Author: TravisGood

Speaker. Maker. Writer. Traveler. Father. Husband.

MakerCon Co-Chair (MakerCon.com)
Maker City San Diego Roundtable Member
San Diego Maker Faire Producer (SDMakerFaire.org)

From Atop Coit Tower

Special things stand out and catch your eye. If it’s a tower on top of a hill then it grabs your attention any time you’re near by. Coit Tower is such a place and it stood within easy walking distance of where I disembarked from Alcatraz.

Coit Tower stands in Pioneer Park atop Telegraph Hill in San Francisco. (For me, that last sentence was loaded with place names from my youth.)

The tower itself was built with a $100,000 donation from Lillie Hitchcock Coit to be used by the city to beautify San Francsico. The interior of the tower is lined with 1930s paintings promoting California agriculture; the work was funded by the WPA to support the arts during the Depression. I’m not sure the tower ever served much of a practical purpose but it certainly achieves its funder’s ambition. It is beautiful and views from the top are remarkable. A tiny elevator takes a few people at a time to the observation level and below are examples of what can be seen.

Historical Lighthouse Travel

Prison in the Bay: Alcatraz

Post author By TravisGood
Post date May 23, 2011
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Alcatraz was first a U.S. fort guarding the Golden Gate and in the 1930s was converted to the nation’s maximum security prison which it remained for 30 years. After that it suffered neglect and an Indian land-rights kerfuffle before being taken over by the National Park Service. It’s now one of San Francisco’s most popular tourist attractions.

This little island is a pretty special piece of land. While it has almost no resources, its position in view of the bay entry and its isolation from nearby populations gives it distinct attributes. How Alcatraz could be used was nicely summed up in its history: fort, prison, protest platform and national treasure.

My ambition for visiting was just to wrap my head around its character and to take pictures of those things that interested me from the period. It’s the prison period which stands out most and with good reason, that’s the last extended purpose the island was put to. A few pictures are shown below.

Historical Museum Train Travel

Where East Met West

Every day, east meets west in a recreation of the event that made this huge country small. On May 10, 1869, two railways joined tracks at a place called Promontory Summit in Utah and created the first transcontinental rail line. For the first time it was possible to buy goods on one coast and have them efficiently delivered to the other, the west could sell to Europe and the east could sell through to asia. The world got smaller too.

The reason the railroads met here was chance. The two companies who accepted the government’s contract started from opposite directions: one in Omaha heading west, the other in Sacramento heading east. Progress across the plains was fast and easy but laying track out of California over the Sierra Nevada mountains was slow progress.

Historical River Travel

Charging up the Arch

Arc of St. Louis — Poor weather can’t take away from the grandness of the Arch, the visual cue most prominent of St. Louis. I’d driven by it too often to count but that wasn’t going to happen this time because I learned where to park my car!

From the outside the Arch is to be admired. From the inside it’s for the practical purpose of riding an elevator to the top to look out the windows. From beneath it’s to visit the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, run by the National Park Service. I came for the views.

Having recently visited to tour the Memorial I knew how to get into town, do my business, and get out of town. Given it was a Sunday, given it was early in the day, given I was downtown I figured this of all days would be a efficient opportunity to visit, and I was right. Today I’d ascend the Arch for the first time in over 40 years.

Technology Travel

Apple is Tracking Me!

Bay Area Tracking — Zooming in on my iPad’s location data produced the pattern at the left. From this I discern that exact locations aren’t known but general locations are tracked. No harm in that!

If my mother is concerned that Apples iPhone tracks peoples movements then I know Apple has an issue. We all now know that Apple wasn’t tracking us but retaining radio towers position data to speed up location services on their devices. They did keep too much data and which will be reduced. They did keep data in readable form and that will be encrypted. However, before Apple made these changes I wanted to take a peek at MY data.

Look Back Travel

A Look Back: Historic Route 66

Post author By TravisGood
Post date April 16, 2011
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No outing has stirred-up my yearning for road trips more than driving from Chicago to Los Angeles along Historic Route 66. With the right guide there is still much to be seen. For any fan of early twentieth century Americana, the path is rich with rewards. How much have I enjoyed it? Well, enough to have driven it eight times and still be wanting more!

Check out my first trip blog here.

Family Lake

Family Comes Calling

Paul On Trampoline — A more beautiful boy is hard to find. Paul is my nephew and when he visits our trampoline gets more of a workout than during all the rest of the year ... combined. He’s physically expressive and he obviously enjoys jumping. We’re always thrilled to have him come for a visit.

When does family predictably unite? At births, at weddings and at funerals. This time the reason was a wedding and more family than usual was in the area. My father was here. My uncle and aunt came. We even had the pleasure of my brother and his family being in the area. Happily they all made themselves available for an afternoon with us at home.

Thanks to them!

These spies hiding behind shades are Charlene and Cliff (aunt & uncle).

Here Geoff poses with Paul just before heading out on a kayak ride.

Others were present but not feeling camera-friendly … which was fine.

Historical Road Travel

More Old National Trail

Mile Marker — Mile markers were a requirement by the federal government but no specifications were provided. Each State created their own design; this three-sided version from Ohio is my favorite.

Thomas Jefferson commissioned this road which means what remains of it has been around almost as long as the United States. Call me nuts but this amazes me. By looking hard I can still see pieces of of that road and Ive made several outings to drive as much of it as I can.

Historical Travel

Dodge City and the Santa Fe Trail

Post author By TravisGood
Post date March 30, 2011
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Boot Hill — Buried with their boots on. Thirty five men and one woman were murdered in just a few years in lawless Dodge City. That all started to change when the sheriff came to town. The rest, as they say, is history.

It wasnt intentional but Im glad I stumbled along a chunk of the Santa Fe Trail which for decades (1820s to 1860s) was the route for trading with Spains Mexico. All I intended to do was visit Dodge City, the famous cattle town of the wild west. Well, I got my Wyatt Earp and a whole lot more.

Hike Mountain Travel

Climbing Two Peaks

View from the Peak — “Dad, you got your pictures!” Courtney said. Yes, I certainly did, and they were all that I’d hoped for. My highest compliment? Beth said “They’re great!”

When I travel I monitor my peripheral vision. When something piques my interest then I make a mental note of it. In this case, two mountain peaks in the southwest had caught my eye, scaling them was on my agenda, and now seemed like the perfect opportunity … so I climbed them!

The first hike was to the top of Chiricahua National Monument’s Sugarloaf Mountain. The elevation change was only a few hundred feet and the distance was less than a couple of miles but it was still a challenge. Why? The sun was setting and I needed to get back to my car before it set so I made haste!

Chiricahua National Monument Fire Station