Riding the Rails to Santa Barbara

As part of a "car-free" promotion, several months ago I sent in for a free two-for-one Amtrak pass to ride the Pacific Surfliner into Santa Barbara.

Kids under 5 ride free -- so we convinced our friends Anthony and Candice (who have a baby girl who's three weeks younger than Evan) to do the same.

With gas still at $3.50 a gallon, it was the perfect time to check out the train. Rather than brave the crowds and parking at Union Station, we opted to climb aboard at Glendale's tiny but picturesque train depot. (Parking is free there for 72 hours.) The Glendale train station was built by the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1924.


Glendale train station


Inside the Glendale train station

Amtrak (through its partnership with Caltrans) offers several trains daily up the coast to Santa Barbara (and slightly beyond, to Paso Robles) and down to San Diego via the Pacific Surfliner, the second-most popular train route in the U.S. We climbed aboard the 9:15 train (which was about 15 minutes late) out of Glendale, and headed off.

We had prepped Evan -- a huge Thomas the Train fan (aren't all kids around his age?) -- on the train ride. And he loved it, particularly at first, as the world passed by the huge window next to him.

Of course, later in the ride, he got rather bored -- and we had to walk him up and down the aisle. Repeatedly. But the views got even better once we made it to Simi Valley and beyond. Soon after the Ventura stop, the train travels along side the ocean -- in some cases just 400 feet from the beach. It's exactly as cool as you'd imagine it. Watching the rolling waves as you speed by on train is pretty cool. And no matter how many beaches you pass by, there will always be people who stand up and wave.

A snack bar on one of the cars served a simple variety of food and beverage (including booze!) I stuck with coffee.

The trip to Santa Barbara only took around two and a half hours. We arrived at Santa Barbara's train station (another small but attractive building) just shy of noon.


Santa Barbara train station

I had made us reservations at the Hotel Santa Barbara not only because we got a discount through the "car-free" promotion, but also because it was on State Street (Santa Barbara's main drag), in the heart of the action. Without a car (and with baby strollers to push), it made sense.



Nice hotel: Both of our rooms happened to face State Street, with mountain views. The Hotel Santa Barbara also offers a full continental breakfast. One word of advice: Don't bother upgrading to a king size room. There isn't much difference between it and the standard queen room (other than an extra $10 for the slightly larger one).

Luckily, the hotel was also within walking distance of the Amtrak station. We deposited our bags and started wandering through town.

Sure sign we're now parents: One of our first stops was the "Kids World" playground in Alameda Park (as suggested by Pat.


Kids World at Alameda Park

We also hit shopping up and down State, and I encountered one regret about not bringing a car: A going-out-of-business thrift shop had two antique typewriters in decent condition for just $35. Ahh well, would have just been something else to clutter our tiny house anyway.

Also on State are several classic movie palaces, including


The Granada... and...


and the Arlington.

More on our meals in another post. For lunch on Saturday, we hit the Pierre Lafond Bistro; for dinner, Taiko for sushi. On Sunday, we ate at the Barcliff & Bair, which I would argue was our best meal.

We later took the kids to the Carousel ride near the water; they excitedly clutched the horse hard and flashed their winning smiles. Evan, at the very least, wanted to go back on the carousel repeatedly.

But at that point, our weekend was drawing to a close. We caught the 4:29 train out of Santa Barbara and made it back to Glendale by 7. Seriously, if you're even slightly intrigued by train transportation, you gotta try out the Pacific Surfliner.