My day in Los Angeles

Amtrak 1 arrived in Los Angles an hour early on Friday morning the 9th, in other words about 4:30 AM. Conductor was on the PA as soon as we arrived so no sleeping.  I got up, got my stuff together and got off.  The First Class Lounge didn't open until 6am so I hung out in the regular waiting room for awhile. Once I had my luggage stored in the lounge I headed to Philippe the Original for breakfast. If you have a chance it's worth a visit, give it a try.  It's been in operation since 1908. Their main claim to fame is the French Dip Sandwich which they say they invented. After breakfast I visited the car rental desk, picked up my car and headed for the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. Since they didn't open until 9:30am I had to wait a short while.  Senior admission to the Museum was $9, parking was $12.  The first thing I did was visit the Pterosaurs exhibit. I had no idea that those creatures had such a diverse range of shapes and sizes.  I highly recommend it but it's a temporary exhibit which closes Oct 3rd. The rest of the museum is quite well done and worth a trip itself.

After the museum I drove several miles without benefit of a freeway to my next stop. I avoided the freeways just on general principles but also to experience  LA a little more closely.  My next stop was Venice where the daughter of a cousin worked. We figured out it had been about 1978 or 79 when we last met and she was just a little girl. During lunch I regaled her with several stories about her family that she had never heard. My plan was next to go the the LA Zoo but after a late start and getting lost twice the zoo turned out to be a bust.  They were near to closing time and the tram I had counted on to get me around had quit running for the day.  After a Walmart run I headed to the Amtrak Coach Yard to board my train. The charter car owner had made special arrangements for us to enter the yard and sleep on the cars the night before our departure.  Sitting up in the dome and watching the operations in the coach yard was a special experience.

Sleeping in a vintage roomette was a special experience as well but not necessarily a great one.  Those rooms were just not designed for all the luggage I had or for operating a CPAP machine at night.  Also, during the night the yard crews were adding our cars to the rear of the north bound Coast Starlight for the morning departure.  After the train was made up it had to be turned, which involved some additional maneuvers.  Some of my fellow passengers surmised that the switch crews were aware that there were passengers aboard and gave us a "special" experience.