San Diego -San Luis Obispo

It’s Thursday, it’s 12:05 and we’re departing San Diego for San Luis Obispo on a 8hr 35mins  trip aboard the 777 Pacific Surfliner. 

The train hugs the very scenic Pacific coast 

and makes multiple stops including Anaheim (Disneyland) , LA, Santa Barbara, finally arriving at San Luis Obispo, founded in 1772 and boasting numerous historic theatres and Inns, including rare commercial buildings designed by the famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959). His style was known as organic architecture - a style in line with humanity! . His most famous building Falling Water (1936) was a holiday home partially built over a waterfall!! 

Since our arrival the weather has been glorious - in the mid 20s with a light jumper necessary in the evenings.  

Today was no exception. As we travelled by the coast, the sun worshippers were about!!

At Dana Point, we turned inland. It’s a commuter service so we’ve stopped at stations every 10 minutes or so. We arrived at Anaheim station but no sign of Micky or Minnie !!! LA was the next, where we had a 15 minute stop and a change of crew. Onward to Hollywood and to Bob Hope airport, but not a movie star to be seen.!  Glendale’s  original station (1924) proved a welcome surprise! 

The landscape has changed to a mountainous terrain 

but later the valley widened with the mountains defining it in either side. 

Further down the line as we approached Camarillo, the land was cultivated and market gardening abounded. 

We reached Santa Barbara, where the holiday mode continued 

After Santa Barbara, we turned inland once again. The area became much less populated as we continued our journey northwards. As evening set in, we joined the coast once again and were treated to a spectacular sun set.

Night fell as we approached San Luis Obispo. Only a few weary passengers remained aboard. 

We arrived 10 minutes late at the Amtrak station to find no taxis about. The station master ignored our plight and informed us that the station would close in 10 minutes. ( To date, I have found officialdom to be cold and unhelpful with a few notable exceptions) A kindly passenger rang a taxi for us - he wasn’t available but he said that he would send a friend. The kind passenger was about to take us to the motel, when the taxi duly arrived and treated us to constant chatter about Denzel Washington, whom he alleged had proposed to his girlfriend at our motel!! I had great expectations!!  On arrival they were dashed!! The motel was your usual 1960s structure, clean and functional - the story could not have been true!! 

With the exception of snack on board (that’s all that was available), we had not eaten since breakfast so we repaired to the nearby 1865 restaurant. The service was woeful and the food tepid. I have generally found that service in the US is very poor in spite of the fact that on every check service charges of 15% /18% / 20% /22% are suggested options and calculated in $$ for your information - that is in addition to 9% tax and a further 3-4% tax levied as a consequence of the provision of increased benefits for hospitality workers. It appears the guest takes all the hits ! Hospitality employers are exempted from paying the minimum wage of $15 dollars per hour!! Worst of all the most inexpensive  GLASS of wine is $20 (€19) in any run of the mill establishment. 

Til tomorrow then and San Francisco....