A good overnight destination on the West Coast?

Meliss

Meliss

Pre-takeoff checklist
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San Diego, CA
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goodjoojoo
Hi all,

I am currently trying to find a cool place to fly to within 400NM of me (I fly out of KSNA). I've been nearly everywhere in Southern Cali so I am trying to branch out. I am looking to fly somewhere to spend the night - preferably somewhere scenic and reasonably priced. Any suggestions from my fellow POA members? Where have you been that you would recommend my going? Thank you in advance!
 
Page AZ. Do a little fishing, then take off and go east through Monument valley, and return via grand canyon overflight.
 
Bryce Canyon.

Ruby's will come pick you up. Stay the night. Do some hiking. Grand Canyon overflight on the way to/from.
 
Santa Rosa [at the edge of range] but you can roll into Napa, Sonoma, Russian River valley et al . . .. might need 2 nights if you want squeeze wine tasting into the first and second days .
 
Good $100 burgers are at Half Moon Bay and Harris Ranch.

There is an old gold rush town within walking distance of Columbia, in the foothills. And you can land on grass if you choose.

If your mountain flying is good, Mammoth, Lee Vining (very isolated before Memorial Day) and Truckee come to mind.

There are motels at all of those, though getting to town from Mammoth can be a challenge, it's a few-miles walk to town at Lee Vining or Truckee.

It's much closer to LA, but you're obviously a transplant (Cali? That's in Colombia), so perhaps Tehachapi or Big Bear.
 
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MAKG1 said:
Good $100 burgers are at Half Moon Bay and Harris Ranch.

There is an old gold rush town within walking distance of Columbia, in the foothills. And you can land on grass if you choose.

If your mountain flying is good, Mammoth, Lee Vining (very isolated before Memorial Day) and Truckee come to mind.

There are motels at all of those, though getting to town from Mammoth can be a challenge, it's a few-miles walk to town at Lee Vining or Truckee.

It's much closer to LA, but you're obviously a transplant (Cali? That's in Colombia), so perhaps Tehachapi or Big Bear.
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Ha ha.....

The street life of a blonde in Cali, Columbia is about 3.4 minutes.....;)...

Never to be seen again....:eek:
 
MAKG1 said:
Good $100 burgers are at Half Moon Bay and Harris Ranch.

There is an old gold rush town within walking distance of Columbia, in the foothills. And you can land on grass if you choose.

If your mountain flying is good, Mammoth, Lee Vining (very isolated before Memorial Day) and Truckee come to mind.

There are motels at all of those, though getting to town from Mammoth can be a challenge, it's a few-miles walk to town at Lee Vining or Truckee.

It's much closer to LA, but you're obviously a transplant (Cali? That's in Colombia), so perhaps Tehachapi or Big Bear.
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Ah... believe it or not I have lived my entire 22 years in Southern CaliFORNIA ;)
 
Thank you all for the replies so far... I flew to KHAF last week, but unfortunately I was only able to spend a couple hours there. I've flown into Monterrey, but never left the airport and I've been dying to stay there now for a while - hopefully I will be able to soon. I really like being outdoors and hiking, so any airport with some great hiking trails nearby or even camping are high on my list. I hope to be able to hit all of these up this summer before I start school in the fall!
 
Meliss said:
Ah... believe it or not I have lived my entire 22 years in Southern CaliFORNIA ;)
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Hoookay....I guess you mean Southern CALifornia. That's SOCAL Approach you talk to, not SOCALI.

And Monterrey is in Mexico and isn't the best place for a vacation.

Monterey is makes an OK trip though the airport is a bit far from town. Marine layer in summer is a BIG problem, though not as bad as Half Moon Bay.

The really good camping airports are somewhat distinct from the $100 burgers, though an obvious exception is Oceano. Many of the isolated Sierra airports allow camping on or near the field. And you can pitch a tent anywhere on BLM land.
 
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Meliss said:
Ah... believe it or not I have lived my entire 22 years in Southern CaliFORNIA ;)
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It's just that some of us have noticed that we already had three abbreviations for California (Cal., Calif., and CA), and wondered why we need yet another. ;)
 
Palmpilot said:
It's just that some of us have noticed that we already had three abbreviations for California (Cal., Calif., and CA), and wondered why we need yet another. ;)
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The "Cali" abbreviation was allegedly popularized by the hip-hop crowd. It is what it is. I'm not sure why this particular language redundancy is worthy of note or vexation at all, because it pales when compared to a whole host, set, collection, horde, or passel of words that are synonymous with "group":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_collective_nouns_in_English
 
Pismo Beach, San Luis Obispo, Paso Robles, Kernville, Lake Tahoe, Reno, Vegas, Laughlin
 
Vegas works.. Fly into HND, they meet your plane with a crew van and cold water. load your bags and take you to the terminal.
 
sferguson524 said:
Vegas works.. Fly into HND, they meet your plane with a crew van and cold water. load your bags and take you to the terminal.
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I flew into Vegas last night... was intending to land at KLAS. I went VFR most of the way and about 50 miles out I asked to pick up an IFR clearance to land [I've been to KLAS about 3 times before, always IFR and never had any problems.] but when I went to get my clearance the controller told me there would be a 30 minute delay and he suggested I continue VFR. Sounds good.

Then when I get switched to Vegas Approach, the controller informed me it would be a 2 hour delay and asked what my alternate is, so long story short I ended up at HND and paying more in cab fare than I would have for landing fees at McCarran. Oh well.

It was quite windy yesterday and they were landing the 1's at KLAS, so I suspect that is why I was unable to get in - unless it is normal to get turned away VFR into McCarran?
 
Sedona is a cool stop if you are in Vegas. The airport is on top of a plateau, very cool place to land. Watch out for down drafts. Crew car into town and plenty to do there.
 
IIRC, KSBP is scenic and reasonably priced.
 
Meliss said:
It was quite windy yesterday and they were landing the 1's at KLAS, so I suspect that is why I was unable to get in - unless it is normal to get turned away VFR into McCarran?
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Umm, you flew into Vegas on Memorial Day weekend and wondered why the big airport was slammed?

You might have timed it with FlightAware, but that's not exactly the best choice of date.
 
MAKG1 said:
Umm, you flew into Vegas on Memorial Day weekend and wondered why the big airport was slammed?

You might have timed it with FlightAware, but that's not exactly the best choice of date.
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Agreed.......

It must be the "blonde" factor kicking in.... :D
 
N801BH said:
Agreed.......

It must be the "blonde" factor kicking in.... :D
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Omg .... I get enough of the blonde jokes at home :rolleyes: I went for a last minute quick overnight to Vegas and I didn't think anything about it being Memorial Day weekend. I guess that answers my question as to why it was so backed up though. I had just never been in there VFR before and wondered if that was typical or not to be turned away.
 
That cab ride to Henderson is a killer! $40 or more plus tip....
They usually have a shuttle for the ride into town but even one way back out is steep. :yikes:
Awfully nice folks at that Jet Center there. Met me in my experimental with a bottle of cold water on a 100 degree day.
 
Meliss said:
I flew into Vegas last night... was intending to land at KLAS. I went VFR most of the way and about 50 miles out I asked to pick up an IFR clearance to land [I've been to KLAS about 3 times before, always IFR and never had any problems.] but when I went to get my clearance the controller told me there would be a 30 minute delay and he suggested I continue VFR. Sounds good.

Then when I get switched to Vegas Approach, the controller informed me it would be a 2 hour delay and asked what my alternate is, so long story short I ended up at HND and paying more in cab fare than I would have for landing fees at McCarran. Oh well.

It was quite windy yesterday and they were landing the 1's at KLAS, so I suspect that is why I was unable to get in - unless it is normal to get turned away VFR into McCarran?
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When the winds force McCarran to land on the 1s and takes 25L out of the picture, the airline traffic slows way down. They normally will depart 25R, but if they are forced to depart on the 1s, namely 1R, airline traffic slows to a crawl.

Their best operation is landing 25L, 19R/L and departing 25R. Anything else slows traffic. Especially if the need to depart on 7L, because they need to taxi across both 19s to get the length needed on a 7L departure, and landing 7R is pure visual approaches.

It's always good to plan either HND or VGT for back up to LAS. Except for the extra time commuting from HND via taxi, your costs were about the same as a McCarran tie down fee?

I'll second the vote on Sedona, and there is a hotel on the airport Mesa, or get a downtown hotel to come get you. Sunsets are best viewed from the airport mesa.
 
Meliss said:
I flew into Vegas last night... was intending to land at KLAS. I went VFR most of the way and about 50 miles out I asked to pick up an IFR clearance to land [I've been to KLAS about 3 times before, always IFR and never had any problems.] but when I went to get my clearance the controller told me there would be a 30 minute delay and he suggested I continue VFR. Sounds good.



Then when I get switched to Vegas Approach, the controller informed me it would be a 2 hour delay and asked what my alternate is, so long story short I ended up at HND and paying more in cab fare than I would have for landing fees at McCarran. Oh well.



It was quite windy yesterday and they were landing the 1's at KLAS, so I suspect that is why I was unable to get in - unless it is normal to get turned away VFR into McCarran?
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Were you trying to pick up your IFR from Vegas Approach or Center?

I'm planning a trip to LAS next Sat. and am wondering if I should just pick it up on the ground before departing Phoenix.

Does Vegas tend to discriminate against small GA by denying VFRs into McCarren? I've had it happen to me VFR in the past too.

Is there some reason why IFR traffic would get "fairer" treatment, or are they turning away the heavy iron as well?
 
dans2992 said:
Were you trying to pick up your IFR from Vegas Approach or Center?

I'm planning a trip to LAS next Sat. and am wondering if I should just pick it up on the ground before departing Phoenix.

Does Vegas tend to discriminate against small GA by denying VFRs into McCarren? I've had it happen to me VFR in the past too.

Is there some reason why IFR traffic would get "fairer" treatment, or are they turning away the heavy iron as well?
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I tried picking up my clearance from Center. But the past few times I've flown there, I picked up an IFR clearance on the ground before departing and had zero issues getting into LAS. This was the first time I attempted picking up a clearance in the air/going in VFR. I'm going back again next weekend as well, and am just planning to pick up my clearance on the ground to avoid the delays/diversion I dealt with last time.
 
I wonder what the difference is between picking up the clearance on the ground vs. In the air? If there were delays in effect, I would think we'd get them either way.

What FBO are you going into? What are you flying?
 
dans2992 said:
I wonder what the difference is between picking up the clearance on the ground vs. In the air? If there were delays in effect, I would think we'd get them either way.

What FBO are you going into? What are you flying?
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Well, maybe it was a number of factors - memorial day weekend, the time I was flying, and the different runway usage. Who knows... I've always had such good luck before.

I'll be flying into Signature, in a 182. We have two airplane's full of people going, my friend is flying a 400 there as well. What are you flying? Have you flown into LAS before?
 
I'm flying a Comanche. Going into Atlantic due to the more reasonable overnight fee ($40 vs. $80 at Signature).

I've been there before, yes. Usually I am one of the only piston powered aircraft on the ramp... :)
 
Mammoth! Go for the hiking, stay afterward for hot springs for a bit before you head out.
 
I'm planning to go to San Francisco next week, and I'm wondering if it would be easier to fly into Oakland or San Carlos? As far as getting into the city - I know from Oakland I could either rent a car or find a friend to pick us up, but from San Carlos is there public transportation nearby the airport? Is it relatively easy to get into the city from the airport? I know San Carlos would be less expensive to land at, I guess my question is strictly from the point of view of getting into the city from the airport.
 
Meliss said:
I'm planning to go to San Francisco next week, and I'm wondering if it would be easier to fly into Oakland or San Carlos? As far as getting into the city - I know from Oakland I could either rent a car or find a friend to pick us up, but from San Carlos is there public transportation nearby the airport? Is it relatively easy to get into the city from the airport? I know San Carlos would be less expensive to land at, I guess my question is strictly from the point of view of getting into the city from the airport.
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San Carlos would be easiest, weather permitting. Caltrain runs to SF.

http://www.caltrain.com/schedules/weekdaytimetable.html

From Oakland you could catch BART to SF.
 
Meliss said:
Thank you! Assuming the weather is good I think I will plan for San Carlos. And this is non-aviation related, but I've never been into SF before - any recommendations of places to go/eat at/bars?
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There are some 2500 restaurants over 50 square miles.

Pick one randomly. Seriously. It's one of few places where you can reliably get away with that.

I'd suggest avoiding the ones catering to tourists or the chains, but there are MANY alternatives.

It's a long walk from SQL to CalTrain. And while SOMA isn't nearly the nasty rathole it used to be, that's not the best part of town to be walking through at night. CalTrain ends by the baseball stadium, NOT (quite) downtown.

If you fly to OAK, BART is an option. You can ask for a lift, or perhaps get away with sneaking onto the Payless shuttle (it's right across the street from Landmark) and connecting to BART via the air carrier terminal. There is a brand new people mover there.

HWD is also an option. You'll need help from the FBO to get to BART. CCR is closer to BART (and the neighborhood is MUCH better), but that's a really long BART ride.

A hint for dealing with locals -- SF is in northwest Los Angeles, though it's usually just called "the Valley." It's San Francisco. Maybe "the City." Not San Fran, not SF, and especially not Frisco. Abbreviating everything under the sun is an Angeleno thing. It's not done here, at least nowhere near the same scale.
 
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