Just wanted to wrap up the thread, and say a huge word of thanks to everyone who gave us hints and tips to make our trip great! I'm not going to write up a whole travelogue, but here are some high points.
* No trouble with any of the trains or thruway buses. Everything controlled by Amtrak was right where it was supposed to be, when it was supposed to be there.
* Stashing our two big bags at San Diego Amtrak for a few hours was well worth the $4 a piece. It let us spend a few hours walking around town at the start and end of the trip.
* The Pacific Surfliner is really, really popular. I can't imagine it would be difficult to justify HSR in the LAX-SAN corridor, at least based on ridership.
* The surfers at Trestles are just as gnarly and awesome as you could imagine. And they (mostly) wear wetsuits for a reason. Had a great day laying out on the beach, but for swimming, I'll have to stick to the chocolate waters of the Texas Gulf Coast.
* Why would anyone want a car in San Francisco? We could have walked for days.
* The National Park staff at the Golden Gate Bridge don't know squat about the public transit system. They said we'd have to hike to Sausalito to catch a bus back across. Fortunately, Google knew where the last bus stop really was.
* Wearing a windbreaker in July is really strange. But walking the Golden Gate Bridge, you'd sure be in trouble without it. Beautiful, and cold!
* Since our Amtrak tickets were paid through to Yosemite, the YARTS driver gave us a pass into the park for the next day when we got off at the Yosemite Bug resort.
* The Yosemite Bug, by the way, was absolutely wonderful. We could have spent a week in the hot tub and sauna. Great food in the cafe, and we especially liked the pre-packed trail lunches for $7. But y'all were wrong about the hill: it's a couple hundred yards *down* hill first. *Then* it's a couple hundred yards up hill to the resort. So yes, it's uphill both ways. Still totally worth it.
* Yosemite National Park itself was amazing, even if was pretty darned crowded. Spent the one day there, hiking to 300-foot Vernal Falls and then to 700-foot Nevada Falls. My wife sat on the rocks with her legs dangling above the canyon floor... I got as far as putting my feet over the edge, then retreated to where I could curl up in a fetal position.
I'm not afraid of heights, but that distance straight down was awe-inspiring, and strangely unnerving!
* We were hoping to see Giant Sequoias, but none of the three groves are easily accessible without a car.
* YARTS runs the Amtrak Thruway service, and clearly prioritizes those runs for on-time service. The non-Amtrak runs don't seem to be as reliable. The bus to Yosemite was about 30 minutes late, and our bus out of Yosemite (the last run) was almost an hour late. We (and a few others) were about ready to ask the Park Ranger to check whether it had been cancelled.
* Stopped at Mariposa on the way back from the Bug and had awesome hamburgers at the
Happy Burger Diner. Highly recommended.
* The overnight Thruway bus from Bakersfield to LAX (and on to San Diego) was packed (as was the Thruway bus from Santa Barbara to San Jose). Who do we have to kill at Union Pacific to put a train on that stretch?
Again, thanks for helping us have a wonderful trip!