Table of Contents

- Metrolinking to Lancaster -

Been a while since I wrote one of these travel reports, but I've been traveling around! On Wednesday July 1, I went to the city of Lancaster. That is, Lancaster, CA, not the one in Pennsylvania. Although I did enjoy my time there, there really wasn't much to do at the city. 90% of the reason I wanted to go there in the first place was because the train trip there is very scenic. It was my first time taking the Metrolink Antelope Valley line :]

It's hard to convey a sense of scale in these photos. Photos and videos can't quite capture just how breathtaking and peaceful Soledad Canyon is. It's really beautiful. If you're in the area, I highly recommend taking the Metrolink AV line just to experience the stretch from Santa Clarita to Lancaster. I also saw the LA Aqueduct on the way there which was cool. (Hey I recognized that thing from AP Environmental Science!)

As for the city of Lancaster itself... Like I said, there wasn't much to do in the city. It doesn't feel like a city with a population of 170k, probably due to how spread out everything is. You know it's bad when you search up "things to do in [insert city name here] reddit" and there's only one post and it's full of comments telling you to drive to another nearby city. The most touristy area seems to be The BLVD in downtown, which is lined with restaurants and shops. For me, one of the most interesting parts about visiting different cities is comparing their downtown main street area. Lancaster's main street gets a C from me. The library was nice and the Lancaster Museum of Art and History (MOAH) is awesome, but other than that, the shops were pretty mid. I did go on a random weekday so it's probably more dead than usual.

Left: Band Costume - Set of 3, 2025. Polyester/cotton. Part of the Velvet Notes: Conversando con Pedro Guzmán exhibit by artist Eugene Rodriguez. I really like the costume designs. The yellow and blue ones I would unironically wear them.
Right: The MOAH had an interactive activity where you draw something inspired by what you saw at the museum. One of the artworks in the Emanations exhibit was an x-ray scan (?) of a nautilus shell and I was like omg I love nautiluses. So here's my sona inside of a nautilus shell with the golden ratio, and a quote from The Stranger because I was feeling angsty at the moment. They put a collage of some of the past-visitor's sketches on a wall which was pretty cool. Someone drew Pomni and Jax from TADC and Sua from Alien Stage.
Mural depicting the B-2 bomber flying over mountains in the shape of a bald eagle and the American flag. Goes hard.

Lancaster is right next to an air force base and the city seems to be historically tied to the aerospace industry. There's the Aerospace Walk of Honor along the BLVD and aeronautics symbols dotted around the city. There's a "Boeing Plaza" near the train station that is just a concrete pad with a F-4 Phantom II on display.

I saw lots of murals. Looks, it's me! A crow outlined with a shade of blue that is almost exactly like the one I use on this website.

The trip back was uneventful. I got to enjoy the view once more and it was very relaxing :) The locomotive was EMD F59PHR No.852. Apparently it was a F59PH rebuilt into a F59PHR in 2010. These are pretty rare in the Metrolink rolling stock (only 4 in service currently). I saw a giant Lockheed Martin plant on the way back so that was a WTF moment. Skunk Works mentioned.

Overall I give this trip a 3.5/5. Would I recommend it? Only to people who likes taking the train lol. Had I gone by myself I probably would've been bored at Lancaster. Better to go with someone.

You can see the train turning :)
- Summer Plans -

// I have a very ambitious summer plan

Alright! So you know how I like going to places, especially via public transit? There's a reason why this blog has a "travel" tag. My very ambitious summer plan is that I want to go somewhere that is not within walking distance at least once every week this summer!

I have two online summer classes that shouldn't take up too much of my time. Currently I'm taking Econ, and pretty much I can get a weeks-worth of assignment done in two days so it really shouldn't be that bad. There's a couple of internships I want to apply to and I thiiiiink I'm managing my time on that just fine. Ahhh Professional Commitments^TM.

Here's what I'm planning so far:

  • This week: Almost certainly going to a 4th of July party at a friend's place tomorrow. Sunday it's gonna be LA Artist Alley and Flea the Market at Little Tokyo, and potentially scouting out a Professional Commitment thing at a nearby city.
  • Next week: My mom wants to go to Long Beach so we'll probably be going there sometime next week. Thursday I'm visiting a friend at Fullerton.
  • Some time this summer:
    • San Diego via the Pacific Surfliner. Already planned it out, gonna go in August.
    • I want to take the train to SLO... that'll probably be the last big thing I do before I head back to school in September.
    • Santa Barbara is also on the table. My mom said she wanted to go so maybe.
    • I wanna revisit one of my hometowns again but the Metrolink schedule is dogwater and does not work in my favor. Potentially found a workaround though.(Plus I maybe kinda definitely stopped contacting a really good friend from there so I want to reconnect,,,, Man I suck at reaching out to people.)
    • There are two other friends living near me and I wanna visit their cities. Doable with Metrolink. (Wow can you guys believe it I have this thing called FRIENDS and I actually hang out with them outside of a school setting.)
    • Richard Nixon Library - if I can bribe a friend to drive me there.
    • Griffith Observatory but actually walk around the park this time. Maybe LA Zoo as well while I'm at it.
    • Uhhhhhh maybe actually go visit the internship places I'm apply to lol.
    • Some other cities that I can get to by Metrolink. San Clamente, Santa Ana, Anaheim (if there's even anything to do there other than Disneyland)... If I run out of touristy places to go to I'm just gonna start going to random commuter towns I guess.
    • Pomona. Specifically Remainders Creative Reuse.
    • Lots of solo-trip potentials along the LA Metro train lines. Has to be solo trip because I don't know if someone else is crazy enough to go all the way around the Greater LA Area just to go to like Highland Park. Plus, a lot of my plans already involves traveling with other people, so I definitely want to do some trips by myself too.
  • Wishlist (unlikely but possible):
    • San Francisco. I just gotta convince my mom to go there by train. We might be able to stay at her friend's place there so logistically this could potentially work out.
    • Santa Catalina Island. I wanna see buffalos. I can't make the trip by myself (I CAN'T DRIVE) so I gotta see who I can drag along.
    • Joshua Tree National Park. One of my friends off-handedly mentioned it once that we (total of 3 people) should go together so it's on my mind. I wouldn't hold my breath that the plan makes it out of the group chat this is gonna be a logistical nightmare to plan.
    • Bakersfield. Dude. Who wants to go with me to Bakersfield? I want to see why this city is so infamous.
    • Sequoia National Park or some other national forest. I just wanna go to a forest man.
    • Palm Springs maybe?