Jay Honeck wrote:
Must be a Left Coast thing. I can't say that I've seen more than one
or two party balloons in the 1600 or so hours Mary and I have been
airborne...

no reference the Larry the Lawnchair Man? There was a radio call from a
now defunkt airline (Eastern?) that checked in with SoCal Center
"Airline XXX, one four thousand, at my 3 o'clock and 5 mile there
appears to be a man in a chair attached to a bunch of weather balloons."
IIRC, Larry got fined $200 for no transponder. These days the guy
would get shot down and then nailed for about 20 offenses including jail
time. then again, his lawnchair weighed as much as a 152. ;-)

And we saw a humongous rocket, once. (It was NOTAM'd, and ATC warned
us about them...)

I really wish I flew down by Edwards to see SpaceShipOne go off. Their
next flight, I am definitely flying.

Gerald