Tour Code: 727-707

2-Day LA to Monterey Rails and Wheels Tour - SF Out

On AMTRAK train leave Anaheim at 8:07am or Union Station, Los Angeles at 10:15am. Riding through suburbs of Los Angeles we see Simi Valley and Fillmore, orange groves and green houses, reaching the Pacific coast at Oxnard. As the train hugs the shores we see the most magnificent vistas. West through Santa Barbara and then turning north at Goleta we pass by Vandenberg Space Station on the way to Pismo Beach. Fields of strawberries and miles of new vines are all around us as we ride north to San Luis Obispo. Soon the train chugs up Cuesta Grade and then drops down going to the horse ranches and pasture lands of Paso Robles. At Camp Roberts we enter Monterey County and run alongside the Salinas River. Oil fields give way to the Valley, one of the richest agricultural areas in California. Riding through one of the largest vineyards we come upon miles of broccoli, lettuce, flowers and berries. The train lets us off in Salinas where John Steinbeck chronicled the transformation of Monterey county from the days of depression to the wealthier times. The AMTRAK bus takes us past Laguna Seca to the ocean at Monterey Bay where Golf courses, mansions and scenic drives take over. It should be just after 7:15 in the evening.

Spend the morning enjoying this resort. At about 12:30pm meet the Super Sightseeing motorcoach for a tour of Monterey. Spend the rest of the day in Historic Monterey, Cannery Row, Pacific Grove. See the Pacific crashing on to the rocks and swirling around on the17 Mile Drive, where the Lone Cypress stands guard. Brush with luxury at the golf courses and resorts of Pebble Beach. Time in Carmel by the Sea for shopping & browsing. Around four we go east through Fort Ord and Castroville to Highway 101, turning north along the San Andreas fault line through Gilroy and Morgan Hill. Soon the artichoke and strawberry fields, green houses and pastures give way to the urban sprawl that emerges as we enter San Jose. The pace quickens and slows with the traffic as we drive with the San Francisco Bay on our right through the Silicon Valley, past the International Airport coming in to San Francisco after 6:00pm. The trip ends.