Thing Number Eight | Transportation

I like trains.

Sure, I can and do drive all the time. All. The. Time. To work. During work. To run errands. To church. To visit family. To go do something fun. Or, best of all, to the train station.

I live in Southern California, but not near Disneyland. I am about an hour and a half from Disneyland. Not near a beach either. I am about two hours from a decent beach (like Santa Monica). I live out in the boonies, kind of. Not a lot of traffic out here, so I can zip around in my car with ease.

But I like to do things in LA or Orange County. I just hate to drive in LA or Orange County! It’s truly awful. The gridlock is horrific and so is the parking. I can’t stand it.

Which is why I like trains.

I can catch the Metrolink in San Bernardino if going into LA and then start zipping around on the subway or the light rail system. If I have to, I can use a bus (I’m not as much a fan of buses). I can catch the Metrolink in Riverside if going into Orange County or connecting to San Diego. During the summer, Metrolink runs trains to Oceanside that basically drop you on the beach. No traffic, no parking, just a sandy beach and a beautiful ocean. The train to LA terminates at Union Station which is an unbelievably beautiful building. And, right outside Union Station, is Olvera Street. Better yet, a block or two down, is Phillippe’s, home of the best French dip sandwich in the world.

Jon does not love trains as much as I do. He points at that trains crash. Well, so do cars. He notes that trains run on a fixed rail system and have to stop if there is a problem ahead of them. This is true. When I’m zipping around on train/subway/light rail/bus in LA, he worries that I will be robbed/attacked/assaulted. This could happen. I guess. But my parents grew up in LA, so it’s never seemed scary to me. And I have only ever had good experiences with trains. The same cannot be said of cars. What is it about me that makes the driver in front of me want to back into me?!? Back into me!!! I’m right behind you! Just look in your rear view mirror! I wish that had been a one-time occurrence. But, no.

So, yeah, I like trains. Oh, and planes, too. I like planes.