Griffith Observatory

Today,

I headed to Griffith Observatory in LA.

From 12 lane freeways to Hollywood Bvd. I'd be lost without the GPS navigation.

The exhibits and planetarium were breathtaking and I met many of the staff.

In the evening I got a behind the scenes tour of the telescopes.

The Big Sur Coast

Today,

I spent a whole day cruising the Big Sur coast and stopping at vantage points and parks along the way. The driving looked like this:

Along steep coastline.

My favourite part was the state park where a waterfall falls onto the beach (see next image too):


The forest behind this waterfall was wonderful too:


I was going to camp this night but the camp ground didn't live up t my expectations and it was early so I drove on towards LA.

Lick Observatory

After my hire car broke down and I got a new one I went shopping for camping gear at REI. Then I finally got to my first observatory. Lick observatory has the second largest refracting telescope in the world.

I had some great tours and an in-depth talk to one of the astronomers about adaptive optics. The road to the observatory was the skinniest and most windy road I have ever seen. Once at the top it is really cold and you are above many of the clouds.

Off to the coast tomorrow and I'll be back to blog in a few days.

Cheers,
Jeff

A day in San Francisco

Hi all,

I had a wonderful day today. I picked up my car and gt upgraded to a convertable (picks later) and thankfully was able to get a GPS to make things easy.

I went on the cable car

to fisherman's wharf for some clam chowder (yum).

I walked through some of the cool streets including the steepest (Lombard)

Got some good coffee and walked up to Coit tower where I could see Alkatraz

Until tomorrow, C Ya :)

San Francisco here I am

Hi all,

I'm settled in now after a long uncomfortable flight. Had to buy a phone and my new number is 415-518-9413. Had a bit of a look around the city but I'm really jet lagged so I'm up for an early night. I got a lot of strange looks today because I was the only person in San Francisco with shorts on :) It wasn't that cold but it was denim as far as the eye could see and my room was not ready so I was shopping. I have a room with a view so you can see the sunset from here. Well that's all for today, c ya.

Itinerary

Here is a rough itinerary for my trip. I'll update it as things unfold.

Dec 24th - Depart Sydney at 4.15pm United 870.

Dec 24th - Arrive in San Francisco

Dec 26th - Leave San Francisco and drive towards LA along the coast where possible.

Dec 27th to Jan 4th - Visit Griffith, Lick, Mt. Wilson and Palomar Observatories where possible and national parks along the way depending on which observatories I can get to in the time.

Jan 5th - Fly to Austin Texas.

Jan 6th to 7th - Attend sessions at the American Astronomical Society Conference.

Jan 8th - Start driving west.

Jan 9th - Visit McDonald Observatory.

Jan 11th - Visit the Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico.

Jan 12th to 22nd - Visit Kitt Peak, Apache Pt., National Solar and Lowell Observatory if possible. Also visit Meteor Crater, Arizona and National Parks along the way.

Jan 23rd - Fly to San francisco.

Jan 24th - Fly back to Australia.

Jan 26th - Arrive in Sydney at 7.50am United 863.

Recover and prepare for another year :)

I hope I'm ready?

Hi All,

I'm setting up this blog so people can know where I'm up to in my trip. Wishing you all a merry christmas and a happy new year.

Every corner I turn I find something I should take, argh, my bags are getting very full. Well I am going for nearly 5 weeks I suppose.

I'll put an itinerary below this soon so you can see where i am and if I'm sticking to the schedule. For those of you who would be interested in some background on why I would be doing such a nerdy trip it will become clear when you look at my website www.jeffstanger.net

Cheers,
Jeff