I really enjoy riding the train. Most of the Green Line is up high where I can see for a long way and quite a bit runs in the middle of I-110. It's so great to see everyone going places. We go by the airport and have planes, cars on the interstate, buses underneath and the rail between. Now this is diversity in transit.

Downtown I transferred from the Blue Line to the Red Line going to Union Station. I was going crazy trying to figure out the right bus to take as there are so many, not only LA Metro buses but all the small bus systems sprinkled throughout the LA area. I stopped at the Metro info desk and asked for a map. I got this wonderful, large map that I just love.

It's huge, but I figured out how to fold it so I could pop it in my backpack but still see where I was going. It was so fun to see the web of buses. On a large map like this I could see that the problem people have with LAs buses was not that they didn't have enough, but that the buses are a web instead of the downtown and back that most cities have.

It's kind of like the internet. From Torrance to downtown LA there are dozens of ways I could go on several bus systems. Since Carls Jr paid for the map it also shows where every Carls Jr in town is, but that's ok, you never know when you might need a hamburger and the little stars aren't obstrusive. Let's hear it for private industry and advertising. The city of Los Angeles sure wouldn't be putting out free such a great map.

I then took the Red Line to Wilshire/Western where I caught a #20 down Wilshire. Wilshire is such a great street. Even where it's fallen on hard times, it still looks real good. I hadn't had breakfast so I got off in a little bit to catch the Big Boy breakfast buffet, and it was a good buffet.

The morning was so nice I decided to walk to the museum and enjoyed a nice stroll. I did stop to get some film and was apalled at the price of it. It was worse than NYC, and way more than I pay in Tucson. I finally reached LACMA only to find that it was closed on Wednesday. All the guides said Monday and I, of course, didn't call. I looked at the La Brea tar pits but had gone through the museum earlier this year so I passed on that.

I was a bit bummed and looked at my handy, dandy map to see where I could go. I noticed that I could take #217 south to the Santa Monica freeway and catch the #439 all the way to Redondo Beach. So I did. The ride on #217 went fast and then I sat for about 20 minutes under the freeway waiting for the #439. One thing I didn't get with my map was schedules so I pretty much just waited for a bus to show up. It worked ok though if I lived here I would get stocked up on schedules. I picked up some at the info booth but there are so many and I didn't really know which ones I would be taking. This is also a yard for buses. I don't know if they just go in for a rest stop or if it's used for storing buses.

The ride on #439 was very nice and went pretty fast. The first part went down La Cienega through quite a large area of rather depressing looking land that was empty except for a large number of oil pumps. I didn't see any that were working so I'm not sure if they are still pumping here. We then turned west on Centinela and curved north to the Culver City transit center. This looks like a nice residential area.

We went south again on Sepulveda to LAX. They have a transit center there that we stopped at and again at the transit center at the Aviation/I-105 station on the green line. There seem to be quite a few good tranfer centers in town, but it's just getting to know where they are that's the problem.

We then went west on Imperial Hwy to Main where we rode south through El Segundo. This looks like another nice little area. I expect you get some noise from the airport but it didn't seem to be right under the flight patterns. From here it was over to the coast and down through Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach.

Now this route takes some real driving. The streets are so narrow and crowded. I held my breath a couple times but the driver just cruised on through. It is a great drive and being on the bus you are high enough to see everything. The route ended at the very end of Redondo Beach.

I walked through the town a little and then along the beach to the pier. It was a good day for a walk on the beach. Just enough of a cool breeze to keep me comfortable and not many people on the beach. From the pier I caught Torrance bus #3 to the Del Amo center and then the #8 back up Hawthorne.

I spent the evening relaxing and reading as both the kids were out for a couple hours. My son did invite me to go to his climbing gym with him but my feet were tired so I just sat on the couch so I would be ready for another day tomorrow.