Coast Starlight

All aboard! I'm taking you on a ride from Los Angeles to Seattle on Amtrak's Coast Starlight.

We're departing from Los Angeles' Union Station at 10:10 AM on Saturday, March 9th.

Like all trains, the Coast Starlight brings us face-to-face with life along the rails. In the cities, life tends to be hidden from the public view and rough around the edges.

Oxnard, CA

Outside of cities, we see a lot more nature, wide-open skies, and on this ride, much of the coastline between LA and Goleta.

Seaside Wilderness Park, Ventura, CA

The recent rains have turned many of the waterways into rivers of mud and debris, that wash into the sea.

The rain also has made the ocean unusually turquoise.

Santa Barbara train Xing

Homeless encampment in Goleta, CA

Green hillsides in Goleta 

Ocean view, Goleta

Grass is growing everywhere, coloring normally brown cliffs a bright green...

... And making the hills come alive with spring blooms.

Pedestrians and bike-riders after the rain.

San Luis Obispo vineyard

Brown cows in green field

Fallow fields and road, King City, CA

Waiting for spring

The sun has gone down before we arrive in the Bay area, and we keep chugging along all night long, waking in the early morning in a snowy wonderland near Mount Shasta, CA

Photos don't begin to show how beautiful it was at 6:30 AM, with snow falling all around me. The snow continued all morning, from northern California into Oregon, from high in the mountains to the flat land below.

Dorris, CA

Chilquin, OR

While the weather changes, one constant along the north-south route is the rumble of freight trains. In northern California, Oregon and Washington, the timber industry predominates.

Klamath Falls, OR

Willamette National Forest, OR

Westfir, OR

Dexter Reservoir, Lowell, OR

Sheep grazing in Halsey, OR 

Fall Creek, OR

I promised you the Coast Starlight. I delivered much of its scenery, but as I headed toward Portland and into Washington, I started reading a really great novel and stopped taking photos...

 And now I'm in Seattle, then off to Bellingham in the morning. Happy rails, everyone!