A San Diego Afternoon

I enjoyed a nice flight yesterday around the San Diego area. The grounds people at Qualcomm Stadium are busy getting the lines painted for Sunday's Chargers game. Of course, we'll be providing the aerial coverage on CBS for that game. There were also a lot of kite surfers out by Crystal Pier enjoying the waves. An absolutely beautiful day to be at the beach. Finally as I was flying along the coast, I thought I'd try to get a good "Shadow Blimp" riding on the Pacific Railroad tracks. I think a couple of them came out kind of cool. No matter how many flights I do, there is always something fun to see and sometimes even take a picture of it.

Return to San Diego

View Flight Plot from Sunday in a larger map
We ended our month long stay up in Northern California to return to San Diego for some events. I did the flying on Sunday to finish the second leg of the two day trip, taking Snoopy from Santa Maria, CA to Brown Field south of San Diego. It was an enjoyable trip down the coast mainly which made for a very smooth ride especially with the scattered cloud cover we had most of the day. Above is the approximate route I took to give you an idea of the distance traveled and some of the places I past by on my way down. Below is a picture of downtown Long Beach, looking down Ocean Boulevard.

Track Me Across the Country

Google has a program called Latitude which takes the approximate GPS location from your phone and plots it on the map. I've decided to add a spot on the page so you can track me on my journeys to answer the often popular question...Where is Keith? Be sure to come back often to check it out on the right side column of my blog and track me all across the country on my blimpin' adventures!

Cruising Around the Bay

I did another flight around The Bay Area this week in the ship. It had a bunch of highlights that I documented in the above pictures.

I started off in San Francisco which is always picturesque. I included some pictures of the California Academy of Sciences building which has a "living roof" garden on top of it. Reading more about it, you wonder how many more of these types of roofs will work their way on top of modern buildings. After some time over downtown I worked my way down the 101 past San Francisco International Airport in time to watch a heavy 747 take off.

Finally as I worked my way down towards San Jose, I caught up with the Airship Ventures Zeppelin NT airship just in time to watch them land. If you aren't familiar with their operations, they are still the only company in the United States offering passenger rides in an airship. I really like the shadow of the enormous airship against the hanger as it lands. Even from a distance, its an impressive aircraft.

After a quick trip over San Jose, it was time to wrap up the day and head back to Livermore Airport for a landing at sunset. In summary, another great day in the life of an airship pilot!

Raiders Game

I flew over the Oakland Raiders game on Sunday as they took on the Kansas City Chiefs. We provided the aerial coverage for the CBS telecast in case you happened to see it. If not, here are a couple pictures of the stadium during the game.

Flight Over The Bay

I spent my Monday flying over the San Francisco Bay area. It is by far my favorite place to fly around with so many landmarks and great scenery everywhere you turn. It was a day I wished that the work day didn't have to end. After all you can't beat the view from my office, so who could blame me?

Beautiful Transit

Heading from Santa Maria, CA up to Livermore, CA last week gave me some great scenery to check out. I had never done this transit before and it was every bit as wonderful as I had heard. A cloudy morning broke up into a nice clear day with a healthy tailwind all the way north. We even had some time to cut over to the coast and check out the infamous Pebble Beach Golf Course. I think even those who don't love the game of golf can't deny how beautiful this picturesque golf course really is. The remainder of the trip included a lot of vineyards and rolling hills with a landing just after sunset to cap off another fun transit to the San Francisco Bay Area.

Heart Attack Grill

If you're not dieting, in Phoenix, AZ and looking for a great burger with a unique atmosphere I suggest you check out the Heart Attack Grill. It is a hospital themed burger joint complete with waitresses dressed as nurses and hospital gown bibs for patrons. This is the ultimate anti-health food establishment. Here you can get a Single, Double, Triple or Quadruple Bypass Burger with each burger patty weighing in at a half pound. There is also all you can eat Flatliner Fries which are fresh cut potatoes deep fried in real lard! I had a single bypass burger with the fries and a regular coke (no diet cokes served here!) It was by far one of the better burgers I have eaten and the fries were amazing! Real lard may get a bad wrap but its delicious.

Oh and a couple more notes about the Heart Attack Grill....If you weigh over 350lbs, you eat free! Also if you eat the Quadruple Bypass Burger, you get rolled out to your car in a wheelchair. This establishment sticks to its theme in every way. If you've got a good sense of humor and enjoy indulging in a good burger and fries, I suggest you go admit yourself to the Heart Attack Grill.