wrote:
Since my family is not thrilled by the idea of flying in a small plane,
and I get bored flying solo, I am wondering what other venues there are
for a (VFR) pilot to fly people around. Basically I am looking for
excuses to do scenic flights within a 100 NM radius of San Diego.
CAP and Angel Flights sound rather stressful. Does
pilotsharetheride.com have a good reputation? Any other ideas ?

To add to the previous poster who suggested soaring, I'd add that aside
from making every flight interesting a) it's a lot cheaper than power
on a per hour basis (no fuel, etc.) and b) every pilot I know who is
both power and glider rated states that learning to fly gliders makes
you a safer, better pilot. If you want to find a glider operation in
your area, go to www.ssa.org and click on "Find Where to Fly" on the
RHS. Or the link to that page is

http://www.ssa.org/sport/wheretofly.asp

It looks like Sky Sailing in Warner Springs might be a good bet.

I fly a motor glider out of Hayward, across the Bay from SFO and have
marveled at how even local soaring (mostly winter and spring time) can
be amazing fun. One time there was lift just over the East Bay Hills
and cloud bases were low so I couldn't get enough altitude to hop from
one cloud to the next without using the engine. But hanging out 5-10
miles from my home base for an hour an a half was anything but boring
as I had to constantly search for lift (it moves around), center myself
in it, etc. And, when I could relax for a few minutes, the view of the
SF skyline, the bridges, the Bay, and more were just fantastic. I
commented afterward to my copilot that a similar flight in a power
plane would have seemed pointless, but this was great fun.