This trip was started because someone said, "We never take any trips!" Well we do and went to San Luis Obispo last month. This month I planned a trip on the San Diego Trolley but chose to run it reverse of all the other trips we had done before to make it a little more fun. You had to check the MTA web site for any line closures the morning of the trip, so you never know what you can do until then. So I planned the trip the best I could. If everyone rode the Amtrak train to San Diego we would be fine. So that morning, I drove down to the Santa Ana station and waited for someone to arrive. A few minutes later Robin Bowers came walking towards me so I knew one person who was going.
Pacific Surfliner 562 arrived in Santa Ana and we boarded taking seats in the usual Superliner car that I ride. A few minutes later, David Aten joined us and we now had three going to San Diego. Would we have anymore? We stopped at Irvine then San Juan Capistrano before heading along the beach this morning.
Our first view of the Pacific Ocean.
Looking towards Dana Point.
We went by the San Clemente Pier.
Views at Trestle Beach.
The coast turns as we leave our beach front running.
Two interesting military items crossing Camp Pendleton.
Interesting clouds before we arrived into Oceanside.
South of Ponto we crossed the Batiquitos Lagoon.
The Encinitas Santa Fe station built in 1887.
View south of CP Cardiff.
The San Elijo Lagoon as we returned to the fog.
The San Dieguito River between Solana Beach and Del Mar.
Views from the Del Mar Bluffs.
The view south as we head into the Sorrento Valley. We climbed Miramar Hill then descended through Rose Canyon.
Mission Bay before we headed to the Santa Fe Depot in San Diego where we all detrained.
We went straight to the Trolley ticketing machine where I added a day pass to my Compass Card while the other two purchased a Compass Card. We all made the first Green Line train we needed to board, taking it to 12th and Imperial. There we boarded a Blue Line train to San Ysidro. Chris Parker called telling me he was on Pacific Surfliner 564, an hour behind us. I asked him to call me back when he was closer to San Diego and we could work out where we could meet up with him. It was a quick trip to San Ysidro and once there, I took all three Compass Card and tapped them for us. A fair inspector boarded and inspected everyone's tickets.
Our trolley that would take us back to 12th/Imperial. Heading north, Chris called telling us he was near to the top of Miramar Hill so we would meet him at the Santa Fe Depot. It was a quick trip back to 12th/Imperial where we tapped our cards again before boarding a Green Line Trolley back to the Santa Fe Depot.
Here is our Green Line trolley at the Santa Fe Depot. We met up with Chris Parker then tapped our Compass Cards once more.
Next our Orange Line trolley arrived and we boarded it for El Cajon, which we arrived at quickly and detrained.
Our Orange Line trolley leaves El Cajon for a crossover to return to the Santa Fe Depot. We tapped our Compass Cards once more.
Our Green Line Trolley came in and we boarded it for a quick trip to Santee.
Our group in Santee. We walked over to the Anny's Fine Burger where I bought a hamburger and fries and David a hot dog while Chris went to Panda Express and Robin purchased a wrapped sandwich from somewhere else. We all had a good lunch together and afterwards, tapped the Compass Cards again for a Green Line trip back to 12th/Imperial. Once again it was a quick trip and once we went through the Santa Fe station, our group had completed riding all of the San Diego Trolley system. At 12th/Imperial we tapped the Compass Cards for the last time then headed back to the Santa Fe Depot with 25 minutes to spare before boarding Pacific Surfliner 583. We sat in second Horizon coach for the trip home, ending another excellent San Diego Trolley adventure. The three of us detrained at Santa Ana and David returned to Anaheim.
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