Thursday, January 25, 2007

Cal train...

Betsy's parents were in California this week and we got together to have dinner in Palo Alto. I took Cal train down to meet them. This was my first time taking Cal-train from the city and the first time I took the N-Judah past the ballpark. Quite exciting for sure!
The Station is pretty nice. All glass and open...
Also they have this sweet patriotic theme inside. As you can see it is large but there are few benches to sit down and wait for your train. I guess most people are commuters and do have to wait for a connecting train.
the train is a double-decker and of course I sat up top. That way I can peek into everyone's back yard...
I wonder if this is their favorite band too...
as you can see (sort of) the train is pretty long which is a good thing. There were a few annoying kids and thier parents did a bad job with discipline that sat in the first car. I simply went ahead to the next car to get away from them. Why is it always the case when you travel? Too bad we don't have that option on airplanes!
My final destination was California ave. in Palo alto. Their train station, not that glamorous. kind of looks like a taco stand. I expect more from this town. Come on Stanford...

Trains are cool. It is hard to imagine that at one time it was the fastest way to travel. Railroads were key in settling the west. I am reading this book and it discusses the role railroads had on settling this region that for many centuries before was never used by inhabitants for long term settlement. Quite an interesting read. Railroads are in danger of becoming extinct. Rail travel across the U.S. has declined due to the high cost. Americans are just not riding trains. We would rather drive.

3 comments:

Betsy said...

babe you are link crazy and i love it.

Steph said...

i took a train once to fresno and i loved it. so relaxing and i love that you can get up and walk around all you want unlike a plane.

too bad we live so far from the caltrain or maybe i'd actually think about taking it sometime.

Anonymous said...

1. wow, wikipedia sure has an awful lot to say about the n-judah!
2. you only think caltrain is fun because you were going to do something fun with its help. i used to commute on that sucker and lemmee tell you, it sucks hard when you miss a train and have to wait a whole half hour. (spoiled by bart? maybe...)
3. can i borrow that book when you're done? i stared at it for a long time in elliott bay but eventually put it back. silly me.
4. this might be the longest comment known to man. my bad.