James Lick

James Lick had a problem. He was a very rich man and wanted to be remembered after his death. He thought about building a giant pyramid in downtown San Francisco, he thought about a colossus on the San Francisco coast before a friend talked him into funding the construction of the largest telescope in the world and an astronomy department at the newly formed University of California.

If you are willing to drive 45 minutes up a very windy road from San Jose, California to the top o Mount Hamilton (at 4212 feet the tallest mountain in the San Francisco Bay area) you can see what $750,000 would buy you for a legacy in the 1880s.

Guided Tour

I had the opportunity to take a private guided tour yesterday with one of the 3 resident astronomers at the facility. There are now 9 different domes with different telescopes that have been constructed at the site. The newest two telescopes are robotic telescopes that quickly scan the sky for particular phenomena. One of these is spotting 1-2 supernovae a week (it used to be that the scientific community would find about a dozen in a year). The newest one will look for planets around other suns using a technique pioneered here at the Lick Observatory that has found roughly half of the 300 planets that have been discovered.

Adaptive Optics

Our tour lasted from 6:30pm to about 11pm. We learned about the history of Lick and his observatory. We also learned about a technique that was pioneered there for using adaptive optics in astronomy. In adaptive optics you focus at a bright star close to the object you are trying to observe. Sensitive instruments detect distortions in the atmosphere in front of that bright star and you use that data to deform a reflector to compensate for these distortions. All of this is done by a computer 1000 times a second. Since only 1% of the sky had a bright star near it a technique was invented where a bright laser is shined on sodium molecules in the upper atmosphere that glow creating, in essence, a temporary fake star.

The View

The culmination of the tour is a peak through the old 36 inch telescope that was the worlds largest when it was installed directly over the tomb of James Lick. To make it easy to reach the eye piece the entire floor in the dome can be raised or lowered on hydraulics. This was originally driven by water power supplied by a local windmill. Even today, long after the telescope ceased to be state of the art, this is still a pretty great feat of engineering that does its namesake proud.

Visitor Center

James Lick’s vistor center is open:

• Saturday and Sunday 10 am - 5 pm
• Monday thru Friday 12:30 pm - 5 pm

But to look through the 36 inch telescope yo need to buy a ticket through the Summer Visitors Program.

San Francisco has some great public art and one of my favorites are these statues on a bench just south of the main gate of Chinatown on Grant street. It is the classic see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. The way the statue was made it allows a space for people to sit in the middle of the three monkeys and so people do. What’s the best public art in your town?

The Richmond district of San Francisco is very easy to find on a map. It is the area just North of the large east-west swath of greenery that is Golden Gate Park and just south of the park-like Presidio. The Richmond is predominately a residential neighborhood that does not draw the tourist crowds because it is probably not as photogenic as other areas of the city. If I had to describe the Richmond in one word it would not be cute but it might be delicious.

The culinary heart of the Richmond district is Clement Ave which runs east and west just North of Geary street. While Clement may lack the beautiful facade of other neighborhoods like the Filmore it makes up for it with good food at very reasonable prices. As one friend expressed it, “when you live in Clement can’t afford to eat at home”.

I previously reviewed the very popular Burma Super restaurant where you will need to stand in line as much as an hour before the restaurant opens to get a table. But there are mind small restaurants in the Clement where you can get a good meal with less preparation or persistence. Directly across the street from Burma Super you can find Mai which offers inexpensive and good Vietnamese cuisine. We went to Mai on the recommendation of my friend Dan who recommended in particular the imperial rolls and the 5 spice chicken.

We loved the chicken also tried the hot and sour soup which has a very different taste than the chinese hot and sour soup that I am more familiar with. This spicy soup has tofu, pineapple and tomato and has a very fresh taste. Dan also recommended a Vietnamese sandwich place and Yum Soing for more expensive but great dim sum.

After dinner book lovers and browse for new or used books at one of the two Green Apple Book stores nearby (one for fiction and one for non-fiction). Clement and the Richmond may not draw a lot of tour buses but it is easy to see why so many people gladly call it home.

If you have trouble figuring out what to pack for a trip then have I got a hotel for you…

Check In at Germany’s First Naked Hotel

Clothes will be strictly forbidden on the premises of Germany’s first hotel for nudists, which will open shortly in the southwestern Black Forest region. Guests will be required to remove their clothes at the entrance and must be naked at all times while on the premises, according to the strict house rules that have already been posted on the Internet.

If you have a fear of flying after flight 332 got hit by birds and ended up landing in the Hudson, then one airport you might not want to fly out of is Sacramento.

Jet returns to Calif. airport after bird strike

A United Airlines flight bound for Chicago had to return to the Sacramento airport after hitting a bird during takeoff.

The Sacramento airport is in the Pacific flyway for migratory birds and reports more bird strikes annually than any other airport in the western United States.

If you got off a plane that filled with smoke because of a mechanical issue, would you get right on another one. The passengers on this plane did.

United jet with engine trouble lands in Maine

A United Airlines jet carrying 178 passengers and 11 crew members from London to Washington, D.C., has made an emergency landing in Maine because of mechanical problems.

More and more tourists are canceling trips or retirement plans to Mexico (my family included). If you are still going there are some good safety tips in this article.

Violence in Mexico: A Cause of Concern for Retirees Looking to Travel or Relocate

Mexico is the favorite travel destination for Americans and it’s also the most favored place outside the U.S. for retirees to relocate. The country’s warm climate, familiar culture, and low costs naturally attract retirees. Now, however, drug-related violence and–to a lesser extent–Mexico’s own recessionary pressures have made parts of Mexico dangerous. The U.S. State Department renewed its Mexico travel alert last month. Requests are escalating for more protection by U.S. border troops. Visits to major travel sites, such as Fodor’s, reveal rising traveler concerns and travel cancellations.

The U.S. has named a number of new Historic Landmarks including President Lincoln’s Cottage and San Francisco’s Bay, Angel Island Immigration Station. Read more:

New U.S. Historical Landmarks

Other articles that caught my eye:

• Free or Cheap Things to Do in Las Vegas, Nevada
• Great American bike trails
• Landmark Fail

There once was a time when my wife was interested in going camping or at least willing to go camping with me. Our honeymoon was a camping trip to Acadia National Park in Maine. But the picture I took from the archives today is a picture of I think our last camping trip. Nothing makes a camping trip more challenging than adding a baby. Diapers, nursing and waking up in the middle of the night proved to be the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.

Baby Mike in my backpack is now a film student in Southern California and not only has that beard has long since gone grey but Mike is also sporting a beard of his own. The joke goes that now my wife’s idea of roughing it now is slow room service, but at least I have a picture that proves there was a time when we used to go camping.

This picture was taken at Henry Cowell state park in California near the town of Felton. Henry Cowell is my favorite spot to take visitors to see the redwoods.