Jeremy McCreary
Bought it anyway
- Region
- USA
- City
- Carlsbad, CA
Our ongoing Know Your Coast program has taken us to a VRBO on the high bluff above The Strands Beach in Dana Point. Unlike the preceding Oceanside segment, left the ebikes home, as the bikeways here are generally short and poorly connected.
But I do have something off-topic to share: A spectacular twilight Falcon 9 rocket launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base some 200 mi up the coast.
Our first night started out innocently enough with a nice sunset from the deck.
Never tire of watching twilight play on the waves, and this was a particularly good vantage.
Then something totally unexpected: An odd but very bright "contrail" streaking across the sky to the NW.
We'd heard about evening launches from Vandenberg and soon knew that we were looking at our first.
The space jellyfish appeared when the booster fell away and the 2nd stage ignited. You can see the booster as a bright dot in the expanding exhaust plume. It was soon joined by 2 smaller dots representing the 2 halves of the Falcon 9's large nose fairing.
Upper-level winds eventually twisted the tail of the plume into a cursive message from the benevolent gods of cycling: "We know you miss your ebikes. Let this be a small consolation."
But I do have something off-topic to share: A spectacular twilight Falcon 9 rocket launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base some 200 mi up the coast.
Our first night started out innocently enough with a nice sunset from the deck.
Never tire of watching twilight play on the waves, and this was a particularly good vantage.
Then something totally unexpected: An odd but very bright "contrail" streaking across the sky to the NW.
We'd heard about evening launches from Vandenberg and soon knew that we were looking at our first.
The space jellyfish appeared when the booster fell away and the 2nd stage ignited. You can see the booster as a bright dot in the expanding exhaust plume. It was soon joined by 2 smaller dots representing the 2 halves of the Falcon 9's large nose fairing.
Upper-level winds eventually twisted the tail of the plume into a cursive message from the benevolent gods of cycling: "We know you miss your ebikes. Let this be a small consolation."
