Explore California by car and train

The US state of California is very large, so to get from one city to another you have to travel by plane or train. If you go by train or car, it can take a whole day to get there.

Journey to San Francisco

From Los Angeles we flew to San Francisco (USA). From home to Los Angeles airport, although only 20 km away, it took 40 minutes to travel, and the closer we got to the airport, the more traffic jams there were. Tuan Tran, a former international student in the US, said that because it was Thanksgiving, the number of domestic tourists in the US was very high.

Tourists visit the famous Golden Bridge in San Francisco, USA

However, domestic flights in the US are very punctual if there are no unusual weather incidents. On the small plane, there were only about 100 passengers and the flight to San Francisco airport took 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Getting off the plane, we took the free tram that runs around the airport.

San Francisco Airport is located next to the sea and is huge. Without this train line, it would take hours to walk to the gate.

The road from San Francisco to Sacramento is very narrow in many sections, with swamps on both sides.

Here, we easily rented a car to travel and visit the city, just showed our driver's license (American issued) and swiped the card to pay. Within 10 minutes, we had a car and drove to explore San Francisco.

The first place we went to in this city was, of course, the Golden Gate Bridge, a cable-stayed bridge across San Francisco Bay, famous worldwide , not just in the US.

However, it takes nearly 35 minutes by car from the airport to the Golden Gate Bridge (Golden Gate, also known as the Red Bridge by Vietnamese in the US), even though it is only 17 km, passing through San Mateo County.

The road from the airport to the Golden Bridge is steep, curvy and has heavy traffic.

Tunnel through the mountain to visit the famous Golden Bridge in San Francisco

First-time visitors to San Francisco will enjoy seeing the very different and unique architecture on both sides of the street.

The houses were square, close together in shapes we had never seen before.

Tuan Tran said that this is a typical European architectural feature that has existed in this city for hundreds of years, so it is not wrong to call San Francisco a city of ancient architecture. This is the capital of many famous technology corporations in the world such as Facebook, Google...

Unique house architecture on both sides of the street in San Francisco city

However, it is not until you visit the Golden Bridge that you can see the uniqueness of this city. The Golden Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge, spanning the San Francisco Bay and connecting to the mountain.

The bridge is nearly 1,300m long and 227m high, with two main colors: yellow and chocolate red.

The bridge was built in 1930 and completed in 1937. It has become a symbol of San Francisco and the United States because of its unique architecture and is a wonder of the world.

Along the San Francisco peninsula, there are many places for visitors to check-in and take photos to commemorate their family and friends' vacation.

Tourists enjoy watching the Golden Bridge from check-in points on the San Francisco peninsula.

However, we had to go to the third point to find a parking space because the Golden Bridge check-in point was never empty. The colder the season, the more clouds and mist covered the bridge, the more tourists came to take pictures.

There are dedicated bicycle and pedestrian paths on both sides of the Golden Bridge. Visitors can rent bicycles (only 10 USD) and cycle, or walk the entire length of this unique bridge.

Tourists walk on both sides of the pedestrian and bicycle lanes on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco

At check-in points, visitors can also see white yachts "leisurely" gliding on the sea.

Tuan Tran said those are yachts that tourists rent to explore San Francisco Bay, of course it costs a lot of money.

Tourists tour San Francisco Bay by cruise ship

Take the train from Sacramento to Los Angeles

Leaving San Francisco, tourists travel by car to Sacramento (capital of California), about 175 km from San Francisco. Although not far, the road to Sacramento is quite narrow. Many roads have only 2 lanes, following each other very slowly. The car must go through California Highway 37, pass San Pablo Bay, then onto Highway 80, go through the mountains of Fairfield and Davis, then enter Sacramento city.

Train station in downtown Sacramento

The car ran through winding roads, on both sides of the road there were villages with very unique architecture and strange colors. There were also sections of road passing through swamps, without people living, there were lakes along the road like agricultural fields.

Getting to Sacramento city after more than 2 hours of driving, but this is also a city with terrible traffic jams, especially in the early morning rush hour. Exploring Sacramento city is also very interesting.

Passengers traveling by car from the downtown Sacramento station to the new Stockton station are allowed to board the train.

There are many shopping centers and Costco locations such as Capitol Park, State Railroad Museum, or Old Sacramento… giving visitors many choices.

When returning to Los Angeles, because there were no more plane tickets, Tuan Tran chose the train. From the Sacramento train station, we had to travel by car to the Stockton train station, which took an hour, because there were no trains left in Sacramento that day.

From Stockton pier, the train took us to another pier in Bakersfield, a journey of more than 6 hours.

The train ride from Stockton Station to Bakersfield Station takes nearly 6 hours.

The train ride from Stockton to Bakersfield is a long one. It passes through vast farmlands. On both sides of the road are fields of apples and grapes, but this time of year the leaves are yellow and the fruit is not in season.

The train passed over vast, flat lands, which were being plowed in preparation for the crops.

The train from Stockton to Bakersfield is clean and courteous.

Tuan Tran said this is the main agricultural region of California, providing not only grapes and apples but also other agricultural products for the whole United States, and also for export.

The train arrived at Bakersfield station, we transferred to a bus again to travel to Los Angeles city with a time of more than 2 hours.

Traveling around California by car and train takes a long time but is a lot of fun.

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