Day Twenty One … good bye Amtrak and hello LA

Today we finished our journey on the Southwest Chief. I woke early as people were disembarking the train at various stations (and some folks don’t know how to be quiet!) but sitting looking out the window at 5.00 am … with the moon shining across the darkness and then lights appearing as you pull into stations was pretty peaceful.

I woke Ian so that we could go to breakfast as the dining car had a very short window for breakfast as they needed to clean down and pack up before the train arrived into LA. We enjoyed our final breakfast, then headed back to get organised to leave the train.

Our train was only delayed by about 45 minutes so we arrived into LA with almost a full day ahead of us. We went to check our bags into storage for the day but the very delightful lady at the counter told us that because we had come in on a sleeper we could actually store our luggage in the Amtrak Lounge for free. So we headed up to the lounge, grabbed a free snack and a toilet stop and then went out adventuring.

The first thing we did was to complete an Ad Lab within Union Station which highlighted some of the beautiful architectural features of this building. The station was opened in 1939 and serves as the main transport hub for the west coast. It is a combination of art deco and mission style … very grand with some intricate details in the fresco, ironwork and the massive wooden ticket desk (which is no longer used but remains in the hall).

We had about 6 hours to play with, but having been in LA before with the boys in 2012 we didn’t want to do the typical LA stuff (we’ve seen the Stars on Hollywood and Graumans Theatre, and we had of course already been to Hooters 😮) so instead we caught the E line train (more like a light rail) that took us out to Santa Monica.

The train was great … efficient and clean and you could enjoy the sights as you travelled. At Santa Monica we completed two Ad Labs … one that walked us through the 3rd Street Promenade (and the Santa Monica Boulevard - thanks Sheryl Crow) where there are beautiful art deco buildings, Adirondack chairs to sit in and dinosaurs!

The second Ad Lab walked us all the way to the end of the Santa Monica Pier … highlighting the vintage and historic carousel and Ferris wheel and the viewing platform at the end. The pier was an assault to the senses after 3 days of relative quiet (apart from the tooting horn and the clacking of the wheels on the rails) of the train. People everywhere, sideshows and fairs, food and music. Plus the obligatory Instagrammers and Tik Tokers creating their content (also known as posing). We loved it … and stopped to have an ice cream and enjoy the madness. Please note … Ian chose Cookie Monster as his flavour.

We then headed back to the E Line but jumped off again at Exposition Park. This is a massive park … over 165 acres that was created for the agricultural fair of 1872. Today it is the home of several museums (California Science Center, the Californian African American Museum), a lovely rose garden with a fountain in its centre and also the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum which hosted the athletics for both the 1932 and 1984 Olympic Games (and will also host the games in 2028) and the Aquatic Centre that held the swimming and diving for the 1932 Olympics.

We actually had no idea what was at Exposition Park. We jumped off because there was an Ad Lab there … and it was the Ad Lab that took us to these incredible places. We were extra lucky as today the Coliseum was open to the public for general walk in … not to have access to the entire stadium but we were able to walk into the stadium and look at the Olympic memorial boards playing find the Aussie on the list of gold medalists. The park turned out to be a very unexpected bonus … and reaffirmed all the reasons why we Ad Lab around the world!

We then headed back to Union Station to the Amtrak Members Lounge to cool down, get a drink and a snack, repack our cases and grab a change of clothes. We headed to the Bus Park to catch the FlyAway which would take us to LAX airport. We are checked in, sitting airside.

Tomorrow we will be home … sad that we are done, happy that we have experienced so much. Ready for the next exciting adventure.

Today's tally …

Photos - 279 (plus some on Ian’s phone whilst he was using mine for Ad Labbing)

Steps - 20,009 (so far)

Kms walked - 15.32 km

Ad labs completed - 4