RobertB
Train Attendant
After having a great time on our honeymoon trip to Detroit in 2011, my wife and I are planning to tour California by train - and when possible, stay in a tent. We're going to fly from Dallas to San Diego on Monday July 15, and return 10 days later, Thursday July 25. Of course, taking the train to CA was an option, until we found out how cheap we could get there on an unnamed southwestern airline.
Our itinerary is totally flexible, so I figure we'll start out with the $159 California Rail Pass. It looks like we have to go through the 800 number (or we can "call our travel agent"), because it's not available online. Will I run into complications ordering it from Dallas?
The San Diego commuter rail system connects with towns along the beach to the north, so San Elijo State Beach is just an hour out of SD, and it's a 2-mile walk (or a bus hop) from Solana Beach Amtrak.
And if we ride Amtrak as far north as we can (without paying to go into Oregon), end-of-the-line Dunsmuir looks awesome! Cave Springs Motel (and cabins) has good rates, pickup from the Amtrak station, and it's sitting on a mountain stream full of trout.
So that takes care of the south and north end of the trip. Now I want to fill up the middle. From threads on the board, it looks like Yosemite National Park is going to be easy to do - they even have a Public Transportation Information page.
And neither of us has ever been to San Francisco (unless you count my experience at the Oakland Naval Hospital - where I was born). A quick look at cheaper-priced Motel 6 locations, compared to Amtrak stations, has me looking at Fremont. That puts us on BART, and it's close to a potential camping option (Anthony Chabot Regional Park, need to look into it a bit more).
Once we find a place in the San Francisco area, it looks like there are a dizzying array of transit options in the Bay Area. On top of that, I have a Zipcar card, so we can take in some car-only sights for $10 an hour.
Any additional suggestions? I feel like I've only scratched the surface!
Our itinerary is totally flexible, so I figure we'll start out with the $159 California Rail Pass. It looks like we have to go through the 800 number (or we can "call our travel agent"), because it's not available online. Will I run into complications ordering it from Dallas?
The San Diego commuter rail system connects with towns along the beach to the north, so San Elijo State Beach is just an hour out of SD, and it's a 2-mile walk (or a bus hop) from Solana Beach Amtrak.
And if we ride Amtrak as far north as we can (without paying to go into Oregon), end-of-the-line Dunsmuir looks awesome! Cave Springs Motel (and cabins) has good rates, pickup from the Amtrak station, and it's sitting on a mountain stream full of trout.
So that takes care of the south and north end of the trip. Now I want to fill up the middle. From threads on the board, it looks like Yosemite National Park is going to be easy to do - they even have a Public Transportation Information page.
And neither of us has ever been to San Francisco (unless you count my experience at the Oakland Naval Hospital - where I was born). A quick look at cheaper-priced Motel 6 locations, compared to Amtrak stations, has me looking at Fremont. That puts us on BART, and it's close to a potential camping option (Anthony Chabot Regional Park, need to look into it a bit more).
Once we find a place in the San Francisco area, it looks like there are a dizzying array of transit options in the Bay Area. On top of that, I have a Zipcar card, so we can take in some car-only sights for $10 an hour.
Any additional suggestions? I feel like I've only scratched the surface!