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It must be mackerel season. People who were fishing were reeling them up constantly. While we were watching the fishing action, this guy popped out of the water.


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[seat38a]

It was getting close to dinner time, so we headed back into the city for tapas.

Moscow Mule


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We had one more item, but I realized I didn't take a picture only after the waitress had already cleared that plate. Full from the dinner, we started our walk back to the station for our 6:58 PM train back down south.


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[seat38a]

Business Class Only Gets A Sign On The Platform


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Coach Passengers Waiting For The Train

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This was going to be a full train again. Once we boarded, and the conductor scanned our tickets, I went down to the cafe car to pickup our complimentary wine that Business Class passengers get. Lets just say, that the colorful language that was flying through the cafe and coach was :unsure: . We just kicked back and enjoyed our quiet business class car. My parents got off at Van Nuys and I continued by myself down to Orange County. We got in early into Los Angeles where the crew changed and many of the passengers got off as well.

Business Class Car

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Tioga Pass

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[seat38a]

They ran out of these snack packs. The coffee and the juice ran out as well.


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My train pulled out on time and we headed south towards San Diego. At Los Angeles, 6 people who had one too many drinks boarded. After spilling couple drinks, they mellowed out and the rest of the journey home was uneventful.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Nice Get Away and Great Pics! I'm envious!

 

[Dan O]

Really nice pics. Enjoyed them very much. We went to Santa Barbara for the day a couple years ago. Had a good time on the pier and downtown.

Thanks,

Dan