Summer and the suburb

I am home sweet home in Roseville, California, land of a thousand malls. Here are a few interesting anecdotes about Roseville pulled from its Wikipedia page:

• Roseville has the ninth highest retail sales of all California cities; Roseville is also the smallest of the fifteen top ranked cities in retail sales.
• Roseville has one of the largest Auto Malls in the country.
• Roseville was ranked the skinniest city in the country, with an average body mass index of 24.5.

Other than my upcoming trip to Israel (in like three weeks!!!), my summer remains a blank slate. We shall see what develops.

The joys of Amtrak

Riding Amtrak is something I have become quite familiar with since I moved from Sacramento to San Francisco in fall of 2006. It occurs to me that trains have become somewhat of an antiquated mode of transportation -- often when I tell people that I am taking the train home, they seem to be very intrigued -- so I decided to blog my Amtrak experience.

First, you must decide if you want to travel alone or with a companion.
The upside of traveling with a companion is, well, the companionship. The downside is when you are waiting for her to finish packing, which causes you to miss your bus to the Ferry Building, causing you to miss your bus to the train station in Emeryville, and of course, missing the train from Emeryville to Roseville.


It's okay; we caught the next one. Besides, the Ferry Building is not the worst place to wait for an hour.


We eventually made it to Emeryville. Seeing the train pull up after all that waiting is a sight for sore eyes.



But nothing is more beautiful than some of those views from the train window... The region between the Richmond and Martinez stations is particularly breathtaking.




The train stops in Sacramento. Alas, only one more leg of the journey: the bus from Sacramento to Roseville.


Roseville Train Station -- it may look insignificant, but fun fact! Did you know that in the first half of the twentieth century, Roseville was home of the largest freight marshaling yards west of the Mississippi River? Now you do!

Waiting for our friend to pick us up, we couldn't help but notice this fellow waiting with us.


The funny thing is, he didn't belong to anyone. He was just chilling there.

Finally:
the Roseville skyline... one to rival San Francisco's? Maybe not.



So, to recap: Took the 31 bus to the Ferry Building, took an Amtrak bus to the Emeryville Train Station, took an Amtrak train to the Sacramento Train Station, took an Amtrak bus to the Roseville Train Station, got a ride home from a friend. Though it would be nice for the trip to be a bit more streamlined, I can't complain. It's always a bit of an adventure.