Sunrise at Sunrise this morning. For the first time since we got home from vacation in mid-October, our daughter drove me to light rail and rode Sacramento's Gold Line from Watt/Folsom to Sunrise for my morning commute. I'd been fairly regular on the train for over a year, but with our daughter having moved out, I've been driving.
I realized I missed a visit with the kid (she's 27), then just being able to sit there and play on my phone for 15 minutes and then having a walk to the office. I'll have to see if she will swing by the house on her way to work more often.
The Gold Line mostly follows the route of California's first railroad, the Sacramento Valley, engineered by Theodore Judah and opened for the 22 miles between Folsom and the Sacramento waterfront in 1855. The light rail line was completed as far as Butterfield in 1987 when the system first opened and has since been extended in stages to Folsom.
Union Pacific runs freight service on a parallel branch as far as Hazel these days. The line used to go up to Placerville in the foothills, but was cut back when traffic dried up. Two groups of rail enthusiasts run excursions on parts of the line between Folsom and Placerville.
