Posted by Watcher, a resident of the Palo Verde neighborhood, on Sep 21, 2012 at 1:09 pm

Not sure about Shoreline, but Palo Alto Baylands was packed with people and we had a wonderful sighting as Endeavour flew over our heads. Traffic backed up for over 90 minutes trying to get back along Embarcadero to pass over highway 101.

Posted by pedestrian, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Sep 21, 2012 at 1:43 pm

You should have walked over the pedestrian bridge near Embarcadero Road. Too bad there is no more pedestrian crossing over Hwy 101 in southern Palo Alto.

Posted by Watcher, a resident of the Palo Verde neighborhood, on Sep 21, 2012 at 2:03 pm

I didn't say I was sitting in traffic for 90 minutes. The people I spoke with were from all over the Bay Area, not just locals. I went for a hike for about an hour and just sat and watched the traffic ease before I decided to leave. I just didn't realise that there was parking for that many cars to cause that much gridlock.

There were Highway Patrol officers directing traffic by the airport, but the real problem appeared to be the two sets of lights just before the 101 onramp. One set was green but traffic couldn't move because the other set was red and side traffic managed to block the intersection so that Embarcadero traffic hardly moved. This was at the tail end of the traffic as there was very little at the Baylands when I decided to leave.

Posted by musical, a resident of the Palo Verde neighborhood, on Sep 21, 2012 at 3:13 pm

The Embarcadero intersection is a picnic compared to the mess at Mathilda and 237. At any rate, the fly-by was a crowd pleaser along the eastern fenceline of Moffett. Nice photos above by Keith and Jocelyn. I can identify the bridge over Stevens Creek in photo #3, but Jocelyn must have gone further east to get those underside aircraft shots.

Posted by Bike People a re unrealistic, a resident of the Community Center neighborhood, on Sep 21, 2012 at 3:15 pm

WE should build a 9 million dollar bridge so once in our lifetimes you can walk to the baylands to watch the shuttle. give me a break. were broke people. Regardless of where the money comes from we dont have it and if its state or federal money its borrowed from our grand kids.

Posted by Watcher, a resident of the Palo Verde neighborhood, on Sep 21, 2012 at 4:59 pm

It was a fabulous sight, I only mentioned the traffic because it was the best gauge of how many people were in Palo Alto to watch.

I feel slightly disappointed that the Weekly sent their photographers to Mountain View rather than our own Baylands as we had a terrific atmosphere, a great view, and showcased our own open spaces.

Posted by Too bad, a resident of the Leland Manor/Garland Drive neighborhood, on Sep 21, 2012 at 6:41 pm

Too bad they didn't circle over moffet again like they did everywhere else. A lot of us only saw a bit from our vantage point across from

101 and moffet.

Posted by sheri, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Sep 21, 2012 at 8:44 pm

Great photos, Jocelyn! After waiting for 1 1/2 hours at Byxbee Park, I had to leave for an appointment before the shuttle arrived. Luckily I got to see the shuttle from my front yard, but it wasn't quite the same.

Posted by anonymous, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on Sep 21, 2012 at 11:01 pm

I was leaving SFO after dropping off family members for their flights and hoping to see the shuttle, so tuned in the radio news and heard the shuttle was coming very soon, so I drove quickly right into Millbrae and parked at a bayside restaurant parking lot. There I found about 100 people - we were close to SFO and noticed when the ground stop occurred there- the fog lifted and we saw the shuttle, though its route surprised us a bit. Some people had binoculars, which were helpful. One of my family member had a slightly delayed flight because of the flyover, but SFO clearly tried to do as many landings and takeoffs as possible (shuttle circled over Berkeley or some such, so there were TWO groundstops, I believe). Anyway, the news media has not documented that people like us were at a bunch of spots along the bayshore, such as nearby Coyote Point and informal gathering spots like where I was, where there was a festive atmosphere.Some folks were fortunate to be able to step out of their nearby offices and see the shuttle. I think the shuttle was a really cool piece of engineering (I am not an engineer but that is my personal opinion)

Posted by BC, a resident of Mountain View, on Sep 23, 2012 at 8:19 am

Thanks for the video

For those standing too close to the Hanger 1, all we saw was the last 30 sec of this movie as Endeavour passed by.