Tag / Golden Gate Bridge

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Travelling The 50 States – California

Over my 47 years, I’ve done my fair share of travelling across these United States.  I thought it would be an interesting experiment go look back at those trips to each of the 31 states I have visited (62% isn’t bad, is it?) and see if, and when, I may be returning.  Working in alphabetical order, we start today with the 31st state to be added to the Union: California.

State: California
Joined the Union: 1850
Visits: 11

With eleven visits between 1998 and 2019, the Golden State is the state I have visited the most, outside of those I have lived in and/or attended college.

My first visit was in 1998 to attend Comic Con International in San Diego.  I went early, spending the entire week and enjoying some pre-Con time checking out the sights, including the San Diego Zoo.

I returned the following year for Labor Day weekend, but this time up to the San Francisco Bay area, to visit my old friend Scott, who had moved out there after graduating to work at AMD.  What I remember from that trip is my first Giants/Phillies tilt at the former Candlestick Park, my first trip to the toilet that at the time was called Network Associates Coliseum, and a car trip over the Golden Gate Bridge.

I returned to San Diego for Comic Con in 2000 and 2003.  I don’t remember much of the 2000 trip, but the 2003 trip included my one visit to the former Jack Murphy Stadium to see the Padres face the Diamondbacks.  At the Con, I managed to see many of the stars (or, at least, bit players) from Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Smallville, and Tru Calling.

With the Cubs coming off their first division title since 1989 and a new stadium opening in San Diego, my friend Pete and I planned a trip for the Cubs mid-May road trip.  We attended all three games at PETCO Park, which the Cubs swept, while also taking in the local sights and the ambience of the Elephant and Castle bar in our hotel. Continue reading →

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30 For 30 – See One Of The Seven Wonders Of The World

The fine folks at away.com have come up with a list of 30 Things Every Traveler Must Do Before They’re 30.  Of those 30, I’ve managed to accomplish 12 of them, or roughly 40% of them, some of which was even before I turned 30.  We start with #2 on their list, see one of the Seven Wonders of the World.  They open it up to more than just the original seven wonders of the ancient world, which is good, because who has seen those?  So, for the sake of this post, we will concentrate on the wonders of the modern world and the not so exciting story of the first, and so far only, time that I saw the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, CA.

In the fall of 1999, I took my first trip to the Bay Area to visit my old friend Scott, who had moved there after college for an exciting opportunity with the chip-maker known as AMD.  While there, we took trips to both Candlestick Park in San Francisco and whatever name the Oakland Coliseum was using at the time.  One of those trips took us across the fabled Golden Gate Bridge.

There you go.  As I said, nothing exciting about the story.  But, a story none the less.