Category: Ocean

Point Bonita Lighthouse

Since 1968 I’ve wanted to visit this lighthouse which has guided ships to the Golden Gates for almost 150 years. From 1968 to 1971 I lived in the Bay Area while my father attended law school. Even then before the government started to free-up lands and build parks there was much to see and do. However, my recollection is that this lighthouse was off-limits and remains fairly inaccessible even today. Nowadays you can visit Point Bonita Lighthouse but only for three hours each Saturday and Sunday afternoon.

The bridge span to the lighthouse can only support two people at a time.

Family Ocean Swim Travel

Family Together in Sunny Cancun

Post author By TravisGood
Post date December 27, 2009
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It happens all too infrequently anymore. With Courtney off at UVA and the Kelsey on a different school holiday calendar we have few windows in which to all be together. Winter breaks they have in common so this holiday season Beth made sure we took full advantage of it. Off to Cancun we went!

There’s something special about only having one agenda and no distractions. Courtney wasn’t trying to run off to see old friends. Kelsey didn’t have games or activities or homework to pull her away. We were all “stuck” in Cancun and we were living the relaxing experience together. Sun. Water. Warmth. We had their favorite ingredients in abundance and only wavered from relaxing on two occasions for tours to Isla Mujeres and Chichen Itza.

Sunny Cancun

Hike Mountain Ocean Travel

JazzTrax in Paradise

I have a great time each year as do hundreds of others. JazzTrax is wall-to-wall live jazz starting on Thursday evening and continuing through Sunday night. This year I saw old favorites and was introduced to new artists. My uncle has been responsible for helping many an artist “break out” of the pack and ignite their career. The fact that this all happens on a lovely island just an hour from Los Angeles only adds to the charm. Very nice. Highly recommended!

Desert Hike Mountain Ocean Travel

Hiking the Trans-Catalina Trail

Post author By TravisGood
Post date October 11, 2009
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No, I did not hike the full length of trail which begins in the far north of Catalina at Starlight Beach and finishes in the far south at Pebbly Beach. I did what was a reasonable one-day outing, a total distance was around 12 miles.

Trans-Catalina Trail

Crazy as it sounds I hiked from Point B to Point A.

Mountain Ocean Road Travel

Descending in to Los Angeles

Post author By TravisGood
Post date October 9, 2009
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Descending into LA — The Catalina Express ferry is an hour long shuttle between Long Beach and Catalina Island where the JazzTrax festival is held in Avalon’s glorious Casino. No, there is no gambling there, ever.

To avoid the burden and cost of staying in Los Angeles I spent my last west-bound night in Victorville, a city on the north side of town beyond the San Bernardino mountains. It’s another world up there but it’s a town I know rather well from having visited it many times. It lies on Route 66 which is one of my favorite road trips so I’ve been there several times.

My primary goal was simply to not miss my 2:00 ferry. On the way I planned on visiting my uncle’s cabin in Big Bear Lake and take in a scenic drive or two if time allowed. Wow! Was I pleasantly surprised!

Hike Ocean Road Travel

Acadia National Park

Jordan Pond is a spot I got a bit caught-up in. The water is crystal clear, the water was like glass, and the surrounding hills were quite the spectacle. No wonder I returned there four times!

Twenty five years ago Beth and I spent some of our honeymoon in Bar Harbor so we could enjoy this neighboring national park. My memory of Acadia was vague. I remembered islands, camping at ocean’s edge, and eating lobster but not much more. Perhaps it was the good vibe of getting married mixed with a wondrous setting but returning has long been a travel priority.

Ocean Travel

Dave Koz Jazz Cruise

Cruise Jam Session — To spend time with people who share a passion is a wonderful experience. Spending a week at sea with dozens of musicians, 1,800 jazz enthusiasts and my best friend was great!

No elaborate story here, just a series of ingredients which when mixed together produced the best child-free vacation we’ve had since Courtney and Kelsey were born.

Here are the ingredients:

– Eight days on Holland America’s cruise ship Westerdam.
– Four ports-of-call: St. Barth’s, St. Thomas, Half Moon Cay, and Samana.
– Dozens of renown contemporary jazz artists sequestered on the ship.
– Multiple concerts, a myriad of activities, and wonderful food every day.
– 1,800 jazz fans with whom to share the entire experience.

Best of all? This trip was shared with my best friend of 25 years … Beth.

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:

Mountain Ocean River Road Summary Travel

The World’s Longest National Road – Driving the TCH

Post author By TravisGood
Post date May 2, 2007
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TCH Walking Tours — Every Yellow Icon Represents a Night's Stay in Canada

Since I was going to drive the length of the Trans-Canada Highway (TCH), from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Victoria, British Columbia, I was going to need regular exercise so as to stay fit and an engaging project to keep my mind occupied and interested. If I could do both and at the same time learn a lot about Canada then all the better.

The answer of what to do came from a book entitled “Canada: Coast to Coast” which not only details thousands of points of interest along Canada’s major highways, but also includes full walking tours for 14 of Canada’s largest cities. Twelve of these 14 were along my chosen path so I resolved to walk all twelve tours.

This site is not about my walking tours.
This site is about something I did during each tour.
At every tour stop I recorded a brief video from my wife and daughters.

This page has the videos I made across my three week journey down the TCH (12 Apr 07 – 2 May 07).