Fresno As A ‘Basecamp’ For Stuff, Put To The Test

b6845aa5-9c3a-4bc7-a921-c1727bdeb113 Fresno As A ‘Basecamp’ For Stuff, Put To The Test
Downtown Fresno shots by Nick Pisano at the Road Goes On Forever

I have always said that Fresno is a great basecamp for visiting the Sierras, most notably our three nearby National Parks: Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Sequoia. But I had never really known of someone that actually did it – someone not from here anyway.

A dude named Nick Pisano is spending a year traveling (sounds like a sweet gig if you can get it) with his partner and recently spent a couple weeks using Fresno as a basecamp.

This long blog post by Nick documents his use of Fresno as a base for visiting our nearby parks and … Bakersfield ?‍♀️ -that is actually a cool part to me, but anyway.

https://twitter.com/npisano/status/1532132868310282240?s=21

It is a overall good blog post illustrating how a tourist can use Fresno as a basecamp, I want to make that clear. 

Buuuuut.

He gave us several shots throughout the post. He tried to be nice about it, but definitely didn’t pass up on chance to deal in digs:

“Not a lot going on here”

“I’ve gone out in search of Fresno, as it were, multiple times here and come up relatively empty each time.”

“relatively sleepy”

“The key to enjoying this city is lowering your expectations”

“a kinda bad city next to some very good things”

“I say this with the utmost respect, but there’s just not a terrible lot going on here. In some ways, it’s the least-happening place we’ve been.”

Woah. Pretty rough.

I will give him credit for going to a Fresno Grizzlies game, the Tower District, and bonus points for visiting the Underground Gardens. He seemed to enjoy those, as he should.

He certainly didn’t do all the things though.

In fact, one major mistake: He did not seem to have much (if any) Mexican food – most notably no mention of tacos:

Yep, you KNOW Mike Oz is taking that dude on the taco tour of his life next time.

Speaking of food, going out to eat is a feature for Fresnans. Part of our culture is eating out. When someone visits us, we plan on eating places. It is a “thing to do”. 

You can make fun of that if you like but I think it’s cool. It’s a Fresno feature that is underrated. 

Also, this guy seemed to not be familiar with the concept of a small city. A working class city. A city for living a life.

Not every town is built to give a shit about tourists. Fresno is one of them.

We don’t have a beach. We don’t have Disneyland. There are no longer any cable cars. A Hollywood sign doesn’t loom over the town. We don’t have a Vegas Strip. We have no plan for someone hanging out for two weeks.

What our “sleepy town” has is people working their ass off and living a life.

Can You See Satellites In Fresno? Yes.

https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56ce0cd3-80a8-487d-b4e5-ea17aa269a50_850x627 Can You See Satellites In Fresno? Yes.

The ISS with solar array in full bloom (pic by NASA just in case you thought I took this)

Sorry if this is yet another thing that makes me a nerd but I like spotting satellites in Fresno’s night sky. Even with our light pollution, its not that hard to do.

If ya think you have never seen one, you probably have and just passed it off as a plane.

The trick to spot them for me is: there are no blinking lights on a satellite. 

It is one solid light that looks like a star, but moving smoothly and quietly across the night sky.

  • Blinking = Plane.
  • Solid = Satellite.

If you like watching a small dot move across a screen, here is a video I took of the International Space Station going over the Eastern Fresno sky:

And this equally dorky one across the NW Fresno sky:

I mean, come on now, THAT is some THRILLING ? video people! [sarcasm]

As nerds in Fresno take video of them that you can hardly see, the Space Station crew occasionally takes shots of the Earth below:

https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.substack.com%2Fmedia%2FE3jUvUVXoAUmWQx Can You See Satellites In Fresno? Yes.
https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.substack.com%2Fmedia%2FE3jUv74X0Ag2jZY Can You See Satellites In Fresno? Yes.
https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.substack.com%2Fmedia%2FE3jUxSTX0AA2Y8_ Can You See Satellites In Fresno? Yes.
https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.substack.com%2Fmedia%2FE3jUxwiX0AAZe-o Can You See Satellites In Fresno? Yes.

There are websites and apps to help spot things. I sometimes use an app simply called “Satellite Tracker” to find me some info on what I might be seeing – there is a lot of abandoned space junk up there still circling.

You can find a calendar of the ISS’s activities here.

Once you get the hang of it, it becomes pretty easy to spot the random ? satellite – there are many more than there used to be. It usually only takes a minute to find one and I live in the middle of the city.

Also, over the next few weeks the Perseid Metor Shower is going on, peaking August 11-13th. You definitely can catch a few from your patio but those are best viewed outside of the city.

Sicko Fresnan Taking Joy In The Pacific NW Heatwave

F97A4009-2EA6-44B7-B5AF-5A82D454C1F2 Sicko Fresnan Taking Joy In The Pacific NW Heatwave

Portland has been pulling in some of our most interesting Fresnans for years, I hope you understand why I am enjoying this NW heatwave so much.

I kinda love seeing people new to heat react to it. Here are some of my favorites:

Tacoma:

https://twitter.com/troubeerdourks/status/1408954029925834752?s=21

Portland:

Naked Portland:

Read More

Fresno Chooses Violence Every Day With Its Temperature Readings

9AB3115A-85DB-49F5-ABE7-AA95805B4FFA Fresno Chooses Violence Every Day With Its Temperature Readings
My Feel Is Very Real

I tend to nerd out more on the weather the older I get. Especially when it’s hot. I don’t understand the nerding, it’s just happening to me and you’re here to witness it.

I think it’s because the heat is part of Fresno’s personality. Just talking about hotness is boring on the surface, but when you dig deeper it’s kinda interesting. Like Fresno.

In this past few years of nerding-out about the Fresno heat, I have kept my eye on the various temps around the city.

Fresno doesn’t have just one temperature.

53FFA7F4-01F1-4FF8-81B9-25D48897E84A Fresno Chooses Violence Every Day With Its Temperature Readings

It is different throughout. It is rare when there is a same temperature in Fig Garden as there is in West Fresno. Or NE Fresno compared to Sunnyside.

I don’t know why. Either it is geographically setup to be hotter or the equipment at the airport taking the readings is calibrated badly, but the airport is consistently hotter.

The hottest area of Fresno, nearly EVERY day.

Sadly, this is where the definitive reading for Fresno is taken and then given out to the world. Fresno’s temperature of record is always its worst.

It’s bad marketing. This must be changed.

As an example, I have three different devices at my house (nerd alert!) that have outside temp readings. As I write this, two say it is 103, one says 104. The Fresno Airport reading is 108.

If you are in Chicago right now looking at temps around the country, Fresno would read 108 and not 104.

(I know, some of you don’t think there is a difference but there is and that’s not the point right now.)

It’s Baked Into Us As Fresnans

I get why Fresno would want to present itself to the world in the worst possible way. I hate myself too sometimes.

It’s secretly one of the things I love about this city; everyone sees us at our worst (heat & crime) and we’re like “Yeah? Fucking deal with it. If you can’t handle us at our worst than eat shit – or something like that.”

But maybe we can change this ONE thing? There could be days our high could read 98 instead of 102. Or 87 instead of 90. Sounds and feels better, yeah?

We don’t need to cheat either. Just take our official reading from a place in Fresno NOT the airport.

Scout an area that is the middle ground.

You can pick a City Of Fresno property. Like, a water-well site in an area of Fresno that consistently reads a lower-to-average example of Fresno’s temperature.

794316B7-5993-4E8D-A84F-E0706A885CE0 Fresno Chooses Violence Every Day With Its Temperature Readings
Kopi, I assume, giving it to you straight up

I mean is there some state law that says to pick the hottest area of town or something? Can’t Kopi step in here and tell Fresno to have a Great Day somewhere else?

Are you listening Weather Service in Hanford? Do you give a damn, City of Fresno?

With all the power invested in me as the City Blogger, I propose we use a different location for our temperature reading. The current one causes us too much heat.

Fresno: California’s Base Camp

C6BDDD8F-E38F-4B82-8516-D586CB9870DF Fresno: California’s Base Camp
Yosemite Valley Pic by @markian.b on Instagram

People can shit on this and I get it, you shouldn’t brag about things not technically in your city, but hey man: it’s pretty fucking cool we can get to everything rad in California by lunch time.

  • Tahoe
  • Yosemite
  • San Diego
  • Your Mom’s
  • Monterey
  • Las Vegas (ok it’s Nevada, but still)
  • San Francisco
  • Disneyland
  • Shasta (a late lunch)
  • Russian River Brewery

ALL BY LUNCH!!

1C97256F-FC5E-412E-A25C-7D9BBC5FCA6C Fresno: California’s Base Camp
Zachary’s Deep Dish Pic by @restaurantgroupie on Instagram

I can go have a pizza at Zachary’s in Berkeley right now, FUCKING WATCH ME.

Then go have some beers at Faction and look at this view:

F36DCC5B-CCED-45E2-AF86-A37E55CF54D4 Fresno: California’s Base Camp

Then have some sucker drive my buzzed-ass back home for tacos in downtown Fresno, LIKE. A. KING!

AE2C9DD4-D608-4F84-9943-E9C56A44CB75 Fresno: California’s Base Camp

Can Austin say that? Fucking Kansas City? Chicago? Atlanta? Boston? Pittsburgh? Either of the Portlands?

NO! They cant say these things! Cities don’t talk.

But if they could? Well, they would say “I wish I was where Fresno is.”

Earthquake Near Fresno Is No Fault Of Our Own

D8A4F9D5-0FFD-40F9-A769-099041866CDB Earthquake Near Fresno Is No Fault Of Our Own
Fault lines in Central California

Above is a map of all the fault lines in the Central Valley. With the exception of the extreme South Valley, there are no faults on the valley floor.

Yeah? Then how did THIS happen, bro!?

D9F094AB-240D-4697-B585-1E2885969F5A Earthquake Near Fresno Is No Fault Of Our Own
Earthquake outside Lemoore Tuesday night

Sure that is a tiny earthquake. Maybeeee somebody around Lemoore or Hanford felt it, if they were really paying attention, but that’s about it.

How does this happen with no fault lines?

Fracking? Is anyone out there fracking around on the Valley Floor? I don’t know. Maybe.

Even science is not all that sure how this can happen, but there is one explanation:

Earthquakes occurring away from tectonic plate boundaries can be triggered by the rise and fall of hot material through the Earth’s mantle

Woah. “Hot material” eh? We talkin’ magma? Magma? Fun to say it isn’t it? MAG-ma. Come on say it with me, “MAGma”.

Yeah so maybe there is some ancient volcano under the valley floor and stuff. Not to alarm anyone or anything.

Since this quake happened almost directly below Kelly Slater’s Surf Ranch in Lemoore, I prefer to think it was somebody’s sick drop-in.

Oh since we’re talking about the Surf Ranch, the world famous You Tuber, Casey Neistat, visited the place recently and gave a nice account of what it’s like to get a chance to surf there:

?