Santa Barbara Wine Train Adventure Comics

Time for a train ride with friends

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Every year we talk a journey into the past by riding the "LA Rail Wine Train" form Los Angeles to Santa Barabara aboard Amtrak which pulls two restored 1940's-1950's rail cars! Most of these pictures are from the 2011 adventure. Enjoy!

Wine train comics
We must be at the Los Angeles Union Station 30 minutes before the train leaves which means no later than 7:00 am Saturday morning.... For those near Seal Beach, we took a private bus

Wine train comics
When we arrive at Union Station, we head for our specialized refurbished cars which are attached to Amtrak #799. We coordinate ahead of time with Conductor Bill and have passes making it easy to walk right on.

Wine train comics
The trip begins at 7:30 am and we arrive Santa Barbara at 10:12, almost three hours. During this time we get to visit, drink some champagne and have breakfast.

Wine train comics
The trip has several intermediate stops including Glendale, Burbank, Van Nuys, Chatsworth, Simi Valley, Moorpark, Camarillo, Oxnard, Ventura, and Carpenteria. We arrive at the depot which is just a few blocks from the major wine tasting rooms and main street Santa Barbara.

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There are many wine tasting rooms and we will be given a map so we can go on our own.... For those who are NOT wine drinkers there is shopping, sight seeing, walks to the beach/pier, We generally get into groups and begin the exploration of the town.

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We taste (shop/explore) until lunch time. Since the wine tasting rooms are so close together, we can generally cover two rooms before lunch.

Wine train comics
We taste (shop/explore) until lunch time and then walk to the main street of Santa Barbara where there are many interesting restaurants... Or go to the pier and have seafood.

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After lunch we have until 4:31 to explore and taste! We need to be at the train station about 15 minutes ahead of time so we can count belly buttons and divide by one! On the way back, we change cars... return on the car you did NOT come up in!

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Heading home we get a light dinner and we have time to recall the day... Vicky will lead us in songs form the 1950's and 1960's... Sam will provide the missing lyrics (courtesy of his iPad).

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We arrive safe and sound at 7:15 PM!