Good Pursuits – Page 32

Great Falls National Park

Post author By TravisGood
Post date September 1, 2008
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Great Falls Looking Down — Boating, climbing, hiking, running, repelling, fishing, and the list goes on. People were out to enjoy the lovely morning of the last long weekend of summer.

National Parks are national treasures to be visited and enjoyed at every opportunity. Why is it then that I don’t get excited about our local parks? Simple, we learn to take nearby sites for granted. Thankfully though on this glorious Labor Day I broke through and got out.

Great Falls is an unnavigable stretch of the Potomac River which flows between Maryland and Virginia, past Washington D.C. and in to the Chesapeake Bay. The rocks and falls are treacherous but George Washington believed that boat traffic was critical along the Potomac to connect the Ohio Valley with the East. He felt the bonds of trade would strengthen the fractured colonies and help the union succeed. Consequently he initiated what later became a series of lochs for boats to move goods from Cincinnati to Washington D.C. to countries in Europe.

Very little exists of the original lochs and the town of Matildaville but there’s much to see and do! The entire area has been set aside as a National Park.

Swim Travel

National Swimming Championships

Post author By TravisGood
Post date August 17, 2008
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Long Course Nationals in Portland, Oregon — Long course pools are 50 meters and for my primary event I swam 30-laps ... and I came in sixth!

I was in Oregon during Nationals so why not attend? My instincts were to sign-up for a long distance event so the 1,500 meters it was. My team could use me in a few relays so I did that too. Little did I know that I’d enjoy it so much … I should have entered more events.

Amazingly, I came in sixth place in the 1,500 meters for men 45-49. The three relays didn’t do as well but regardless I sure enjoyed swimming with team mates and getting to know them better. Good people. Fun times.

Based on my 50-meter relay times I’ll do more short races in the future.

Travel

Oregon Air Show

Hillsboro Air Show — For 21 years this Air Show has taken place in Hillsboro, Oregon to the delight of legions of fans.

You want good weather for a flying exhibition and we had the best. Everything in the air was done in clear view yet the patchy clouds kept us cool. We sat back and soaked up a great show as the program moved from experimental craft, to sky diving, to stunt flying, to ultra lights, to army jets, and more.

As this was an “air” show, I’d guess there were two to three times as many people watching the show OUTSIDE of the airport and saving themselves the cost of entry. Far better to pay and support the cause; I’d like the show to continue forever and that only happens if it makes financial sense.

Military recruiting was everywhere and done rather well. There was lots of food, many planes on display, and a good turn out. People milled around the airport grounds for hours and hours. We had to leave after two hours and there was still much more to be seen. It’s a long event.

Even absent the Blue Angeles this year I still highly recommend the show. There’s a wide variety of very impressive acts and if you have the luck we did with weather, then you’ll really enjoy passing the afternoon looking up.

Check out some of the pictures I took:

Travel

Thirtieth High School Reunion

Post author By TravisGood
Post date August 10, 2008
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Travis in High School — Class of 1978: 635 ... Reunion Attendees: 135 ... Conversations: 35 ... Good times!

Faces were older, hearts were still young, and the evening together was fun.

Thirty years later we were together again. Conversations often started with little clue of who I was talking with but it usually didn’t take long for some memory to flood my senses and fill me with recognition. It’s amazing how at their core people hadn’t changed much, except for the aging part that is. <grin>

I’m glad I attended; I’m happy I reconnected; I look forward to the 40th.

Tags reunion

Family Swim

Family Picture Update

Our Girls — I’m entitled to be proud! Here they are after winning the key meet of the year, thereby securing the league championship yet again ... way to go!!!

My primary purpose for this post is to share a picture of the family taken at today’s swim meet. It’s been a while so I figured an update was appropriate.

Family Picture

Family Road Travel

Across the U.S. with Kelsey

Post author By TravisGood
Post date July 8, 2008
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Kelsey Jumps for Joy — That girl can jump! 🙂 At the border of Indiana and Michigan on Ohio 66 we paused for this excited moment of picture taking. It was one moment among many on this best trip ever down Route 66!

We drove from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles but it was certainly not a straight line. To begin with we headed north to Cleveland and Chicago, then south and west along Route 66 through eight states to Santa Monica. We took many detours along the way and among them was a trip to San Antonio to visit my brother’s family, a trip to Dallas to attend a Rascal Flatts/Taylor Swift concert and a jaunt to the Grand Canyon. Yes, we drove a lot but we had a GREAT time!

Kelsey flew home; I headed to SF, turned right, and drove home.

On her return, Kelsey built a photo album that you can see here. <fix>

Suffice to say, on this trip we had the time of our lives!

For the Record:
We drove 4,550 miles to Los Angeles and I drove another 3,460 home.

Bridge Ocean Swim

Open Water, Long Distance

Post author By TravisGood
Post date June 10, 2008
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Chesapeake Bay Bridges — My goal was to swim across the Chesapeake Bay and do so within the two bridges. During much of the time, the tide was coming in and pushing me to the left .. which I had to compensate for.

Two swim meets in two weeks. On Sunday May 25 I swam the Lake Audubon 2-mile event and on Sunday June 8 I swam the Great Chesapeake Bay Swim 4.4-mile jaunt across the bay. The former event was tough only because I had little time to prepare having spent the prior month running around England and Paris. The latter event was just plain tough.

My times were competent but not extraordinary. I’m a middle-of-the-pack swimmer for competitive swimmers my age. I’m quite fine with that. Over time as the field narrows perhaps I’ll improve my standings! I swam the 2-mile in 53:17 and I came in 44 out of 213 swimmers in the wet suit division. I swam the 4.4-mile in 2:29:27 placing 360 out of 602 in the men’s division.

Here’s a brief photo summary of my longer swim:

Hike Summary Train Travel

Summary: England by Train, Paris by Foot

Post author By TravisGood
Post date April 17, 2008
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Train Aisle — Railroad began in England so it’s no wonder they have an extensive and very well run network. Towns and cities grew up around railway stations so I planned an adventure around this realization.

I’m about to embark on my latest good pursuits which will be accomplished by rail in England and by foot in Paris. Using a 22-day BritRail Pass and a book entitled “Britain by BritRail” I plan to visit 30-40 towns and get to know their stations and nearby sights. In Paris I’ll be using my box of 50 walking tour cards over the course of a week to familiarize myself with one of the world’s grandest old cities. If all goes well, I’ll be one tiny step closer to becoming a cosmopolitan man!

You can follow my adventures here.

Family

Schools are Settled

Kelsey and Courtney — Applying for colleges is an angst ridden process. Add in a high school application process and you have one gnarled burden. However, when it’s over with good results there is a delightful lightening sense of relief.

Courtney will be attending the amazing University of Virginia and
Kelsey will be going to Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology.

Mom and dad are immensely proud.

Good going girls! We love you!

Family Road Travel

Off the Coast down to Charleston

Post author By TravisGood
Post date March 26, 2008
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Kelsey with the Fairchild Kids — Either you have “road trip” in you or your don’t. This trip was the test for Kelsey and she passed with flying colors. She was a great travel partner and can I see many road trips in our future. Yeah!

Our goal was to visit Reggie and Judy and their amazing progeny but drive directly to Charleston? No way! We chose to go down as far east as we could through Virginia, North Carolina, and North Carolina which meant driving down the wonderful Outer Banks. This 200-mile series of connected islands off the coast is the site of America’s first flight (by the Wright brothers at Kill Devil Hills) and the home of many, many vacation getaways. Check out the link above for a satellite view of the island and you can see why it’s so distinct.

How much can be accomplished in 48 hours? A lot! From their home in Mount Pleasant we walked to buy fresh shrimp at the fleet docks and ice cream sodas at the Old Town Rexall Drug Store. We drove to the Exchange and Waterfront Park in Charleston. We also managed a ferry ride to another of their homes on Dewees Island where the setting was so pristine, unpopulated, and natural that I almost felt I was on a secluded island in the middle of the ocean.

Feeling immensely satisfied and thankful we drove home after a great visit.

During our 9.5 hours on the road Kelsey grew a pair of “road trip” wings.