Vacation 1998, Day Two

Day two! Still in San Diego, spent the night at the Hanalei Hotel, a halfway swanky place with a perfect halfway location between Sea World and Day Two destination: the San Diego Zoo. It was another scorcher of a day (100+ degrees with 40-50 percent humidity), but did that stop me? Hell no! We were once again blessed with a small crowd at the park.

I love L.A., but the San Diego Zoo is puts the L.A. Zoo to shame. If nothing else, they have two Giant Pandas, which are on loan from China for 10 years. Talk about pampered! The pandas had fresh veggies, luxurious habitats, water vapor misters to keep them cool, and everyone was instructed to be extremely quiet so as not to disturb them.

Contrast that with the monkeys. They didn’t seem to like people, but Iwalked up to the railing to get a better look. All of a sudden one of the primates leaped out, bouncing off the fence and back onto his perch while baring his teeth at her. It should have been scary, but it was really sort of funny. Any movement we made was interpreted as a threat by this guy. Any time I’d approach the railing he’d go nuts. Did I smell bad or something?

I waved at him, and in return he started to hit himself on the head over and over again; then, his leg spontaneously came up and attacked him. He grappled with his leg like it was some sort of voodoo doll… all I could do was stand there, laughing at it all. Of course, this only upset him more, and he started making the teeth-baring faces again. I admit, I should have just left, but it was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. So much as a raised eyebrow on my part resulted in a manly show of force from the monkey. And Lord help you if you decided to actually talk to him! Then he really went nuts. I decided it would be best to get out of there before a Zoo employee saw me I got tossed out of the park.

The next sign I saw after leaving the Upset Monkey said something like: “Please do not tease, torture, torment, upset, bother, molest, touch, irritate, or entice the animals.”

The San Diego Zoo always makes for a long day, because it’s located in a warm area of the county, and it’s very hilly. Many of the paths are too steep for wheelchairs or anyone not in half-way decent condition. After two long days in the sun (two of the hottest, most humid days of an El Nino summer, I might add), I was ready for some indoor time to relax and regroup. So back to Orange County we go…

Vacation ‘98, Day Three

God may have rested on the seventh day, but hey, I’m only human. So after Sea World and the San Diego Zoo, I did the geriatric thing today and stayed inside. It wouldn’t have been so bad were it not for the heat. I do believe I picked the hottest time of the year to engage in all these outdoor activities. The “dog days of August” appear to be unaware that we’ve ventured into September.

Aww, what the hell–I’ll just blame it on El Nino. Seems to be a good catch-all for weather related ailments this year.

Vacation ‘98, Day Four

A snag. The plan for today was to visit the new Getty Museum complex in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, it’s already booked to the end of the year.

So, in the same cultured and heady spirit of the great artistic masters, I endeavored to select something similar as a replacement. A place of learning, a place of priceless works of art in the midst of beautiful gardens and architecture high above the metropolis. In other words, Magic Mountain.

The good fortune I’ve been having on this vacation continued today. This time I were smart and avoided the heat by getting there late (around 2:00 p.m.), and surprisingly there was nobody at the park! Not a line to be found anywhere. I ended up riding Viper six times, Riddler’s Revenge (the hottest new ride) twice, and so on. The only bummer was that Flashback, my favorite coaster, was closed. I also hit Colossus, Raging Rapids (got totally soaked), Psyclone (aka the PAIN machine), Buccaneer (yawn), Revolution, and Freefall. Batman was also closed for some reason. Probably weather. There was a major downpour around 5 p.m. which lasted for about 30 minutes, but again, it all worked in my favor. I had time to eat, then play carnival games. I won a stuffed Toucan bird on my first try. Well, actually I didn’t WIN it. The game malfunctioned and so I won by default. Plus, as you must know by now, I love the rain. It was a great day, no exhaustion, no burns, just a great day.

And for the comic event of the day, I got trapped on the newest roller coaster, Riddler’s Revenge, and had to wait for about 20 minutes while they figured out how to free us.

I don’t know why people insist on getting to theme parks, zoos, etc. the moment they open. And the ones who stay till closing time weather they want to or not are just nuts. By then you’re exhausted and miserable. It’s so much nicer to get there late, avoid the heat and crowds, and enjoy yourself.

I swear, I’m getting old. My father could have written that last paragraph.

Upon returning to Irvine, I found the sky was grey there too, but for a different reason: there were huge forest fires burning nearby in Santiago Canyon. Ash covered everything. It looks like the day after a nuclear war.

Vacation ‘98, Day Five

The Aquarium of the Pacific , located in Long Beach, has been touted as another Morrow Bay Aquarium. That tends to create some pretty high expectations; Morrow Bay is one of the world’s greatest aquariums.

I tried to visit the Aquarium of the Pacific a while back–a week after opened–and when I drove up, the ticket line was six abreast and stretched for about a quarter of a mile. So I ditched that action and went to the Queen Mary instead. I love the Queen Mary. Unless you’ve got six thousand dollars and can get a berth on the QE2, there’s just no sailing like that anymore.

Initially the Aquarium was kind of a let down after Sea World. Sure, it had some fascinating stuff. The sea turtle exhibit was great. But I found that the aquarium really does live up to it’s name: it concentrates mainly on the sea life of the Pacific Ocean. After lunch I got to the good stuff, especially living coral. Coral never excited me until visiting the Aquarium. We learned about the complexities of creating a self-sustaining salt water aquarium from a very patient volunteer who was working there.

Apparently they started a year before opening because salt water aquariums require specific time and elements to generate a proper habitat. I snapped a picture of some giant crabs which were probably five feet in diameter. If you look carefully at the photos, you’ll note the size of the crab in relation to the water bottle sitting next to the glass.

Vacation ‘98, Day Six

Someday I’ll laugh at the fact that I paid $14.00 for two tickets to see The Avengers. I really will.

Mind you, I’m not a harsh film critic. Very rarely do I see a film I really dislike, and most of the turkeys, like Spice World, I just avoid from the get-go. But The Avengers is one of the worst movies I’ve seen in a long time. Which is too bad, because I like the cast. I have to wonder how Uma Thurman and Ralph Fiennes could they have committed themselves to a script so bad. And Sean Connery, who will always be near and dear to my heart as the original James Bond, was absolutely ridiculous as the villanous Sir August. Who came up with the idea of having him prance around in a Scottish kilt? It was probably a decent film to begin with. Or maybe they signed on to the project based on the concept alone, and the execution was simply lacking. Either that, or the studio’s “testing” with sample audiences resulted in a bunch of changes.

Oh, who are we kidding. Even all that couldn’t have accounted for what I had to sit through tonight. Perhaps some things are better left as comic books.

The day wasn’t a total wash, however. I went to see an Angel game against the Royals. I was planning on buying tickets for the “good” seats near home plate, but as it turns out there was no need! No sooner did I walk up to the ticket booth than a gentleman who was passing by gave me a free ticket right behind home plate! I ended up sitting next to him during the game. Apparently he has four seats and this particular evening it was just he and his wife. It was a great game, perfect weather, and to top it all off the Angels won while Texas lost. So the Angels are now 2.5 games in front of Texas in their division! Will this be their year? Probably not, but it’s looking good so far.

This was my first time at the Big A (or, as it’s now officially named, Edison International Field). I love the renovation. They repainted the stadium in a dark green & light tan scheme which looks great. There’s a large water fountain and rock sculpture outside the center field fence, and they set off a huge water display whenever the home team hits a dinger. I also learned that they only light the famous 200 foot high “A” only when the Angels win. I thought that was a nice touch, because Angel Stadium is located at the junction of the 57, 22, and I-5 freeways, so you can see if the Angels won their last game as you drive through the area.

Today, there’s not much chance to sit on one’s front porch and chat with the neighbors. It’s just not something we do, sad as that is. That’s why, as much as I love basketball and football, to me baseball will always be the Great American Pastime. There’s no experience quite so relaxing as sitting in a major league stadium with a bunch of friends, eating peanuts, hotdogs, and enjoying the crack of the bat and the smell of freshly cut grass. That’s America, baby.

Vacation ‘98, Day Seven

Every vacation should end with a “recovery day”. This one did. Slept in like crazy, then went to look at new housing developments around Irvine. They’re trying to build stuff which doesn’t look like tract housing. I’m not sure they’ve totally succeeded, but I have to admit they’re trying very hard. Dinner was at the Crab Cooker in Newport Beach, followed by a stroll along the board walk. While waiting for a table, I paged through an O.C. Weekly.

I don’t know why I continue to read this paper. If it leaned anymore to the left it would end up on the right again through some sheer law of physics which must have been brought into existence simply to balance out the skewed perspective, rampant narcissism, and deflating pessimism about Orange County which only it can provide. And that’s on a good day. But at least it makes you think about what you believe. It would shock no one to learn that I often disagree with O.C. Weekly; but you gotta love any rag where they routinely use words like “fuck” and “bitch slap”. This particular issue contained an article on the evils of college courses via the Internet.

So Vacation ‘98 comes to an end. Doing a “local” vacation was kinda nice. Not only inexpensive, but really fun. There is so much to do in Southern California that this vacation could probably have continued for another two months and not run out of new stuff to do.

It’s been a year since the the day the wedding didn’t happen, and I’m still alive. There were times, especially early on, when I thought I might not make it–but with the help of God and some great friends & family, here I am.

I almost didn’t notice that it had been a year! But I was driving around the North Lake today and realized that it was autumn, and that I missed it. More than usual, in fact. Then I remembered why I wasn’t able to enjoy it last year.

So to all those who have been there for me in those less-than-stellar times, thank you. You’ve been a blessing in so many ways. I don’t say it often enough, but I hope each of you knows that your support and continued friendship mean the world to me.

They say that the day a pilot first flies an aircraft alone (”solo”) is something he or she will always remember. Today was my day, and now that it’s over I understand what they mean. Every pilot faces that moment when the CFI has left the aircraft and you’re taxiing back to the runway, excited yet all the while wondering if you’re really going to be able to do this.

I missed the opportunity to solo before Brandon went on vacation, so I’ve been waiting a week and a half. But when he finally let me go on my own, it was well worth it.

The traffic was heavy around John Wayne for most of the flight–but once I was on my own everything suddenly became calm. No 757s arriving on 19R, no warnings from the tower about “Caution, jet blast–737 crossing 19L” or Gulfstream jets on 3 mile finals. Just me, the plane, and a very nice controller in the tower. It was a fortunate thing, because it gave me a moment to look around and savor the moment once the wheels were up and I was climbing away from the runway.

   

Speaking of controllers, in the L.A. Basin most airspace is under the perview of an entity known as “Socal Approach”. Most of the controllers I’ve come across in the L.A. area have been friendly, but there is one guy who works the area southeast of SNA who always seems to have something up his ass. He has jumped all over me on several occasions for things which are unavoidable–talking at the same time as another plane, for example. Sometimes two pilots will simple key the PTT switch at the exact same instant. It happens.

I suppose it shouldn’t be a surprise that there is at least one guy out there with a poor attitude, but every time he does it a lot of the joy goes out of the flight. Brandon said he almost jumped on the com to ask the controller for his name and a phone number so we could call HIM. I wish he had. I think that would have been fun.

Anyway, the photo above (see a larger version) was taken in front of a Katana, but I soloed in a C172. The plane I really wanted Sato to get my picture in front of was the KFC Corporation’s Canadair Challenger 604, which was just off to the right. It has a huge Colonel Sanders image on the tail. I put it into the “hip to be square” category, although personally if I was going to spend $30 million on a high performance jet aircraft, I would probably not put Colonel Sanders on the tail. Brandon said every time he sees it, he get the urge to go over there, walk up the airstair, and ask if he can get a order of Cajun chicken ‘to go’.

Man, what a great feeling! My landings were excellent, and when the Boeings finally did start appearing, I did a great job with the wake turbulence avoidance. When we got back to Sunrise everyone was very congratulatory. I dig the spirit of camaraderie you find in the aviation world. I often see that in the theatre as well. And while your average pilot is a lot better trained than your average actor, it’s a tall order to find decent work in either field.

So we’re on a break from a ground school class the other day. A bunch of us are standing around outside and (for lack of a more vegetarian term) chewing the fat, when one of the guys mentions something about “the dude from Sunrise who crashed and burned a couple months ago.”

Huh?

Funny how I somehow missed out this juicy tidbit. This would have been just about the time I started flying out of Sunrise. My pilot friend said that certain sections of the local newspaper were conspicuously absent from Sunrise’s copy of the L.A. Times the next day. Not that I blame them. But being the overly inquisitive computer geek that I am, I looked it up in the Times’ online archives and sure enough, 49 year old David Heller apparently got caught in the wake turbulence of a Boeing 757 which had landed just before him on runway 19R. The effect is something like being caught in a horizontal tornado.

If that sounds dangerous, it is. That’s why pilots at Sunrise are required to recieve ground training, flight training, view a video, and pass a test on wake turbulence avoidance (as well as demonstrate it to a seperate CFI in flight) before being allowed to solo.

Wake turbulence is a major problem at airports like John Wayne, where you have small general aviation aircraft landing 75 feet to the left of large Boeing jetliners on parallel runways. Actually, all aircraft generate wake turbulence from the outer edges of their wings, but the larger, sleeker, heavier, and slower an aircraft flies, the worse the turbulence is. And at John Wayne, the prevalent wind often pushes the wake right over the smaller runway. Boeing 757’s have developed a reputation for the massive wake turbulence they leave behind them. There are procedures for effectively dealing with the danger, of course, but all it takes is a little inattention to leave you in a crumpled heap of metal with a broken neck.

Not that this is a problem I’m going to have to be worrying about for the next few weeks. It seems that the Powers That Be want to re-pave runway 19L, so they’re going to close it. For an entire month. For the life of me I can’t figure out why it would take a month of 24 hour-a-day work to pave a 2700 foot long runway, but what do I know. So starting today we’re down to a single runway. Oh well. At least I won’t have to worry about wake turbulence as I sit in a long line of aircraft waiting for departure.