I had already ridden it twice, but those rides were media-related. Each time I got off I simply walked to the other side of the station and rode it back up to Campbell. This time was different. I was actually using it.

When we got off at the Convention Center, my son said, "OK, Mom, what do we do now? Get back on and go home?" We could have, but instead I said, "Well, let's walk around. We're already down here. Let's see what's happening."

To be honest, a Sunday in downtown San Jose looks pretty dead. But we walked by the Tech Museum. Got some cold drinks at its outdoor café and then walked over to the San Jose Museum of Art.

"Let's go in and check it out," I suggested.

The boys weren't too keen on the idea. So I nudged them on a bit, saying we could leave whenever we wanted.

I hadn't been in the museum for years. Not because I don't like art--on the contrary, I've just considered coming into downtown a parking hassle. This time around, without the car, the pressure was off. I could wander around for as long or as little as I wanted.

It turned out that the exhibits were free and definitely nothing I've seen before. There was a section called the Brides of Frankenstein that was gothic and ghoulish. It was based on Mary Shelley's classic, Frankenstein. Parts of the exhibit were interactive, mixing technology with morality, other portions of the exhibit were down-right creepy. But all of it left a viewer thinking.

Another section of the museum had an entire room based on Italian poet Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. Most of us know it as Dante's visits through Hell or Dante's Inferno. Artist Sandow Birk's paintings of the medieval epic are eye-catching. Other rooms had ceramic sculptures and one section had a great diorama called The Third Eye. It was a red door with a peep-hole. When you looked inside there were psychedelic lights flashing, a room that took you back to the '60s and the Doors classic "Riders on the Storm" playing.

We spent about an hour and then walked back over to the light rail station.

What I realized as we waited for the trolley was that I would have never seen that exhibit, much less known about it, if I hadn't taken the light rail. So I looked at the boys and said, "You know this was pretty great. We took the trolley, we walked around, checked things out and ended up seeing a free art exhibit."

It reminded me of the days I use to spend in New York City. I would catch the train and walk to the museums or take the subway into Greenwich Village. I did it because it was easy, and it was fun to explore. Now I can take the light rail when I have tickets at the Performing Arts Center or to the Arena. It stops practically in front of HP Pavilion. We have several events downtown this year and I don't see any reason to drive.

This is the option that was never available to us before. I'm excited to know that something that took forever to be built is finally up and running and going to places where things are happening.

But you don't understand this, or how you can use it, unless you ride it. It's a very visual process. For those of us who live near the Vasona Light Rail, unless you get on it and see where it goes, you just won't get it.

The VTA mailed 80,000 free day passes out last week before the Oct. 1 opening of the line. If you live within a quarter-mile of the light rail corridor you should have gotten four promotional day passes and a map. These passes are good for free rides this weekend. I urge you to give it a trial run. I think you will be pleased and surprised by the experience. And, most important, you will get a better understanding of where the trolley goes and where you can go on it.

With gas in the $3 plus range, the incentive is there to give it a try. Besides, who wants the hassle of parking in downtown San Jose for an event and then trying to get out of the lot to get home? Taking the light rail makes that problem obsolete.

Moryt Milo is the editor of The Willow Glen Resident. She can be contacted at 400.200.1051 or mmilo@community-newspapers.com.