2 Blondes, 12 Stops, 1 Train: Leaving LA and Arriving in San Diego

We left LA early Sunday morning on June 17. Elena drove us to the bus stop near her house. After a quick 10 minute ride, we got off near Olvera Street, and we didn’t know which way to go to get to Union Station. Luckily, there was a sheriff nearby who offered us his help. He said he would take us over to the station but he was unable to. Instead, he gave us directions to the station, which ended up being about 5 minutes away while walking. Once we arrived outside the station, we noticed the sheriff driving by the entrance, making sure we had gotten there okay. We had. Thanks Mr. Sheriff! Kindness of strangers has really helped us a lot on this trip. Once we got to the station, we had plenty of time to wait until our train left so we ordered Starbucks and Lauren called her dad to wish him a happy father’s day, because that’s the kind of daughter she is (not that Lynea isn’t, she did try to call her parents several times that day; sadly, no one answered…)

The ride to San Diego was one of the most gorgeous train rides we have taken so far on this trip (and the quickest since it was only 3 hours). We rode along the Pacific Coast Highway, which ran alongside the beach and ocean. We saw several people hanging out on the beach and couldn’t wait to join them later.

Our view from the train window

After we arrived in San Diego, we waited for the trolley to get to our hotel. We sat near a guy close to our age who told us we probably wouldn’t have to pay for the trolley because no one ever comes out to check the tickets. We found this to be very true throughout our time in San Diego. He also told us that we’d never be bored in the city because there is always something to do. We took the trolley one stop down and walked the rest of the way to the hotel. Once we got to the hotel, we were so excited at the prospect of the beach, that we dropped our luggage in the room, changed into our bathing suits, and started walking towards the water. It was then that we noticed our first sunburn from our time on Santa Monica Beach. Ouch. But, we were ready to soldier on and get even more sun! You can never have too much Vitamin D, right?

Sad about our sunburns (Lynea is not actually naked, she is wearing her bathing suit)

We walked along the harbor on our quest to find a beach, which passed by many boats, yachts, cruiseships, etc. After walking about a half hour one way (in our unsuccessful attempt to find the nearest beach), we decided to turn around and try the other way. This also ended up being unsuccessful. However, it was fun to explore San Diego. We passed by street vendors and gift shops along the harbor. This is where Lynea met her next love affair, a nice, tall, stone statue, that may have been slightly less interested in her than she was in him. Oh well. This didn’t stop her. We eventually walked into the city area, stopping to get frozen yogurt. SO delicious! On our walk back to the hotel, we passed by a Martin Luther King Jr. memorial, which had several of his quotes on the sidewalk area and stone hands spelling out “DREAM” in sign language. Once we got back to the hotel, we figured out that we had walked approximately 4 miles on our quest to find a beach. Even though we didn’t find a beach, we were glad to get some solid physical exercise in.

Ships on the harbor

Lynea gazing longingly into boyfriend #3's eyes

Love triangle... we like to keep it complicated

Once we got back to the hotel, we took much-needed showers and put on dresses and left to find the nearest In-n-Out Burger. Gotta look extra classy for that place! ;) We took the trolley for a few stops, and then walked the rest of the way. We found In-n-Out Burger relatively easily, only turning the wrong direction once. The burgers were well worth the journey and getting dressed up. We were highly upset at the prospect of coming back home in a couple weeks, where there are no In-n-Out Burgers anywhere near us. Oh well. When we finished eating, we tried to head back towards the trolley. Unfortunately, while Lauren’s iPhone has always pointed us in the right direction, it does not have the ability to point out which neighborhoods are dangerous and which are not. We started walking down the wrong road at first, passing by some angry drunks and homeless people once again. We also passed by a strip club (one of many, we’re sure) that was supposedly the “biggest strip show in San Diego”, or so they advertise. We eventually figured out we were going the wrong way and turned around, quickly finding our way back to the trolley. We saw fireworks going off in the distance when we turned around, which we later found out happens every night around this time due to a special occasion (of which we can’t remember). We were very relieved to finally get back to the hotel and settled in to our beds. Lynea attempted to call her parents one last time (unsuccessfully) and then we turned on the television. We watched a movie called “All About Steve” with Sandra Bullock and Bradley Cooper. While this movie may not be Oscar-worthy, it was VERY entertaining and fun to watch. We especially enjoyed the part where Sandra Bullock’s character gets super excited to see Bradley Cooper’s character and flaps her arms in excitement and runs across a bridge where she basically tackles him. Lauren ended up falling asleep in the middle of the movie, but of course Lynea enjoyed it until the very end. We both slept very well that night, after another day full of many adventures.