The Grandest WebCam

I'm biased. Let's get that out of the way right now. The little bit of ground on which this webcam is anchored is one of my favorite places on this planet, and it has some very, very sweet memories for me. Among other things, it was where I was on July 20th, 1969, when people first touched the Moon.

The place is Lick Observatory of the University of California. The webcam sits atop Mt. Hamilton in the California Coastal Range, and points northwestward toward the south end of the San Francisco Bay and toward the bustling "Silicon Valley" metropolis of Santa Clara County, California.

The view is ever-changing, ever-stunning. To see what it is right now, click here.

Google Earth reports its view thusly:


Panning upward, but maintaining the same orientation:


Here are some other recent captures:

Moonset, sunrise, and Bay fog.

Sunset over San Francisco Bay (above) and evening fog fills the valley (below).

Trepidation

Well.

Here I am, damn' near 60 years old, and thinking that a "dial" is something that you actually have to use to make connection to someone at a distance.

Okay. Here's a stab at this here newfangled communication medium. This "blog" stuff, though, really and frankly and bluntly, turns me off at the start: anyone who runs one must feel that he or she has something that others would actually like to spend time reading, right?

I can't imagine that anything I have to say would fit that description. But all the cool kids are doing it, so I'll try it.

Can we pop up photos here? Yes?

So, let's try this one of my good buddy, Fonzarelli: