A two-seat A-12 trainer on a plinth outside the California Science Center. The resting place doesn’t really fit the magnificence of this craft. This craft would later be derived into the SR-71 of Air Force fame. However, the supersonic reconnaissance aircraft got its start working for the CIA.
Inside the California Science Center.
The main attraction: The Space Shuttle Endeavour.
Still dirty from space.
A few tiles have been replaced but otherwise it’s still the same old ship.
The business end.
Yup, I really was hanging out with Endeavour. This brings my total space shuttle count to two orbiters and one test scale model. Now I have to collect them all!
Over the weekend Sondy and I ventured northward to the south Bay. We stopped in at NASA Ames to visit Alex in his native habitat on Friday morning. Fioli Gardens made for a nice lunchtime stop. The afternoon saw us in Point Reyes visiting Sondy’s old stomping grounds. Saturday I accompanied Alex and Laurren for some exciting dives in Monterey. On Sunday I reconnected with Sondy in Santa Cruz for some caving adventures and a little flying before we headed south for LA once more.
Alex showed Sondy and me his work area. It was deep inside a nondescript government building at Ames.
This device cools whatever happens to be strapped to the end of it down to a temperature very close to absolute zero.
Alex’s workspace and the RTG design he’s been playing with the last two years.
Hangar at Moffett Field.
A “small” wind tunnel at Ames.
MythBuster’s faked lunar landing site.
The 80×120 foot wind tunnel. The size of this thing is hard to comprehend until you stand next to it.
It’s REALLY big.
One small step for an intern…
Inside the fake lunar landing.
Driving under the wind tunnel.
Just an old Titan I that they happened to have laying around.
Sondy demonstrating the emergency rocket exits.
I thought this was a good idea at the time…
Shoot! They already took the payload out.
Huge fan blade hub.
Old U2 spy plane hanging out by the wind tunnel.
1/3 scale model of the Space Shuttle formerly used for testing in the wind tunnel.
Underpass at the supersonic wind tunnel.
A big valve in the supersonic wind tunnel.
Those little placards at the base are about four feet tall.
Hangar 1. It’s huge!
Cheap airplane for sale. Needs some work.
At the Fioli Gardens. The gate through the wall into the garden.
In the more formal part of the garden.
Nice swimming pool. Too bad they didn’t let us swim!
Nice and shady.
New fruit trees.
The mansion attached to the gardens.
The Lexus was anything but a pocket rocket.
After Fioli, we decided to head toward Point Reyes where Sondy grew up.
A happy rainbow tunnel!
The Inverness Yacht Club where Sondy learned to sail and where she taught others how to look good on the water.
Little boats for young sailors.
Sondy helped a girl stow her sail.
The guy in black is the current head instructor.
Sunset above Mountain View. This is looking out toward the sea.
On Saturday Alex, Lauren, and I went out to Monastery Beach for some diving. We decided to check out the north side of the dive site and do some deep dives into the trench.
Descending into the depths.
A fish. The fish on this side were all super tame and let us go quite near them.
Alex was a wee bit narc’ed when we went below 100 feet.
On the first dive we went down to 130 feet.
Lauren checking something out.
Alex takes a picture.
A jellyfish.
Alex got all roided up between dives.
CRAB!
Alex said the crab was pretty strong.
Some very strange egg pod we ran into. Each little head is a different creature.
A fish that was trying to hide.
A big fish that I played with.
A bride and groom rode by as we doffed our gear.
The natural arches in Santa Cruz.
Sondy sporting the latest in caving fashion accessories.
My equally awesome caving helmet.
At the car with the caving crew.
The cave entrance.
Inside the cave.
Sondy practicing how to drive stick.
At Joby, the company that invented the Gorrillapod. They are also doing other much cooler things.
Joby kittens.
If you drink a kitten, it helps reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil.
Old prototype.
After we left the caving crew, Sondy, Henry, and I went flying in a Cessna 172 out of Watsonville.
We took off and were up, up, and away!
The fog was starting to creep back in so we had to scramble back to the airport.
Henry executed a wonderful landing.
Our trusty airplane and confident pilot. If only homeland security knew that he is British!
I’ll never get tired of visiting space shuttles.
