Friday, November 18, 2011

Flyin' High!!

Remember a couple of days ago when I did the story on the helicopter supervisor who allegedly took his girlfriend on a joy ride and I said it would have been a really cool day if I'd gotten to go up in the helicopter??

Well today, I got to go up in one!!! Woo hoo!! Lance here was our very skilled pilot.



In case you hadn't heard, the Natalie Wood death investigation has been reopened because the Captain on the boat that night has now come forward and said he lied to investigators at the time. He claims Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood had a terrible argument that night, and that after she disappeared, Wagner didn't want to make any effort to find her. The captain said he believes Wagner was responsible for her death.


Because we're the closest crew to Catalina, my reporter and I got to hop on a helicopter and fly over to interview Doug Bombard, the former Harbor Master of Two-Harbors, who, not only was friends with the couple, but was also the one who recovered her body. He gave us a helicopter tour pointing out where the dingy was found, and how he, from that, figured which way the current would have taken her body. Within half an hour, he found her.


An interesting tidbit about Doug: He was born on Catalina Island in 1926! His dad, a race car mechanic, moved there in 1920. What the heck was even out there back then?? For those of you who don't know, Catalina is a very small island off the Southern California coast, about 3600 people. You can pretty much see all there is to see within a day or two--although I guess there is quite a bit of uninhabited stuff to explore. I can't imagine growing up in such a place, especially that long ago!



 The best part of the trip was flying low over the water. It almost felt as if we were skimming it. AND... we saw an AMAZING school of dolphin doing acrobatics! Along the shoreline, the water looked deep turquoise. So very, very pretty.


Often, people ask how I deal with all of the bad stuff I have to cover for the news, and sadly, I do see a lot of bad stuff. BUT... there are the days like today when I get paid to do something pretty darned cool. Granted, the core story is not a good one, but the experience certainly was.



And now I've gotta wrap this up. Busy night and weekend ahead. Tonight? It's our monthly Gasoline Girl meeting at Stan the Plaque Man's Shop (he's the one who made our plaques and many, many other SoCal Car club plaques). And tomorrow, fellow G-Girl Kristin and I are meeting a bunch of car guys down at San Elijo beach in San Diego for a day of surfin!!! Woo hoo!!!

Until Monday...

Later Gators!

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