Ladies and Gentlemen, fasten your seatbelts!
I love playing the role of tour guide. The Caitlin Monaghan Tour usually includes a mash-up of touristy sights, local underground hangouts and most importantly… my fav places to eat food. During a recent vacation to my hometown, San Francisco, a family friend stole my tour guide thunder and took my Chicago amigos and I on a bona fide “Bay Tour” in his four-seat Cessna. I must admit, he trumped my style, and nothing beats sightseeing from 1,000 feet (or less) above sea level.
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We took off from Hayward Airport (#1-Hayward Executive Airport) and headed north over the San Francisco Bay toward Oakland. Earl, our pilot, pointed out the Alameda Ship Yards (#2-Alameda Naval Complex), which is home to shipping cranes that inspired George Lucas’ four-legged AT-ATs (All Terrain-Armored Transport) robots in Star Wars “The Empire Strikes Back”. NERD ALERT! Zooming over the Bay Bridge and Treasure Island (#3-Treasure Island), downtown San Francisco rested to our right.
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Suddenly, Alcatraz (#4-Alcatraz) was just below us. As I propped myself up to look out the window, Earl cranked the stick to the abruptly to the left, and we dangled at a 90 degree angle in the air looking straight down at “The Rock”! I wanted to scream (well, I probably did), but my fingers went crazy and snapped the PERFECT photos of the famous federal prison turned national landmark. (Check ‘em out!)
Alcatraz, a.k.a. "The Rock" (#4).
Flying over the Golden Gate Bridge (#5).
The Golden Gate Bridge (#5-Golden Gate Bridge) stood straight ahead. Marin County to the right. San Francisco skyline to the left. Plenty of people have driven across the Golden Gate, a lucky few have been able to sail under it, but how many have flown over the famous gateway to the bay? Add us to the tally. Thank you very much!
Earl steered the Cessna to the left, following the San Francisco coastline, past the Sutro Slides, old bathhouses, and Cliff House (#6-Cliff House). As we cruised along the Sunset and Highway 1, I realized just how low we were flying. Earl responded that we were at “about 1,000 feet about sea level,” when the tower requested our altitude report over the radio, but I couldn’t see the altimeter.
A view of San Francisco's Cliff House (#6) and the Sunset neighborhood (below).
Cutting left over Golden Gate Park (#7-Golden Gate Park), I started to go snap happy again. “Look! There’s my high school! That’s so-and-so’s house! Oh, that’s a good restaurant, you guys!” Finally, I looked straight ahead; we were heading straight towards the financial district! I’m pretty sure we were flying lower than the Transamerica Pyramid (#8- Transamerica Pyramid), but, again, I couldn’t see the altimeter!
The downtown skyline, including the Transamerica Pyramid (#8).
We weren’t just flying “by” downtown, or even “over” downtown, we were flying “through” downtown. AND IT WAS AWESOME!
Cutting right, we followed 280 (or 101) back down south…
“Oh look, there’s PacBell, er, AT&T (#9-AT&T Park), eh, what’s-it-called Park where the Giants play.”
“There’s Candlestick (#10-Candlestick Park), er, 3COM, eh, Monster Park, whatever, where we are going to see the 9ers play the Bears tonight!”
Candlestick Park, home of the San Francisco 49ers.
Around San Bruno mountain (#11-San Bruno Mountain) we go… wee! “This is the only way I want to sightsee from now on!”
As we cut across the Bay over Highway 92, a.k.a The San Mateo Bridge (#12-San Mateo Bridge), heading back to Hayward Airport, the sun started to sparkle on the petite wave peaks — okay another picturesque moment. CLICK! This is ridiculous! But Earl got in one more laugh, when he pulled the nose of the plane up and did a quick 100 foot dive in the small Cessna. Kelly, my back seat comrade, and I grabbed onto each other and shrilled… well… like girls. I don’t like the feeling of my stomach in my sinuses.
Well, we saw the entire Bay Area in about a half hour. The 40 minute drive home took FOREVER!!!
The tour group and our Cessna after a safe landing back at Hayward Airport.