This year was a down year for me, as far as traveling goes. I took one big, awesome vacation in the summer. But otherwise, I was a homebody. Which is lame, I know. However, I scraped together enough things to put together a top 10 list for the year. In past years I have had to cut out awesome things in order to get down to 10…so I’m a little disappointed that this year I had to scrape together 10 things. But such is life. Luckily, 2011 is already off to a promising start, with trips to Vegas, Boston, and Hawaii already on the books!
Anyways, away we go. My top 10 personal events of 2010!
10. The Danny Miller Experience
This happened super early in the year, and isn’t usually the kind of thing that makes my personal top 10 list. But this is an unusual year. And this is a good story. Basically, I was meeting up with some FTF friends before a Sharks game to celebrate some birthdays. And who walks by our table but Danny Miller, in arena announcer for the Sharks! We call him over, and chat with him for a bit, talk about how we’re there for some birthdays, and he offers to buy the birthday people a drink, which is pretty classy in and of itself. On his way out, he stops by our waitress, and leaves $100 for our tab…covering close to 2/3 of it! WOW! Danny Miller, you are a classy, classy man.
9. Thanksgiving with the Family
My Thanksgiving weekend usually gets overlooked in my annual top 10. Not this year. Nothing out of the norm happened, but it was just the same, usual, good time I always have seeing my cousins and family. Thursday we drive there, play some football, watch some football, and have our big dinner (21 people there this time). Then the rest of the weekend is for watching football, playing sports in the back yard, and visiting with family. It’s super chill, and always nice to see them. This year we left on Saturday night instead of Sunday morning, and I think I actually preferred that, as it was nice to have all day Sunday to myself before heading back to work. Always a good time.
8. Abalone Feed
This annual trek up to the Sonoma Coast is always fun, and usually pretty gorgeous. This year there was a lot of fog, though. We only got a little bit of sun during Saturday. Which is sad, but it happens. The food might have been at its best level ever. The ribs were divine, and the abalone was rich and delicious as always. I always eat like a pig at this thing…but its expected. Everyone does it! Titan was his usual self, relishing the chance to play with other dogs in the dirt. Good times. I always enjoy this camping trip.
7. Jason and Crystal's Wedding
My roommates got married! Hooray! It was a fun day spent over in Monterey that ended up including some World Cup soccer. The drinking began at 7am for the South Korea vs. Uruguay game. Then continued between games. Then continued for U.S. vs. Ghana. And then we left the bar and went back to the hotel room, for more drinking. Then off to the wedding. No drinking during the ceremony, but there was ample drinking afterwards. Then I stopped, felt sick, had a tequila shot that turned my stomach upside down…but I held it together, got some air. Then was sober, and danced and had a marvelous time! Then I went home and slept in my own bed. To be honest, I hadn’t been on a bender like that since college, but it was a glorious day all around. Capped off with a fun (although foggy) wedding with some good friends!
6. Winning the GE Golf League (Team 1), and Winning the End of Season Tournament
So, yeah, I had a pretty good year, golf-wise. During the regular season of the GE Golf League, I was terrible. I lost constantly. I was shooting horrifically high scores. And then, finally, I found my swing again! Just in time for the playoffs, which my team had made. I shot the lowest score of the week for the semifinals, and the third lowest score of the week for the finals (the only two scores lower than mine were teammates, which is a good thing). So we won the League title! I have a plaque and everything! Pretty awesome. Then, at the end of season tournament, I shot the lowest net score of everyone there…winning my flight (and in essence, the whole tournament), which got me a $100 gift card to sports authority! Which I then turned into a golf club! Solid! So, yeah, you can just refer to me as a golf champion!
5. Lake Tahoe and Snowboarding
Now we get to the traveling portion of my top 10. This year’s travels started in January with a trip to the snow in Lake Tahoe. It was colder than a motherfucker up there in the mountains, and it snowed for much of Sunday, but it was definitely an interesting experience. I ended up going snowboarding for the first time ever…and yeah, it was kinda hard. I had trouble staying up…and then when I got the hang of staying up, I couldn’t change directions or stop particularly well. But it was fun, and neat to be playing in the snow…something I usually avoid. And Lake Tahoe in the winter is gorgeous…especially the view from the top of Heavenly. And the snowing was interesting. It was a nice trip with good friends. One I will be missing in 2011, because my money is allocated elsewhere. Ah well…it was fun this year!
4. March Vegas Trip
This is the only Vegas trip I have taken this year, which is a big departure from the norm. We went a weekend in March specifically picked for two reasons. One, Pettibone was back from deployment and wanted to hit up Vegas. And two, it was the rumored weekend for the possible Pacquiao-Mayweather fight. Alas, number 2 never materialized, and Pacquiao ended up fighting Clottey in Dallas. But it was still fun to get out to Vegas. Played some craps, ate good food, drank some booze, etc. We watched the Pacquiao-Clottey fight from a bar on the strip. All in all, it was an enjoyable weekend. I’m actually back in Vegas right now as this post is being posted…but that will have to go on the 2011 list since I am there for New Years. Boom!
3. Yosemite for Sean’s Birthday
Every year it seems my buddy Sean does something fun for his birthday, and it seems every year I am unable to go for some reason or another. This year, though, I was THERE! And this year, it was a trip to Yosemite. So that was pretty cool. I hadn’t been to Yosemite in a few years, and April is a pretty time to go, with the snow starting to melt and the waterfalls running pretty good. On Saturday, we took a hike that pretty much killed me. It was long, and uphill, and long. But the end result was the top of a waterfall, so that was pretty. And I fucking did it! So that was good of me. Then Sunday I trolled around the valley floor, did the walk up to the base of Yosemite Falls, which was running good. And went out to Tunnel View, which is the most iconic view of the Valley. Got some great shots…and since it was 70 and sunny every day, it made for a very beautiful weekend.
2. Sharks v. Wings, Game 5, Western Conference Semifinals
This was the game where the Sharks defeated the Red Wings, closing out their series in 5 games, and finally got past the second round of the playoffs. I was in attendance that night, and it was, without a doubt, the greatest hockey game I have ever been to in my entire life. I mean, this was the kind of game and feeling that Sharks fans had been searching for the last few years. The feeling of being that much closer to the Stanley Cup Finals. And while we didn’t end up winning another game that playoffs, this game was just amazing. I remember running up and down the aisle as the final second ticked off, high five-ing and hugging random people. The Tank was as loud as I had ever heard it. Downtown San Jose was rocking afterwards. I had also never been to a handshakes game…and those end of series handshakes were oh so sweet! I hope every year that this memory will get trumped by one better (I want to go to a Trophy game)…but this was a pretty amazing game last year. One I cannot fully describe…you just had to be there!
1. Midwest Vacation
Well, this shouldn’t be a surprise. This vacation was epic, and definitely the best part of my year. I put up some pretty epic recaps of my trip with Dustin, which you can go back and read HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE. Those write-ups have pictures. This one will not. This write-up will also be rather abbreviated, as you can always just click on the links above to see all of what I did.
The trip started and ended in Milwaukee. It was the cheapest place to fly in and out of. And since this was a roadtrip, we could really begin anywhere…so there it was. We started out at the Milwaukee Art Museum, which was decent. Then drove down to Evanston, IL, where we were staying for the next few days. The next few days were spent in Chicago. One day we did stuffed pizza and the aquarium and then got to see my friend Kyle, who I hadn’t seen in ages. The next day was an epic baseball day, starting with an afternoon game at Wrigley Field. And, really, that was awesome. As a long-time baseball fan, it was amazing to see a game at Wrigley, one of the most iconic stadiums in the world. Afterwards we hit the road and drove back to Milwaukee to see the Brewers at Miller Park. That was cool too…a very interesting modern stadium. That night there were some epic thunderstorms, which affected our travel the next day.
The next day our 5 hour drive to Detroit took 8 hours instead, because of flooding from the previous night’s thunderstorms (like 5 inches of rain fell). That meant we were not able to head into Canada to see Point Pelee, which sucks. But we did get to see the Tigers play at Comerica Park, and wandered over to Joe Louis Arena, before driving to Dayton, OH to spend the night. The next morning we drove the 5 hours to Pittsburgh, PA for a day game at the most gorgeous stadium in baseball: PNC Park. Set on the riverbank, with the downtown skyline as a backdrop…it really is an amazing baseball stadium. That night we actually got to spend time in Pitt, which is a cool city. And it was nice to have an afternoon and evening to relax after all of the driving of the past few days. Some good food on the South Side, and some hookah…and then a good night’s sleep.
The next morning we were back up and at it, heading to the northern most point in West Virginia before stopping in Canton, OH for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The HoF was the one single highlight of the trip (if I had to pick just one), because I’m a huge football fan, and the history there was incredible. Then we headed into Cleveland, OH for the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame, which was super interesting as well. That night was an Indians game at Jacobs Field (although I don’t think it’s called that anymore), and then driving to Huron, OH for that night’s sleep. The next day was Cedar Point…an amusement park for Dustin, who loves roller coasters. The lines were too long for my taste, though, so I chilled on the beach, dipping my toes into Lake Erie. And that evening we drove to South Bend, IN for the night.
The next morning we bummed around the University of Notre Dame for a bit, then headed to Michael Jackson’s boyhood house in Gary, IN, before heading back to Evanston for one more night. That night we hit up the south side of Chicago for a White Sox game at U.S. Cellular Field…which ended up being among the more entertaining games of the trip. The final day, we spent some time at the Field Museum in Chicago, and caught up with Kyle one last time before driving back to Milwaukee and barely catching our flight home.
This was an amazing trip, and I’m still in awe of how much of the Midwest I was able to see in just over a week. I mean, it really was incredible how much land Dustin and I covered out there. And to see 6 ballgames in 5 different states in 6 days was just unreal. An ultimate trip that made of for an otherwise lackluster year.
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Anyways, I hope everyone had a great 2010, and have once again enjoyed my Year in Review. I really do enjoy making these for you. I’ll be back from Vegas and blogging again in 2011, so look forward to all the Q’s Adventures and Monday Morning Rants that you can handle! Happy New Year everyone!
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