2-Day Monterey Rails and Wheels Tour from Los Angeles, San Francisco Out

Day 1: Los Angeles - Salinas - Monterey (278 miles)

On AMTRAK train leave Union Station, Los Angeles at 10:15 a.m. (or Anaheim at 8:07 a.m. for additional $15 per person). 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. Stay the night in Salinas or car transfer 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.

Standard Hotel: Bay Park Hotel, 1425 Munras Avenue in Monterey

Day 2: Monterey Peninsula - San Francisco (122 miles)

If guests spent the night in Salinasthey will go on a tour of the area's farms, fields, packing plants and the Steinbeck Center with the help of a local guide. Then, we will meet up with our fellow travelers who stayed in Monterey around 12:30pm before embarking on a tour of this area, visiting Cannery Row, Pacific Grove, 17 Mile Drive and Pebble Beach. Around 4:00pm, we will travel along Highway 10, passing various towns, artichoke and strawberry fields, greenhouses and pastures before we enter the urban sprawl of San Jose. Driving right through the heart of Silicon Valley, we will arrive in San Francisco around 7:30pm, bringing an end to our journey.