Sunol Train Ride

Saturday afternoon, March 22nd, Frank and I decided to enjoy a train ride on the Niles Canyon Railway. The drive to the starting point at the Sunol Station, about 10 miles southwest from our home in Livermore, took less than a half hour. The roundtrip train excursion from the Sunol Station to Niles District and back would last 1 hour and 20 minutes. We chose the trip option that left at 1:00 pm. 

The weather was sunny, gorgeous, and pleasantly warm. We chose to sit in a covered but open air car and were rewarded with a lovely, gentle breeze. Once on route we passed other railcars, railroad crossings, and just the general steep hillsides of the canyon. 

On an adjacent track was an M200 refurbished rail car. Frank, Alex, and I had taken a ride on that vehicle shortly after it had been released for transport in August of 2022. Frank is wearing the hat he got as a souvenir from that ride. The skunk logo is symbolic of M200's nick name. Per my 8/28/22 blog post for that outing, when

 M200 had been used as a commuter bus, its route went past some fish processing yards, ripe with the stench of rotting fish. The name stuck and was adopted as a logo.

When the train's route passed very close to the road, on the opposite side from the M200 tracks, I snatched a quick photo of the railroad crossing signs, too.

The train tracks wound through a canyon. Our perspective from the railcar made it impressively clear just how steep those walls were. The track itself remained fairly level. The elevation at its start in Sunol is 266 feet above sea level. Our ending point in the Niles District of Fremont is about 200 feet lower.

We ended at the Niles Depot Museum, the same area where Frank, Alex, and I went antique browsing earlier this year in February. There was no disembarking in Niles this trip, but we were OK with that. We got to watch how the engine decoupled and navigated to the other end of the train for the reverse trip back to Sunol.

I risked life and limb (really, only my cell phone) by leaning out the window for these shots as the engine trundled by and passed to the far end. I had to snap my shots swiftly because all those other pesky passengers were hanging their heads out the windows as well. Some of my photos are not as level as I would have liked, but I left them crooked lest I crop out too much of the engine.

Our route ran along side the bubbling waterway known as Alameda Creek. In looking it up I learned Alameda Creek is an antecedent stream, which means it is a stream that maintained its original course and pattern despite the changes in underlying rock topography. Like the Grand Canyon, it kept eroding soil to maintain its path as hills rose on either side of it.

We were in the second car of the train on the trip out. On the return trip we were the second to last car from the engine. This vantage point allowed me to zoom in and catch a glimpse of 1423 as it rounded a bend.

Bobber cabooses, especially red ones are Frank's favorite. Bobber Cabooses are known for their wooden bodies, 4 wheels, and single-truck frames. Allowing little stability, they bumped and swayed while in motion – hence the “bobber” nickname.

Here is Frank posing next to 1423, the engine that pulled us for our afternoon ride. In general locomotives have numbers for names. There are a few legendary exceptions like the Wabash Cannonball and the Flying Scotsman but in general they have numbers. The first photo shows off the locomotive; the second photo shows off Frank! He and I had a fun time.

Ponder: City of Ghosts Series

 I have read several books by V.E.Schwab and enjoyed all of  them, rating each 4 or 5 stars: 

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (★★★★★) 11/14/21
The Darker Shade of Magic (★★★★★) 4/28/22
A Gathering of Shadows (★★★★☆) 5/21/22
A Conjuring of Light (★★★★☆) 5/23/22
The Fragile Threads of Power (★★★★★) 2/25/24

Then I learned that Schwab has written a series of Young Adult  books dealing with ghosts and the paranormal, published in 2019, 2020, 2022. I have two granddaughters, cousins, who are very much into Harry Potter and Percy Jackson so I decided to check out the City of Ghosts series to see if these books would appeal. I think they very much will. On Amazon they are rated 4.6 out of 5 stars.

The main character Cassidy Blake has a best friend in a ghost Jacob. Cassidy's parents' occupation is writing books on the paranormal. Over a summer Cassidy's parents decide to take a tour with Cassidy and visit the most ghost inhabited cities of the world to film and develop a TV series that parallels and complements their books. Cassidy's dad is an historian and her mom complements him with the anecdotal ghost story side of the topics.  They work together as a team.

The places on the tour are Edinburgh, Scotland for City of Ghosts, Paris for Tunnel of Bones, and New Orleans for Bridge of Souls. In Scotland I learned directly from the City of Ghosts text what I have had  to glean from other books I have read by British authors: jumper = sweater, chips = fries, chips = crisps. Each book is a travel guide for its respective city even with a map in the front pages. In Paris I learned more about the catacombs than I ever knew. I saw the record holding causeway over Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans in a whole new light discovering that it holds the world record for the longest continuous span over water, so much so that you cannot see one end from the other. I also learned a whole set of rules about the spirit world and ghostly constraints, although these paranormal rules may not be as factual as the other geographic knowledge I gained.

The characters are delightful. Jacob prefers to be called corporeally challenged rather than a ghost. He is wont to shoot devilish grins to punctuate his snarky remarks. Cassidy clings to a vintage camera and it is a vehicle for her to see different perspective into the world beyond the "Veil", the in-between land of spirits.

The action is good, and the is plot fun, as well as scary at times. There are also many Harry Potter references throughout that I think readers will find enjoyable and descriptive in way of explanations and elaborations. I am definitely going to see that this trilogy makes its way into the hands of each of my granddaughters. I would also venture that their younger siblings would like them also. Here are some teacher and reader evaluations for Books 1, 2 and 3:

Even though as young adult books they lack the sophistication of adult reading matter, I think they are great for their designated audience. I rate them 5 stars. They were a pager turner for me and I had a hard time setting them down.

★★★★★ Great! Read them!

San Diego 9/14, 9/15: Maritime Museum, Trolley

Breakfast - Thursday, September 14th
Margaret got up earlier than every one else and walked down to the Frost Me Cafe. She brought back an assortment of pastries for all. Yum! Great start to the day!

Maritime Museum of San Diego
Thursday, September 14th, Frank was a little under the weather and did not want to be walking to the Maritime Museum nor "trapped" on a trolley if not feeling well. John & Sue, Margaret, and I walked to the Maritime Museum. These are baseball players we passed in Waterfront Park along the way. I assume those mosaic giants may be the San Diego Padres? The tile colors rival the bright hues of their new uniforms.

The Maritime Museum of San Diego is situated on a series of ships connected to each other via walkways. Entrance is through the wide white ship without sails and rigging near the center of the diagram, the Steam Ferry Berkeley, which is "the first successful west-coast built and operated ferry to be driven by a screw propeller as opposed to side wheels".

On our way to board the ferry Berkeley we passed the HMS Surprise, moored off the starboard side of the Berkeley. Per https://sdmaritime.org/visit/the-ships/hms-surprise/

The ship now known as HMS Surprise began life in 1970 as a replica of the 18th century Royal Navy frigate Rose. During the next 30 years Rose sailed thousands of miles as an attraction vessel and sail training ship prior to her conversion to HMS Surprise. For the academy award winning film, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, the filmmakers made a painstaking effort to recreate a 24 gun frigate specific to Great Britain’s Nelson era Royal Navy. The result is a replica vessel unmatched in its authenticity and attention to detail.

For more details about the build of the HMS Surprise see Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Surprise_(replica_ship)#:~:text=After%20the%20film%20was%20complete,her%20role%20in%20the%20film.

Upon entering the Berkeley, I was struck by a colorful tile mural of a mermaid.

Off the port side of the ferry was the Dolphin, the deepest diving submarine in the world. Visitors could climb down the ladder and tour her insides but I was queasy at the close quarters and refrained. John & Sue went down; Margaret and I stayed aloft. Details about the submarine can be found at

https://sdmaritime.org/visit/the-ships/uss-dolphin-submarine/#:~:text=USS%20Dolphin%20%2D%20Maritime%20Museum%20of%20San%20Diego

Through the starboard side windows, farther down the waterfront,  I caught a glimpse of the regal Star of India. We would board her later.

The upper deck of the Berkeley was ornately furnished with wooden carvings and stained glass windows.

From the Berkeley we went to the Medea, named after a Greek mythological figure. Medea was a princess and sorceress who helped Jason obtain the Golden Fleece. Medea, the steam yacht was originally built in 1904 for William Macalister Hall of Torrisdale Castle, Scotland. Built of steel and furnished with imported teak and quarter-sawn oak, the Medea is an impressive and beautiful little boat. Macalister Hall, a wealthy landowner and British Army officer, used Medea mainly for social occasions and hunting trips around the isles and lochs of western Scotland. Later the Medea was pressed into war service. Here are some interesting facts about the Medea.  

• Medea was constructed in a record building time of 51 days
• She was launched with steam up in her boiler
• Built with a coal-fired boiler, Medea was converted to oil in 1964
• Medea has served in two world wars, under three navies and six national flags

Enjoy viewing the luxury of her cabins. For more details of her history, see https://sdmaritime.org/visit/the-ships/steam-yacht-medea/

From the Medea we walked briefly around on the deck of the San Salvador. Then we walked on the gangways past the HMS Surprise, eager to explore the exotic, exquisite Star of Indian. 

We had underestimated the extent of the maritime museum. We shortened our perusal of the Star of India in deference to our stomachs which were hollering to be fed. We lunched at a Claim Jumper Steakhouse across North Harbor Drive from the Maritime Museum of San Diego. After eating, John & Sue would walk back to our VRBO and take Frank lunch. Margaret and I still were planning to take the Hop-on-Hop-off Trolley tour.

Hop-on-Hop-off Trolley
Since we had been on the SEAL tour on Monday, which was predominantly land, we decided to take the hop-on-hop-off trolley for more of a land perspective. John & Sue opted out of a trolly ride after the Maritime Museum since they had been to San Diego before and thought it might be repetitious for them. Margaret and I planned to stay seated and not do any "hopping" as a relaxed way to see some more sites before our departure the following day. The next map shows the Trolley as the orange line and the SEAL as the blue line. The trolley stops are labeled A through L. 

As advertised the  "fleet of orange and green trolleys travel frequently throughout San Diego and over the iconic San Diego-Coronado Bridge to Coronado on a continuous 25-mile loop visiting various neighborhoods with 12 destination stops". We got on at the Maritime Museum, Stop B, and got off at Little Italy, Stop L. We were able to get a taste of several places on the way we had not seen during the week. Although we'd had dinner in Old Town we had not experienced its colorful market (A). We'd pretty much explored stops B, C, D, E, K and L; we got a glimpse of Barrio Logan and Coronado Island, both places I would like to investigate further on our next time in San Diego. The trolley was great for viewing, but not ideal for taking photos. I supplemented some from my own camera with images off the web. My photos show the interior of the trolley and how its windows frame the view. The first photo is at our start of our tour at the Maritime Museum (B) and the second photo is as we passed by Barrio Logan (I).

A famous neighborhood in San Diego is Barrio Logan, which is an artistic, industrial area with Mexican roots. At its heart is Chicano Park, with dozens of murals depicting the community’s past activism, alongside images of notable figures like Frida Kahlo. Former warehouses on Logan Avenue now house galleries, taco shops and craft breweries, all of which are popular with students from the nearby Woodbury School of Architecture. Perhaps we can check it out on our next trip to San Diego. The next experience was a trip across the San Diego Coronado Bay Bridge. Its name and funding and length are all controversial. Should its name include "Bay"? Was its length increased to qualify for federal funding? Does its height meet Navy passage specs? Read the debates at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:San_Diego%E2%80%93Coronado_Bridge

Once on the island, the sites were impressive. But is Coronado an island or is it a peninsula since it connects to the mainland? From a geological perspective, Coronado is an island - a tied island. A tied island is an island connected to the mainland via a tombolo, and the Silver Strand is a tombolo. A tombolo is defined as "a bar connecting an island with the mainland or with another island". Silver Strand is a tombolo that was created by sediment deposits from prevailing ocean currents much as a delta forms at the mouth of a river.

There were beautiful homes dotting the island and the Hotel Coronado is a truly palatial sight.

On our return over the bridge to the mainland, the curvature could clearly be seen and then the San Diego shoreline as well. I thought the views were fantastic. Unfortunately, Margaret is afraid of heights and kept her eyes closed while we were up high.

Margaret and I got off at the Little Italy stop and walked back home. Our dinner was leftovers accumulated from during our stay. That evening we played Iota. Sue won. We also finished The Beach Hut 1000 piece puzzle. It was our last night together. We knew we had to!

Departures - Friday September 15th
We had all had a great week and we planned to do it again in another city some time next year. Now was the time to part company. Margaret had the earliest flight and so she was the first to leave via Uber to the airport.

John & Sue had a later flight. Since they wanted to walk to the airport for the scenic view, they had to leave early enough to allow themselves time for the walk. Plus they could make progress on fulfilling their dedication to those 10,000 steps! Frank and I left the VRBO when they did, even though our flight was later than theirs and we took an Uber to the airport. 

Frank and I just chilled those couple extra hours at the airport. Unfortunately I was stuck with a book I did not like (9/20/23/post)  and so the time dragged. Frank pointed out to me that I had my iPad so perhaps I could find and switch to a Kindle book. Great idea. I did and was a much happier camper, even finishing the book once we were home. Our flight was only delayed by about a half hour, which is "on time" in airplane-speak.  We were both extremely tired but happy when we were finally home.