On Top of Old Smokey...Errr.....

Well, let's just say this is really a blog about the Lick Observatory up on Mt. Hamilton in east San Jose,Ca. I lived in Evergreen, just below this mountain from the time I was born till around four years of age. We lived on a big apricot ranch up Quimby Rd. that leads to the observatory.

While you can't see the area in which I lived, the webcam brings back childhood memories of this mountain. In the evening, my Mom would sit my sister and me on the rim of our old kitchen sink. From there we could look out the window and see the "diamond bracelet" of lights from the city below. Oh yes, the stories we imagined...

Thirty years later... I recall flying around Mt. Hamilton with my first husband in an old Cessna 140 tail dragger shown below. That's him and our first son who is now Capt. in the USAF, who would've thought! We were coming back from Livermore,CA and by the time we flew back to San Jose it was dark with NO lights and NO radio. We radioed ahead to the airport to tell them,I guess back then it wasn't a big deal by the lack of excitement. At one point I swear we were about 200 feet from the mountain side, which I mentioned, and the ex says "no problem". Lastly, have you ever landed in a rickety old plane on an old blacktop runway in the dark? Like I say back in the day....



The last time I was up at Mt. Hamilton was maybe ten years ago... our ranch is gone and now it's part of the big city...