Train departs: Anaheim, 2:39 p.m. (Leaves on time.)
Train arrives: San Juan Capistrano, 3:18 p.m. (Arrives on time.)
Total hours on train: 40 minutes
What we saw out the train window: Track housing developments, orange groves, parking lots, the freeway clogged with traffic.
Low point of the day: I tell the train attendant that we're getting off in San Juan Capistrano so we can go to Legoland. She says, "You should stop in Oceanside further south. It's much closer to the park." And she's right: I made a major mistake when planning the trip. We should have stayed in Oceanside! But it's too late to change the hotel and car rental reservations.
High point of the day: We step off the train and we're in the heart of old town San Juan Capistrano. It's charming. The surrounding Los Rios neighborhood of funky bungalows overgrown with bougainvillaea is over 200 years old. We walk to the Mission, founded in 1776, where the garden is blooming with roses. We take a self-guided audio tour and my kids are enthralled with the story of the Mission's crumbling "Great Stone Church" that was destroyed in an earthquake in 1812. I'm glad I made a mistake in the trip planning.
Photo of the day: Mission San Juan Capistrano.
Quote of the day: "Mommy why did the Spanish people make the Indians build the Mission? It seems sort of mean, don't you think?"
Expenses
- $20 one adult business class Amtrak ticket
- $30 two child business class Amtrak tickets
- $17 breakfast, La Brea Bakery, Downtown Disney
- $12 lunch, Subway sandwiches, Anaheim
- $15 taxi cab, hotel to train station
- $17 admission, Mission
- $9.50 dinner, El Campeon Taqueria Y Tortilleria, two burritos, a grilled chicken taco, and fresh sliced mango (cheap tasty food!)
- $119 hotel
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