Saturday 10/22/11 rides

Nikki and John took a Hollister Hop to 3000' on a nice fall day:

Rick and I donned parachutes and went over Aromas for a Mile-High acro ride during which Rick pointed out his birth-place just south of Gilroy.  After our maneuvers, Rick flew the glider for the first time better than I had done on my tenth lesson!

Elizabeth and Daniel were all smiles on the Hollister Hop:

Josiah was a bit apprehensive during the take-off and tow to 4500' over Henrietta Peak in the Diablos 10 miles east of Hollister.  After release, we slowed to 55mph(don't want to get a speeding ticket) and everything  became more peaceful:

After we landed Josiah's father Bill got in the front seat and we duplicated his son's ride but this time we did some aggressive maneuvering with a beautiful wing-over.  Here's Bill taking in the view:

The owner of the Hollister Soaring Center and operator of Bay Area Glider Rides, Quest, gave a commercial ride to two happy women while I was giving "guy" rides:

My last ride of the day was to 6000' over the Diablos with Harold who wanted to record much of the ride using one of today's small video cameras:

While he was looking towards the Monterey Bay, 50 miles to the southwest, I looked out from my rear seat to the northeast to see the Pacheco wind farm and San Luis Reservoir. The San Joaquin Valley was covered with haze so the Sierras were not visible: 

In the winter after a nice storm "flushes the air" we have a magnificent view of snow-capped mountains over the Tule fog:  

Fall and winter rides provide us with some of the best visibility days!