Just on the other side of the Footies is Edwards Air Force Base. Between that and JPL on the other side of the valley I saw and heard quite a few aerial curiosities when I was a kid. This was back in the 60s when you didn't have the sort of regulations and environmental protections like you have now...in those days, sonic booms from jets flying overhead were so common that you didn't give it a second thought when one would rattle the house. Contrails from rockets being tested would give us a helluva light show, the colors from the vapors turning all shades of the rainbow when the evening sun would hit it. Nowadays most events such as described are pretty rare indeed, but you still get an occasional jet trail flying overhead on it's way to Edwards, especially just before sunset.

One of my earliest digital shots and though not the best technically, I still like the illusion it creates...a bird on the wing going full out like a fighter jet, leaving nothing but a gust of air and an oh so brief impression of it's form in it's wake.