Interesting Activities 

This section is a catch-all for things to do in the area that don't really fall into any of the other categories, but that would be worth writing home about if you tried them.  Because really, do you want "watching that show on tv, you know, the one with the thing" to the most exciting anecdote you can tell after spending three months in the San Francisco Bay area?

Some of these activities get get you hurt or even killed.  Just so you know.  If getting killed were likely, the activities probably wouldn't be legal (and please, don't put things on here that are illegal), but there is some risk.  On the other hand, a large fraction of the people working at Ames want to fly in space, and these activities are all safter than going someplace with no air, several hundred degrees of temperature difference between light and shadow, and enough hard radiation to cook a Thanksgiving turkey just by opening the airlock door.

As always, these listings are for information only.  Inclusion on this list is not an endorsement by anyone, particularly NASA or ARC.  Unless you see reviews, don't assume anyone has tried a given service provider.  Also, be aware that the mailing addresses and the physical locations for these businesses may be different.  (Even if a SCUBA company wanted to have their office under water, for instance, the Post Office probably would get a tad cranky about delivering mail there.)  Finally, given the rate at which companies selling adventures go in and out of business, some of these may be closed even though their web sites are still up.  Check first, and use your own judgment.

• bungee jumping - Boing, boing, boing!

• fencing - Come on, you know you've always wanted to tell Mandy Patinkin that you're not left handed, either.

• fight club

• gun ranges - Although the current governor made his name firing more ammunition than the 101st Airborne on D-Day, California has some of the nation's stiffest gun regulations.  Even so, there are still places you can go in the Bay area to do a little shooting.  (So far, the list doesn't include anyplace you can fire automatic weapons.)  Warning:  do NOT bring weapons onto Moffett Field.

• hot air ballooning - Very appropriate, given that Moffett Field's claim to fame is its use as a dirigible and blimp base.

• ice skating - Come to California and learn to ice skate. 

• mine tours - San Francisco first came into its own as a result of the great gold rush of 1849 (well, actually 1848 to about 1855, but that's not as poetic).  There are a number of mines and other historic locations related to gold mining and the gold rush that can be toured by the public. [This should maybe be moved to someplace else.  It's not so much a thing to do as a thing to see.]

• laser tag - OK, so lasers aren't the pocket-sized atomic-powered death rays that were promised back in the 1950s.  Or even the massive "witness the power of this fully armed and operational battle station" cannons George Lucas teased us with in the 1970s and 1980s.  (And don't even get me started on how we've been robbed of atomic spaceships.)  But you can still have a good time with them.

• paintball- Shoot your enemies!  Shoot your friends' enemies!  Shoot your friends!  Then go out for pizza and compare bruises...

• rock climbing - Don't look down.

• rocketry - If your rocket goes to 15,000 feet (4,500 meters), it really isn't just a "model".

• sailing - NASA ARC even has its own sailing club.

• SCUBA - Good practice if you ever want to train in the NBL.

• shortwave - Not only can you talk to people on the other side of the world, you can also bounce signals off the moon, and use the frequencies to control remote rovers.  And around here, building remote rovers will get you dates.

• spelunking -  No, it's not lobbing rocks into the water so they make "SPE-lunk!" noises.  It's climbing through caves.  http://www.goodearthgraphics.com/showcave/ca.html

• skydiving - Hey, if you want to go blasting into space riding a couple thousand tons of explosives in a vehicle with two million individual parts all made by the lowest bidder, jumping out of an airplane should be cake.

• surfing - It's California, dude.

• telescope construction - For a few hundred bucks, you can build a pretty sweet telescope.  Around Ames, that's almost as good for your social standing as having a robot.

• whale watching - Gray whales migrate past the Monterey coastline twice a year, and several other species can be seen year-round, including blue whales, the largest animals known to have existed, ever.  (Ten to twenty times the mass of a T-Rex.  Cool, no?)

• white water rafting - You, a rubber raft, a billion liters of water, and several thousand large rocks.  Now it's a party.

Places to add (somewhere, if not here)

San Andreas Fault tours - http://www.red-jeep.com/FLE.htm

Over a hundred bucks a head, in jeeps.  There's probably a cheaper/better way to see the fault, but it's a starting point.

ghost towns

wineries