National Parks

The U.S. has 58 protected areas known as National Parks. I've sadly only been to five. Another travel objective...need to go to more. The current list includes: Acadia National Park - Maine; Cuyahoga Valley National Park - Ohio; Rocky Mountain National Park - Colorado; Zion National Park - Utah; Hawaii Volcanoes - Big Island Hawaii.

Pictures in order: Zion; Volcanoes; Rocky Mountain; Cuyahoga; Acadia

 

Ball Parks

One of my primary travel objectives has become visiting as many major league baseball parks as possible. In 1992 Oriole Park at Camden Yards was completed and so began baseball's move back to the more "retro" park. This trend focused on the more traditional, fan friendly park with locations in the heart of major cities, and many were constructed to include the city landscape as an integral part of the stadium experience. I think it is this aspect which drew me to the stadiums as each of the new stadiums seem to uniquely embody the character of the cities in which they reside. While many of the new stadiums capture this vibe its still hard to match the charm of a couple of the oldies, and none do it better than Fenway Park in Boston and Wrigley Field in Chicago. To date I have been to 14 big league parks, both old and new. They include:

Tiger Stadium - Detroit; Comerica Park - Detroit; Camden Yards - Baltimore; Yankee Stadium (old) - New York; Yankee Stadium (new) - New York; Rogers Center - Toronto; Fenway Park - Boston; Progressive Field - Cleveland; Great American Ballpark - Cincinnati; PNC Park - Pittsburgh; Wrigley Field - Chicago; At&T Park - San Francisco; Coors Field - Colorado; Petco Park - San Diego

My faves are pictured below:



If I could go back in time this is the stadium I would most liked to have seen. Brooklyn Dodgers, Ebbets Field.

New York City

My two favorite cities to visit in the U.S. are without a doubt New York and San Francisco. This week I returned from a trip to NY and what a fabulous trip it was. Each time I go I find something new to marvel at in that city. On this particular trip I was able to do some things I had not previously done. I walked the Brooklyn Bridge and strolled through Brooklyn Heights and along the Brooklyn Promenade. I walked Central Park during a driving rain storm which offered a totally unique perspective on many things I had seen before. Visited a new park called the HighLine, an amazing feat of urban  planning built on an old, elevated train line that runs through the west side of the city. Took a ride on the Staten Island Ferry which offered amazing views of the city. And, saw an amazing musical based one of my favorite movies, Once. The pictures below capture some of these things.

Marley

This week marked the 31st anniversary of Bob Marley's death. I'm a huge fan of the man and his music. He was only 36 when he died, and at the time of his death he had become an incredibly influential figure worldwide. 31 years later this influence is still strong. I had the pleasure of attending the 30 year anniversary celebration of his final concert. It was held by the Marley family in Pittsburgh at the very place he held his last show, and it was the first time they had all come together for such an event. As I never had the chance to see Bob when he was alive this was as close as I was ever going to get and it was an amazing experience.

Golden Gate

I don't want to belabor the bridge theme but I had to call out the Golden Gate as being the bridge I am most fascinated with and most enjoy shooting. Something about the sight of it, the unique color, it's location, the improbability of its construction, and of course it's dark side. A walk across the bridge is pretty special and gives you a strong sense of all of these things. I'd be lying however if I didn't admit it is the darker side of the bridge that is particularly compelling to me. Let's just write this off to...say...morbid curiosity and leave it at that. But the facts are pretty interesting...it has become second to Mount Mihara, a volcano in Japan, as a place to commit suicide. Current estimates peg the known number of people who have met their demise in this fashion at over 1,400. It's a 220 foot plunge and it takes four seconds to hit at over 80 miles an hour. Standing on the bridge looking over, it's every bit as terrifying as it would seem and it's hard to imagine wanting to go out this way. Particularly when you are in a place that seems to scream hey, look around you, amazing, these are some of the things that make life worth living.  ...Not that simple of course, but it's this contrast that gives the bridge it's unique, if not sometimes disturbing character.  This documentary is one of my favorites and does a fantastic job of exploring this contrast.