Micbloo wrote:

Glad to hear you had a good trip out here. For all the foolishness of CA. it
truly is a beautiful place.

We had a wonderful time starting in Encino (LA) in the Valley where we stayed
with friends then the drive up US1 which was absolutely breathtaking AND scary
at the same time, then three nights in SF.
I was impressed witn the beauty of the state like I never was the last two
times I was there (84, 93). The views of the San Fernando Valley as we drove
from Santa Monica back to Encino through Topanga Canyon. The incredible drive
up US1 to SF. The beauty of the redwoods in Muir Valley. Just so so nice.
Oh and helicopters also. LOL. In LA they're all over especially the PDs and
FD.
In SF with the exception of the sightseeing ships I did see a dark colored
S-55(58?) come flying over the Wharf and two CG Dophins flew over low one
afternoon.

I wonder if that was Friday. I was enjoying a more sedate mode of transport that
day, taking a cruise on the Liberty Ship S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien from Pier 45 up the
bay and through the delta to Sacramento. One of the Dauphins made a few passes
over/around us as we passed by Point San Pablo or maybe Point Pinole. Then, an
hour or two before we got into the Port of Sacramento, a couple of news copters
from Sacramento stations came out to get some video; one was (I'm guessing) an
AStar, the orther a Jet Ranger. While the first was hovering off to the side, a
Coast Guard HC-130 made a fairly low pass overhead from stern to bow, which must
have looked good on the video. I don't know how the helos appreciated being
constantly tracked and "shot down" by the 3"/50 gun mounted at the bow and manned
by some enthusiastic high-school kids (I'd already had my fun tracking C-5s going
into Travis AFB).

Then in Oakland while dropping the car off at the rental agency I saw three
ships at Sierra and what looked like a dark colored A109 came in to land. My
kids cued me in on that but I was driving at the time and my wife "Gently"
advised me to keep my eyes on the road and not the sky. And as our plane (Jet
Blue RULES) taxied out from the terminal I saw Oakland PDs three copters parked
adjacent to the taxiway.
Yes, it really is a beautiful state.

Since you've tried Highway 1, next time you might want to try and drive up (or
down) the east side of the Sierra on US 395, then go over Tioga Pass (Hwy. 120)
through Yosemite, or else continue up to Tahoe. Death Valley's great in the late
fall/winter/early spring too. And then there's Mount Shasta up north on I-5, and
the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland just across the Oregon border.

As Mark Twain said, the coldest winter he ever experienced was a summer he spent in
San Francisco. I've lived in the East Bay west of the hills all my life, but I
must have San Francisco genes in me (my mom was a native) because I can walk around
in shorts and no shirt while it's snowing. Summer gives the weathermen in the Bay
Area a vacation, because they can almost always just repeat the previous day's:
night and morning fog along the coast, clearing inland by midday. The further east
you are, the earlier it clears; it may never do so if you're on the peninsula, and
if you're east of the Oakland-Berkeley hills you never get the fog at all; just
lots of heat and smog. The nice thing about California and especially the Bay Area
are the numerous micro-climates; as the saying goes, if you don't like the weather,
just move five miles and you'll be in an entirely different climate zone.



Guy

P.S. Ah, but the beautiful winter days immediately after a storm, that's when I
really like the City. So, try and come back a little sooner.

P. P.S. BTW, given your interests were you able to get to the Hiller museum?