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Yeah, yeah, right. Hello. I'm Doug McConnell. You know, of all of the great places in the world to live, this place where we live is the best. No doubt about that. It's a magical combination of land and sea perched on the western tip of North America.

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Next San Jose, Oakland San Francisco area is a massive conglomeration of 13 counties. Dozens of towns and communities and every single one of us are competing for those few square miles of land that are not in the ocean in the bay are first on the top

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of some mountain somewhere. And you know the best place to see it up there in the sky. The ride over this bay is a heck of a lot better than the Peter Pan ride at Disneyland. It's free. You don't have to stand in line, and it's

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exactly where we're going to take you tonight. So strap on your seatbelt. Get ready for a special ride above the bay. Yeah, Every morning as the sun creeps over Mount Diablo, thousands of us hop on buses and ferries and trains for our daily joyful ride to

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our place of business. The rest of us get in our cars. And if you're on the road this morning, you can count on 7. 18. I need three more qualifier. You watch out for 50 gallons of Clorox built all over the roadway. Mm. There are over

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three million automobiles registered in and around the Bay Area. And on any given morning, just about all of them are fighting for space on our bridges and freeways. Well, that's why a dozen radio stations give out minute by minute traffic reports some 24 hours a day.

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And add to that one of our local TV stations even offers live shots from the air above the congestion, probably for those of us still in the sack or lazily floating into the city aboard one of several luxurious ferries watching our watchmen. Yeah, mhm. Mm. There

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are at last count, 12 TV stations and 43 radio stations broadcasting around the bay, one of the highest concentrations in the country. Now, many of them radiate from this tower atop Mount Sutro, arguably one of the ugliest landmarks in the city. It is the highest structure

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in the area and is the first things ships at sea see on their approach to our harbor. Now, with all this r f cluttering the air, it's no wonder that we've been tagged the home of rock and roll in San Francisco. Music is the cure for

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whatever's ailing. You, man. Good isn't Yeah, man. Okay. Yeah, yeah. The fresco make everyone And three. Thank you. Yeah, you Yeah, I know. Yeah. Mhm. Mhm. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Mhm. All right, spanning the bay are two of the most famous bridges in the world

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the San Francisco Bay Bridge connecting Alameda County to Rincon Hill in the city and the Golden Gate. The bridge that couldn't be built now both just recently celebrated their 50th birthdays and are monuments to people and to engineering the Bay Bridge stretches some seven miles, climbing

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to a height of nearly 300 ft. Now it's survived two plane crashes, and there are virtually no suicides from it because it has no pedestrian walkways. Now you might remember Dustin Hoffman driving in the wrong direction on the upper deck in the movie The Graduate. He

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was going to Berkeley. But of course, you know, the upper deck goes to the city. I guess only we laughed. The golden Gate has been closed only four times in its history, twice for extremely severe weather. Once for the 50th anniversary bridge walk. And once in

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1960 when a private motorcade settled President Charles de Gaulle of France to the center for a little look see, he still had to pay the 25 cent toll. Ah, those were the days. It remains our Western Statue of Liberty welcoming those from foreign lands who come

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to visit or to stay here. It's one of the most photographed landmarks in the world, and it's the symbol of the city that knows how. Mm. Everywhere. Yeah. See, I told you I was going to be magical up there. Now, don't give up your seat. Hang

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on. Because we're gonna go hover above San Francisco International Airport is the big Jets are taking off and landing. It's gonna be pretty exciting. And we're gonna go cruise along the countryside above the wine country, and then the action is really going to pick up. We're

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gonna get in the helicopter and go for a Harry Reid right down on the deck along the coast. And for those of you who have a problem with that you might want to put on one of those Dramamine patches behind your ears, because the ride's gonna

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get bumpy. All of that coming up next. Well, we're refueled. Ready to go and hear our destinations. I think you're gonna like this. Were gonna go above the wine country. Which is, of course, absolutely beautiful. And then we're gonna turn on the afterburners and fly with

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the blue angels above the city of San Francisco. Then we're going to really slow down and fly with a almost a relic of aviation history. It's called a gooney bird, But let's start by taking a look at the nation's fifth busiest airport above SFO. What kind

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of two? 45? The company on the left will be straight out. Runway one, Right. Clear for take. Mhm. Mm. Mm hmm. If you take to the friendly skies from the Bay Area, you're likely visit San Francisco International Airport. SFO, almost continually under construction since its inception

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in the 19 thirties, it was originally planned to occupy Treasure Island. How would you like to land there in the fog? This is the Western home to United Airlines and some 20 different major carriers. regularly make stops here. It's the fifth busiest airstrip in the country.

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Now we know that we've all been there at its messiest. Yeah, Mhm, Yeah, yeah, Mhm. Whether you're in the air or watching what's in the air, there's not a better show above the bay than the once a year spectacular put on by the Navy's Blue Angels.

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Yeah, Thank you. Mhm. Yeah. Okay. It's part of the Bay Area's annual love affair with the Cracker jacks dating back to the 18. Hundreds of the hot F 18 fighters streak across the city skyline in a 500 mile per hour. Ballet can't help but leave you

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breath. Gonna take it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Say, you think you could get a little bit closer to the deck. Now, many of you have driven highway one along our rugged coast. But how many of you have flown it? Our pilot,

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Bud Shipley of Commodore helicopters fluid like he was on a mission in Vietnam and our crew guys on board. Well, I think some of them may have had to change their shorts after it was all over. Yeah. No, that's good. Mhm. Yeah. I'll take some loose

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mhm. You can send them. Mhm. Yeah. Mm mm. Yeah. Mhm. The North Bay is home to Marin, Sonoma and Napa counties, a storybook land of redwoods, mountaintop chalets and the emerald vineyards of Cabernet and Chardonnay grapes. The region is a montage

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of over 160 wineries, and the sculpted hills and valleys may be the most priceless farmland in the world. It's the Bay Area's Greenbelt, offering tens of thousands of unspoiled acres on the northern lip of a metropolitan area numbering almost six million people. Mhm,

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Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah mm mm, one A generation away from the high flying continent jumping jetliners of today is this old, low and slow D C three operated by Oakland's Sentimental Journey Airways. Once the mainstay of air travel in the

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forties and the fifties, this graceful workhorse still finds regular service in far off places around the globe. This one is one of the last ones ever built. It looks almost as good as the day it rolled off the assembly line. Sentimental Journeys. Sunset Cruise takes you

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north over San Pablo Bay, then south along the coast. Down the peninsula finally is through the golden gate for a view as spectacular as any you've ever seen. Yeah, the Sentimental Journeys D C three was built way back in 1947. That makes it 42 years old,

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but it has fewer air miles on it than a lot of the jetliner's. Many of us take all the time. It's going to be flying around these guys for a long time to come. Now, if you were wondering if it was dangerous hovering above SFO, you

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gotta keep in mind that all of the air traffic is about 1500 ft below you taking off or landing. So where you are, it's probably the safest place in the sky. Well, next step. We've got ballparks, windmills and the city at night. Yeah, mhm, Yeah, The

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Bay Area is a patchwork of dozens and dozens of communities, some of them locked in by the land, others right by the water. But each and every one of them has a personality all of its own, and that's really what makes the Bay Area so special.

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It's got variety and diversity like no other place in this country. And if you think these towns are beautiful on the ground. You got to see them from up above. Mm. Yeah. How would you like to live in a subdivision of million dollar homes? Now, we're

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not talking about Beverly Hills, but an area almost as opulent. This is Black Hawk, a million dollar plus housing area in the shadows of Mount Diablo. It boasts such celebrity residents as Billy Martin and John Madden and is a collection of turnkey mansions complete down to

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antiques in the parlor, water in the pool and Dome Perignon in the walk in refrigerator, all for just a million. 20% down in $10,000 a month for 30 years. Yeah, mhm. Mhm, Mhm. Mhm. Just east of Livermore is the dramatic Altamont Pass with its windmill farm.

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Didn't know you could grow a windmill. Well, this is really a tax farm away to guard against the next energy crisis by generating low pollution electricity in what some say is the most expensive way possible. There are hundreds of 23 and eggbeater bladed generators where on

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a real windy day they produce enough juice to light up Oh, a city about the size of Modesto. So when the lights go out in the city, you can always go to Modesto. Down in Fremont is the joint Chevrolet Toyota Automobile Assembly plant. From this height,

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can you tell which of the Chevys and which of the Toyotas male? Neither can we wait. Crossing the bay are these multicolored salt marshes. Morton and Leslie Salt companies mind table salt out of here by docking off sections of the bay and waiting until natural evaporation

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leaves nothing but sea salt. Pass the fish and chips. Heading north are the marine communities of Sausalito, Belvidere and Timber on the home of hot tubs, BMWs and the newly wealthy. We don't use the Y word. There may be more boats here than mountain bikes, another

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Marine necessity and is the site of the Marin County Civic Center, Frank Lloyd Wright's last major architectural achievement. Some say it looks like a Shanghai train station, but you can be the judge. Mhm, yeah, mhm. Mhm. When night falls over the city, hundreds of thousands of

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lights illuminate a skyline as impressive as the big apple. In this, we believe the most livable, cosmopolitan area west of that other city at Lights Paris. Mm, mhm mhm. When you think about it. What other area has got the myriad of world class of energies we

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have right here in the Bay Area? Park, symphonies, restaurants, the best football and baseball teams in the entire world swung on sharply diving. Stop like angle, right? What a magnificent play by my triangles. What second Walton. At first, Bedrosian throws the Sandberg on the pitch. Second

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base. It's over seven years. Yeah, frankly, we like it here. Maybe we wish it was a little more affordable, and we like to convince the rest of the world that the place is full and Los Angeles is just as nice a place to move to. Of

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course, that's not entirely true, but between you and me, I don't mind spreading that rumor. But few cities of the world can vie with our area, either for its beauty or its natural resources. It's full of bold hills and deep water. The air is keen and

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dry and the people warm and friendly. There's only one drawback, as rugged Kipling used to say about the place is that it is a hard place to leave. Ariel Tripod has been this Bell Jet ranger at Commodore Helicopters in Sausalito, now this is probably the most

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popular helicopter in the world. There are 6000 of them in service, and that may be the safest flying machines anywhere. Although they're not easy to fly, The FAA says that it is eight times harder to fly a helicopter than it is a fixed wing airplane. Now,

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if you want to buy one of these things, well, you certainly can. You got to wait about two years for delivery and fork out a cool $600,000. But again, the views are terrific and we'll be right back with some more beautiful views above the bay. Yeah,

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out all about the latest entertainment choices in the most entertaining way possible. Just call this toll free number. Entertainment Weekly What's good? What's hot and what's Not. Well, we hope you've enjoyed your aerial excursion as much as we've enjoyed bringing you this Thanksgiving special. A unique

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look at a unique place. We've had some tough times this fall with the earthquake, but we've come through it with flying colors. We've got a lot to be thankful for. We live in one of the most beautiful places on the face of the Earth. Have a

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great Thanksgiving, But don't go away. We've got one more look above the bed. Yeah. Uh huh, Yeah.