The Red Cars are still alive in L.A.

It is next to impossible to have a conversation about public transportation in Los Angeles without someone bringing up how wonderful the old Red Cars were. The so-called "Red Cars" were part of a system of electric trolleys operated by Pacific Electric. These cars took you to most major places in the greater Los Angeles area on more than a thousand miles of track. What most people tend to mention is how three major corporations (Standard Oil, General Motors, and the Firestone Tire Company) conspired to put the Red Cars out of business. Many people still believe that. The truth, however, is that as more people could afford to purchase a car, they preferred that mode of transportation to riding streetcars. With fewer people riding, the streetcars eventually disappeared from the streets of L.A., with the last ones running into the early 1960s.

Thanks to voters approving a measure on the ballot in the 1980s to fund something called "Metro Rail," streetcars made something of a comeback in 1990 in Los Angeles. Only now they referred to this new rail system as "light rail." Not sure why, being that it operated on the same type of track and gauge as "heavy rail." But for a whole new generation, it was something new. Other light rail lines have been built and are planned for the L.A. area, though it's unlikely that the Metro Rail system will ever reach the number of track miles that Pacific Electric operated.

The wave of nostalgia about these old cars has inspired a few "comeback" rail lines. There are restored Red Cars operating at the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, CA. I've been out there and got to ride several classic railcars as well as the caboose of a freight train. At some point, I'll have to write a report of that adventure. Actually, I don't know why I haven't. I guess sometimes things pop into my head and stay there, and sometimes they don't. Perhaps I need to reapply some of that Cerebellum™ brand adhesive inside of my head...

Last year I took a ride on Metro's newest light rail line, the Expo Line. I wrote a blog entry about that ride. If you're interested, you can read it by clicking here.

You're all still awake, right?

OK, so I made plans to go ride the Port of Los Angeles Waterfront Red Car Line. I got out of bed one fine Saturday afternoon (long story—I'll write about that sometime) and decided that despite the much later hour, I'd still be able to do this. The Port of Los Angeles is about 75 miles from home, and I figured that without traffic, it ought to take just over an hour to get there. But I had to take the notorious I-405. Known for having among the worst traffic in the country, I made sure to check Sigalert.com to see how bad the traffic was. (If you live or work in Southern California and you have a smartphone, it's a good site to bookmark.) To my surprise, the map showed that route as green, meaning that traffic was flowing at or near the posted speed limit. And it turned out to be true for the most part. Once I reached I-110, I turned south on it to reach the port. This is the same way that we get to the Catalina Terminal, so I really already knew where to go. It didn't take long to reach the Harbor Blvd. exit and take a 1.5-mile trip south to reach the Red Car station at 22nd street and Marina.

This is the place.

The adventure begins here.

There is no posted schedule anywhere, but there is information posted at each of the four stations. You can see it here, but probably can't read it:

Of course there are rules—and you'd better follow them.

There weren't many people waiting to ride when I arrived at about 3:45. One person said that the trolley seemed to be running about every 30 minutes, so I figured that all I could do was to wait with the rest of them. It gave me the opportunity to take some of the photos that you see here, including the one above. (Note that there was no rule against taking pictures of signs.)

I took the opportunity to go to the end of the line (literally) to get this shot:

It might have been better for me to take this photo when the car was at the station, but if I had waited, it may have taken off without me. Of course, it ended up staying for 10 or 15 minutes. Go figure.

Once Car 501 arrived, all of us wanting to ride were already on the platform waiting to board. Conductor Jay told us that there was no fare being charged today. Not like a dollar was going to break the bank, but a buck's a buck.

Classic looking streetcar. You can't tell that it's only ten years old.

We got underway for our 1.5-mile journey just after everyone boarded. The craftsmen who built this car did a great job making it look like one that actually ran in the early 20th Century.

The attention to detail is evident here.

Sitting inside this car, I could see straight out the front window. I got a kick out of the office chair that the motorman was sitting on. Later on when I was talking to her, I joked that they should give them a chair that is bolted to the floor so they won't roll all over the place. Of course she agreed, but it's out of her hands.

An office chair? Well, I guess this is her office...

There are four stops along this 1.5-mile route, and we stopped at all of them. But at a couple of the stops, no one got off or on, so we simply proceeded to the next one.

Eventually, we reached the Swinford Street/Cruise Center station—the end of the line. There isn't much to see or do at that location, but there are some food and souvenir booths and a giant pool/fountain. People were swimming in it, though I don't know if you're actually allowed to do so. But there weren't any paddy wagons hauling people to jail, so I guess it's OK.

Along the way, I struck up a conversation with a nice gentleman who I learned was from Arcadia, the same town where many of my family members live. Bishop R. A. Mckinley is the pastor of Golden West Baptist Church in Temple City, and was kind enough to give me his card when we got back to where we started. I was going to get off, but decided to take another round trip. Without Mr. McKinley aboard, I didn't have anyone else to talk to. It was a quieter ride, but a ride along the rails is enjoyable in itself. Good conversation just makes it better.

A nice view out is had out the front window.

After my second round trip, I decided that it was time to get going. I saw all there was to see and it was time to get something to eat. Since it was sort of on the way home, I stopped at good old Henry's Tacos for a combo burrito, and I even got another one to take home for another night. Instead of hopping on the freeway for home, I stopped at my mom's house for a few minutes hours. My sister Barbara and I had a nice visit, then I headed for home.

A trip to the Boardwalk

Everyone who will admit to knowing me knows that I live in Southern California, not too far from the ocean. Beaches galore, but nary a boardwalk. So which boardwalk did I visit? The one at Knott's Berry Farm, where else?

Of course, everyone knows that Knott's Berry Farm is not on the beachfront, so why would there be a boardwalk at Knott's? It's called a "themed area," and I have to admit that Knott's did this one fairly well. The colors, the food, the overall atmosphere all combine to make you feel like you're just a few steps from the big blue Pacific, even though you're actually miles from there.

The next mystery is why am I at Knott's boardwalk—more correctly, "The Boardwalk." It all started a few weeks ago when I got an e-mail from Knott's announcing a preview of their three new-for-2013 attractions. The e-mail said that they were having this preview on June 15 and that there were limited spots open, so hurry and register. So I hurried and registered, nearly breaking a hip in the process. Then I got a confirmation e-mail with attached documents, including instructions as to where to park and check in, as well as a parking pass that needed to be printed so I could present it to the guy at the toll booth and park for free that day. We also got free admission to Knott's for the event and were allowed to stay for the entire day, compliments of the park.

So, Saturday, June 15, 2013 arrives and I get up at 6am to leave the house at 6:30am to be at Knott's by the 8am time they requested. It was easy to park; all I had to do is show the parking pass, not surrender it. And I love getting parking spaces like this one:

My little car in its GIGANTIC parking space. How much you want to bet that the white Expedition to my left had a little space envy? Hmmm?

I walked up to the Western Avenue gate to check in and was asked which company I'm with. "I'm not with any company," I told her. "Oh, then you must be with ACE," she said. In all of the stuff related to this event, I couldn't remember anything about ACE, but I just said, "OK, that must be it..." After finding some of my ACE pals scattered about, I learned that the park had wanted ACE members in attendance, since we are the world's experts on roller coasters and theme parks. [laughter] Well, OK, not experts, per se, but we know more than the general public about these things. After all, it's our hobby.

The first order of business was to get something eat. Eating is something for which most ACE members are known. Our so-called "continental breakfast" was being served in the Boardwalk Ballroom and our wristband would get us in. This "continental breakfast" included eggs (yeah, I had lots...), made to order omelets, waffles, pastries, bacon, sausage, fruit, juice, coffee, soda, and probably a bunch of stuff I left out. When I think "continental breakfast," I think "pastry and juice. Now get out of here."

It's probably the backwards way of doing things, but after eating a good breakfast, I headed for the thrill rides! First up was the new coaster, Coast Rider. Now this is a funny name because right across the park is a huge wooden coaster known as "GhostRider." (I rode GhostRider; more on that later.) Coast Rider is a wild mouse coaster from Mack Rides GmbH in Germany. (If you go to that website, you'll have to translate it into English because it's in German. Or just learn German quickly...)

Coast Rider is actually a clone of the Technic Coaster at Legoland California in Carlsbad, just a few miles down the road from Knott's. This is a good model of the wild mouse, with extra drops and turns in addition to the usual switchbacks found on those rides.

Another ride that Knott's added to the new Boardwalk is a Larson Flying Scooters ride. For reasons unknown to me, I didn't take any pictures of that ride or the Scrambler that was added. But click here to get an idea of what type of ride it is. You may have seen or ridden one at some point. Today was the first time I'd ever ridden one and really kinda liked it. It only has eight gliders, each holding one regular sized person or two small ones, so what may look like a short line may be a horrendously long one. What happens is that the capsules begin rotating around the center of the ride, and you use a giant fin like a rudder to steer your glider with the wind. If you know what you're doing, you can get your glider to make some interesting moves.

The third ride they added was a Scrambler. Not a biggie because I think everyone has seen or ridden a Scrambler at some point. And this particular one has been in several different locations around the park. I didn't ride it during this visit because I wanted to focus on rides that I had not ridden.

Again, I failed to take pictures, but Knott's did just finish doing some major rehab on their classic Timber Mountain Log Ride, and it looks great. I only rode once—in my own log, in fact—and got wetter than I'd wanted to, so I stopped at one ride. They did a remarkable job. For a ride that is coming up on 44 years old, it's amazing.

Now that the new stuff was behind me, I wanted to ride a few old favorites. There were no lines at Xcelerator, and I didn't take any pictures when I rode it the one time. Want to see pictures of Xcelerator? Go here.

Boomerang got a pretty new paint job, the third one of its existence at Knott's, and I gave it a courtesy ride just so I can say that I've ridden it in all of its various paint schemes. Here it is all decked out in two shades of green, which replaced the previous green and purple:

Last year, Knott's added a huge new ride known as Windseeker. Windseeker is more or less a ride similar to the familiar chair swings that some parks and carnivals have. Only Windseeker goes way up toward the heavens. Some of the Cedar Fair parks installed a Windseeker while the few Six Flags parks that added similar attractions went with the more reliable Star Flyer rides. Unfortunately, the Windseeker rides were prototypes and have had a number of problems. (I like to joke that the riders were conceited—they were "stuck up" 300 feet in the air). At this time, they're working on coming up with some sort of rescue device so that if/when that happens again, they'll be able to get people down a lot faster.

Windseeker hasn't sought wind since sometime in 2012. At least I got to ride it twice before it went out of service. I hope to ride it again sometime.

And, finally, there's GhostRider. When it opened in 1998, it was hands down my favorite wooden coaster. (Just to be fair, I've only ridden about seven, so it was an easy choice.) It has a great layout, had fantastic airtime, and just left you wanting to ride it over and over. And then...stuff happened. Roller coastery stuff. Any roller coaster made of wood requires an extraordinary amount of maintenance to keep it running smoothly. Each day before a park opens, a team of carpenters and/or mechanics walk every inch of track looking for loose bolts and nails, loose or broken wood, and any other things that will not allow the ride to run safely or smoothly. Boards are replaced, nails/bolts are replaced or hammered in, and test runs of the trains are made. Each year, trains are taken completely apart to have parts inspected and replaced to factory standards.

GhostRider entrance

As with almost anything, some manufacturers are better than others at making stuff. The company that built GhostRider is no longer in business; its engineers and other staff splitting off into their own company. I can't say that it is flaws in the design or what, but each year, GhostRider gets more and more difficult to ride. What was once a smooth, airtime-filled ride is now a source of business for the local chiropractor. After my ride today, I had to check to see whether my kidneys were still intact. Now had my pancreas gone flying, that's no loss since the darned thing doesn't even work anymore. I'd like to see GhostRider get the majorest of major rehabs so it can run like it did in the early days. That way, the sign on the side of the building can be true once again:

My hat's off to the folks at Knott's and ACE for having this event. In these days of frustration for all sorts of things, a day at a theme park always lifts my spirits. As the Catawampus would say, "Moo."

So, what's going on these days...

Like so many people, I spend entirely too much time on Facebook. For a few days now, I've mentioned that I was going to write in my blog. And by all zero of the posts you saw before this one, you can see that I've not gotten very far. Writer's block? Not sure. I started this blog almost four years ago so I could actually write. For nearly 20 years I kept a journal and recorded my daily antics just for personal record. That was really nothing more than a daily log because all I put into it was my day to day actions—where I ate, what I worked on at work, etc. Pretty boring reading, really. I don't think anyone would want to read it. In fact, when they dig it up in a million years and anyone reads it, a bunch of archaeologists are going to be fired for sleeping on the job.

To be perfectly honest, there isn't much going on in my life that I would call "interesting." Still looking for work (more on that later), still not feeling as well as I'd like to. A few people have said that it's depression. Perhaps it is. During my last doctor visit a couple of weeks ago, I discussed this with him. He said that he could prescribe medication that will improve my mood. Improving my mood may make me feel better, but will not resolve the problems hanging over my head. Resolving those issues will make me feel better and not involve a trip to the pharmacy. Just for grins and giggles, I'll discuss a few of the things that I'm going through right now. Some of you know some of it, but those of you who snuck in during intermission, WARNING!!! Get a tissue to wipe away those tears of laughter.

Diabetes. Yes, I was diagnosed in 2002. Read more about that here when you have time or are in the bathroom. Something strange has been happening, though. I had stopped eating my beloved bananas out of the fear their high sugar content would keep my blood glucose levels too high. But recently, I decided that because they're so good for you, eating just one a day couldn't be bad. My blood sugar has actually dropped and will stay below the target number of 100 throughout the day. I did a little reading and found out that not only do bananas contain potassium (I knew that), but a nice shot of magnesium as well. Apparently magnesium is a factor in lowering blood sugar. Who'da known that? Writing about diabetes could be depressing (like I need that), but this little discovery about bananas lets me end this part on a high note. However...

Unemployment. I've been out for more than a year, which to many employers these days is the same as dead. Their assumption is that if you haven't worked for a long time, then you've no doubt forgotten how to tie your shoes and comb your hair and they don't want to have to train you to do the basics. And just to add a hurdle or five, there was this financial crisis in our country—the worst in 80 years, during which a lot of jobs were eliminated. Not surprisingly, it was hard to find gainful employment when in some cases hundreds of people were applying for each open position. Also, as a extra added bonus, I have a couple of major financial boo-boos on my record (which I will discuss in a convenient Readers Digest version below), so when employers get done laughing at my employment gaps, they can check my financial history and find these boo-boos. No one wants a person who's in trouble with their finances. I think using a person's credit score/financial status as a factor of employment is just as unethical as using their race, color, religion, sexual orientation, and/or any mix of these. It should be illegal. However, if you feel that any of those were a factor in not getting the job, take a wild guess who has the burden of proof?

Financial boo-boos. For this problem, I'm not going to say very much because I think it is in my best interest not to. One thing I will say is that it's entirely possible that we could lose our house. 'Nuff said.

Sports. And then there's sports. Wait...what? Where did that come from? I'm not into sports...

All right, so there you have it. This wasn't a positive entry by any means, but it was necessary for me to get it down on cyber-paper so I could share with friends. Feel free to comment here or under the entry on my Facebook wall, wherever you see fit. If you're so inclined, please keep me in your thoughts and prayers.

A Whirlwind Tour of Yosemite

By the time they've reached the ripe old age of fifty-three, most people in the state of California have visited Yosemite National Park. Note that I said "most." Sadly, I didn't fall into the "most" group—until this past weekend, anyway. Just a couple of days ago, I never would have guessed that a trip to the beautiful national park that calls California home and proudly graces California's quarter in the America the Beautiful series would be a part of my plans for the weekend.

Part of the reason that I haven't been to Yosemite is that just about everyone goes there to camp. I'm not a camper. Sleeping on the ground is not exactly my cup of tea, and my other half prefers to do it this way. I do like and appreciate the Great Outdoors, but I need someplace comfortable to sleep that I can afford. Cabins are nice, but expensive.

Speaking of the Mrs., a few of you know about the difficulties that I've been dealing with for awhile now. We haven't done things together like most couples do—but should. Lori came into the room late Saturday evening and announced that on Sunday she was going to take a run to Yosemite for the day to see it in the winter and take pictures. What came as a shock to me was that she concluded her announcement with, "You can go with me if you want to." I had no plans for Sunday anyway, and Diana was going to Disneyland with some friends from work. It would be just the two of us. Sure, I could have turned her down, but having never been to Yosemite, I figured that this would be a good chance to check it out.

We got all of our stuff together and hit the road just after 3:30am. Not surprisingly, traffic was light and we were up over the Grapevine by sunrise. After stopping at a McDonald's drive-thru for a quick, nutritious breakfast, we continued north on Highway 99 till we got to Fresno. California State Route 41 is a direct road right into Yosemite from Fresno. It starts as a big eight-lane freeway, then slowly loses lanes until it becomes a scrawny two-lane road meandering through the foothills and passes, as well as down the center of that bustling metropolis known as Oakhurst.

At long last, we reached the south entrance to the park. It wasn't even 9am yet, but since we had not gone to bed, it felt much later. The road was clear, thanks to the plows, but snow was all over the sides of the road and the trees looked like Christmas trees flocked with real snow.

Because we only had the day, we couldn't possibly take in everything that Yosemite had to offer. Both of us were really tired, but the beauty of the scenery around every turn kept us wide awake and ready for what we would see next. Even though Lori has been to Yosemite many times, you'd think that she would have had a "been here, done that" attitude toward it, but the sight of familiar surroundings with a completely different take was like a brand new place for her.

Several times, we stopped to get out and take pictures, but didn't do much running around in the snow in order to keep ourselves dry. There is no camera that can record images like our own eyes, and no storage device like our brains, but for the sake of sharing with friends and writing blogs, our cameras were able to capture this winter wonderland just fine, thank you.

One of our first stops was just past the east end of the half-mile long Yosemite Tunnel. This spot is known as Tunnel View. After parking, we walked around taking pictures. From here, you can get not only the majestic El Capitan, but also Half Dome—even in the same shot.

El Capitan is on the left, and Half Dome is in the center. This looking toward the east.

Ever the ham, I even had Lori take the one and only known picture of me actually at Yosemite. Here it is, but a word of warning: What has been seen cannot be unseen.

That is really me at Yosemite with those renowned landmarks in the background.

Being wintertime, even the tunnel itself was something of an attraction. Water had run down its face and frozen, creating icicles.

Moving on down the road, we stopped to take more pictures of the scenery because there was so much to see and so little time to capture it. There are no captions on the next few pictures. Just enjoy...

Lori was walking back to the car so we could continue our adventure.

Down the road is Yosemite Valley Chapel, a small church on the Valley floor. Services are held regularly, though nothing was going on today. (And, strangely, on a Sunday.) Lori knew about this chapel and had wanted to get pictures of it. We parked and took advantage of the fact that there was absolutely nobody around.

If you're going to build a church, you can't pick a more scenic location than right here.

Front door of the chapel, looking southeast.

Looking south toward the mountain.

During one stop, these two numbskulls tried to crowjack the car. Thankfully, they were unsuccessful. Next time, they should pick on something their own size, like a Smart for Two!

Another view down one of Yosemite's roads in the wintertime:

The beauty of Yosemite just keeps on going, everywhere you look.

Low clouds, or tall mountains? You decide...

On our way out of the park, we happened to stop behind a minvan, whose occupants were trying to get the attention of these two deer.

Obviously the deer are used to people coming through their home, so at no time were they aggressive. We chose not to try and pet them, being that doing so isn't a good idea when you're dealing with wild animals. But the people in the minivan were doing just that. We didn't see them feed the deer (another bad idea), but we went around them and proceeded to leave the park for the journey home.

The trip home was as uneventful as the trip up there. We stopped at McDonald's in Oakhurst for a late lunch, then took the 41 back to Fresno, watching it grow from a scrawny two-lane road to a big eight-lane freeway where it crosses the 99. Heading down 99, we stopped at a wide spot in the road called Traver, where we picked up some goodies at the Bravo Farms store. Throughout the trip, I had offered to drive, but Lori was awake enough to do so. But as we got to the car to leave Bravo Farms, she handed me the keys and I drove the rest of the way home.

So, now I've been to Yosemite. I suppose the next stop on my agenda should be someplace like the Grand Canyon, since I've never been there, either.