8 Adventures in Scenery 



On the Train, West Bound 



On a transcontinental train a little girl awoke in the daylight 

 of early morning and said to her mother: "We forgot to wake 

 up when we crossed the line and say "California, Here We 

 Come!" The little girl was filled with enthusiasm for the State 

 to which she was going. California was far away from her 

 home, and her imagination had been fired with anticipation of 

 what was in the far-away land. The journey to California 

 was long there is no short route to California. The little girl 

 had probably heard much about California, its climate, its 

 flowers, its mountains. To her mind it was a fairyland. "Cali- 

 fornia, here we come" was the greeting she had planned to utter 

 as their train should cross the line from the desert waste through 

 which they had passed. "California, here we come," expresses 

 the eagerness of anticipation with which her mind had been 

 fired; California, where there would be sunshine and sea breezes, 

 flowers and strange vines and fruits, and a new landscape, a 

 landscape different from any she had seen before. 



Entering the State by a southern route, the Santa Fe or 

 Southern Pacific, it is a change from desert to desert. The ride 

 through Arizona and New Mexico, though long, is interesting 

 to one who enjoys the wild and rugged arid plains. There is 

 much climate; there is much scenery. Via the Santa Fe route, 

 from the "dust bowl" of western Kansas to Albuquerque and 

 Needles, there is constant charm in the varied parti-colored 

 landscape. If time permits, stop off at Williams and visit the 

 Grand Canyon, one of the marvels of Nature's handiwork. 

 Here the Colorado River has cut deeply into the rock forma- 

 tions, and the eroded sediments will be seen later spread out in 

 the great desert of southern California. From El Paso, via the 

 Southern Pacific, there will be charm and fascination all the 

 way, and at Yuma when the line is crossed into California you 

 will probably feel like calling out as did the little girl: "Cali- 

 fornia, here we come!" 



