Train Ride, Anyone?

Let's see.  We've traveled to a lot of different cities in the United States: Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, New York, Boston, and Washington D.C. Overseas, we've been to Mexico City, London, Tokyo, Paris, and Rome. One thing in common about these cities is that there is always a rail system where we can hop on a surface rail line, or a subway system and go from place to place without much delay.

In Los Angeles, however, we always seem to be going to places in the car.  It takes forever to get anywhere because the surface streets and freeways are almost always crowded. Any pleasant family outing becomes unpleasant because our dad would get mad and start cursing the traffic and other drivers. During rush hour, you want to avoid driving at all costs because a normally 10 minutes drive can take you one hour or more.  This is especially true in West Los Angeles, where we live. Buses are not much better, because they too get stuck in traffic.

Map of Los Angeles Metro Rail

But wait! Something is happening in Los Angeles.  A couple of days ago, on June 20, 2012, Los Angeles Metro opened up the Exposition Rail Line station in Culver City. We were in the car when we heard on the radio that Metro was giving free rides on the Expo Line all day. Mom got really excited: we parked our car at the Culver City station, hopped on a train and rode all it the way to downtown and back. It was so exciting. I felt as if I was in a foreign country! The Expo train goes from Culver City (which is almost close to our house) all the way to downtown Los Angeles, passing through South Los Angeles, the Natural History Museum, USC, and the Los Angeles Convention Center (where the Anime Expo is taking place end of this month) along the way.

Riding on the Expo Line

In a couple more years, the Expo Line will go all the way to the Santa Monica beach area. Hooray! Having a rail line gives teens like us more freedom to go places. Kids in other cities already have this freedom. We won't need to ask for rides from our parents all the time anymore. We now have a great city with an expanding rail road system that everyone can use.  See you on the train!

Art work at the Farmdale station