Irvine- Tethered balloon?

Instead of going to Oshkosh last week, I got to go on a business trip to SoCal. I was curious about what appeared to be a large tethered balloon east of the 405 around Irvine.

Anyone know what this is?

Here's the story on that...

Gosh, I guess in my mind I had envisioned something much cooler than an amusement park ride.

Thanks for the reply.

When it was Cool

When it was cool was when it was a Marine Base with F-18s operating out of it. When It closed I hoped they would convert it to civilian use and reduce my daily commute time but it was just not to be. The development should add some much needed traffic to the I-5, I-405, Cal-55 and all the surface streets of Tustin, Irvine, Lake Forest, Santa Ana, etc. (ha ha). Happy smog checks folks.

Bob Axsom

Bob Axsom said:

When it was cool was when it was a Marine Base with F-18s operating out of it.

Bob Axsom

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Man - you got that right - I used to pull over driving north on the toll road and watch the jets take off toward the coast. Being way up on the hill overlooking the runway to the east was an awesome view of the daily operations. What a waste of land now - a million condo's and an amusement park...