San Jose-LA Amtrak

Taking my seat on the Coastal Starlight Amtrak train from the San Jose Diridon station to Los Angeles Union Station:

I bought a one-way coach seat for $67.

The train departs once a day at 10:26am, arriving in LA at ~9pm.

The train was noticeably only ~50% occupied, when I boarded at San Jose:

Traveling south of San Jose we passed through Gilroy, and I spotted interesting electrical grid infrastructure, including what looks like a natural gas power plant:

Here it is, Wikipedia article.

Apparently there was a terrorist attack against the power plant in 2013!

Traveling south:

Elkhorn Slough, north of Monterey:

Arriving in Salinas:

Stopped at Salinas station (really a platform), and stepped out for fresh air:

Visible poverty, steps from the train door–interesting how bikes are such an asset when you do not have recurring income for fuel (gas):

Reboarding & continuing onwards, I got a cool view looking out the back of the train:

Much further south, nearing Paso Robles, I saw a cool-looking dry riverbed:

Nearing San Luis Obispo (SLO):

Sharp curves on the descent into SLO:

Stepping out at SLO station for a quick breath, I saw a neat view of Cerro SLO:

And then we neared the coast line, north of Santa Barbara–construction at the wildland-urban interface (WUI):

Around Santa Barbara (and south of it) are some relatively untouched wilderness–abutting a “spaceforce base” (owned by SpaceX).

Gorgeous coastline:

It was dark outside by 5:45pm this time of year, so I stopped taking photos of darkness.

Arrival in LA Union Station was uneventful and on schedule.

There was a protest occurring against President Donald Trump outside the station so station staff were directing arriving passengers out of the staiton via the northeast side, and I boarded the Metro to my hotel.

Would I ride this again, instead of plane flight or driving?

Perhaps–although it is very time-expensive to travel in this fashion.