I found a flyer on a Metrolink train about this unique service to the Mission Inn in Riverside and asked my friend Robin Bowers if he wanted to go and he said yes so our plan was to ride Metrolink 684 to Laguna Niguel, then Special Train 856X to Riverside, see the event at the Mission Inn, return on Metrolink 707 to Fullerton, then take Metrolink 608 back to Santa Ana. The special $7 ticket was able to be purchased through the ticketing machines.
Metrolink 684 picked me up and I had a quiet trip to Laguna Niguel but I arrived there to find no train in the pocket track so asked the conductor, who informed me the train was coming from Oceanside. Later there was a yellow signal followed by a green and soon my train came into view.
Metrolink Special Train 856X to Riverside arrived and I boarded the bicycle car and sat at a table. The car started to fill up at Irvine and Tustin, and Robin boarded at Santa Ana and joined me then many more passengers boarded and we ran as a full train out to Riverside. There we went to the first bus which left with just the two of us and dropped us off about four blocks from the Mission Inn so we walked the rest of the way.
On the way there, we passed the children's area set up on a closed street. I found my spot and a lady sitting below me told me she had been coming here for years and this was the best spot for viewing.
The pre-dark Mission Inn.
Mannequins in all the windows. About 5:30 PM, the crowd counted down from ten to zero then the lights went on and the fireworks began.
What a fireworks show and lighting it had been! I was so glad to have finally seen it. Robin and I walked back to the Metrolink station and boarded Metrolink 707 to Fullerton, departing on time but our keeping with the schedule ended at Fullerton. We had a red signal and Amtrak's Southwest Chief was on Track 1, arriving at 7:12 PM but not leaving until 7:29 PM. We sat there for over thirty minutes before we could enter Track 1, after which we detrained, using the Harbor Boulevard underpass to reach a waiting Metrolink 608 that had been waiting for passengers to arrive. It was a quick trip to Santa Ana, ending another Metrolink adventure.
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