Saturday, May 30, 2020

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- Tell Us About Your "Last Ride"

It's Saturday Night - 

time for more Genealogy Fun! 


Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible music here) is to:

1)  Check out "The Last Ride ... " on my other non-genealogy blog.  I thought it was beautiful and started thinking about my "last ride."

2)  Consider where you would go on your "last ride."  Where would you start, where would you finish, what stops would you make to live a memory?  What memories do you have about those places?  


  3)  Tell us about your own Memory Lane in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or in a post on Facebook.  Be sure to leave a link to your work as a Comment to this post.

Here's mine:

My "last ride" would have to be in the southern part of San Diego county.  I would start at my present home in Chula Vista and end at a hospice in Chula Vista.  I would want to drive by, and/or stop at, these places:

*  In Chula Vista,  would go east on Via Trieste and then west on East Naples Street, waving at homes of friends and neighbors.  Past Kellogg School where the girls started (K to grade 2), and then turning north on Hilltop Drive to Chula Vista Presbyterian Church, where we were married 50 years ago, baptized our daughters, served as an elder, supported the building program, and are friends with pastors and many congregants.  Then west on L Street past Lori's high school and down to Bay Blvd., and right on Bay to drive past Rohr/Goodrich where I worked for 37 years - lots of friends worked here, and mostly good memories.  West on F Street to the Bayfront Marina where I walked with my friend George for decades, and then east on J Street all the way to Hilltop Jr. High where Lori and Tami attended, and to Hilltop High where Tami attended, then further east on J to Halecrest School where the girls went for grades 3 to 6.  A short left to East H Street and a ride through the Home Depot and Costco parking lots, and back down H Street to see the house that I came to as an infant at 577 Twin Oaks.  North on Third Avenue to F Street, then west on F to the Chula Vista Library where I've researched for 32 years, taught and presented genealogy for 25 years - I have many good memories here. Marie Callenders was across the street, but is closed now, and so we go west to I-5, going past our favorite restaurant, Black Angus on E Street.  

*  Back on I-5 going north and we get off  on Pershing Drive, and go up though the windy canyons past Golden Hill rec center, around the golf course to Date Street and the paper route, down 30th Street to Brooklyn School, then back up Fern Street to where I grew up at 2119 30th Street - so many memories there!  A walk around the block is in order - I wish I could go inside my former home.  A short drive down to Grape Street park filled with memories of home runs,  flag football, and roaming the canyons.  Then back to 30th Street to go over to Morley Field where we went swimming and played baseball as kids.  A quick run over to Roosevelt Junior High (my alma mater), then south on Park Blvd. past the San Diego Zoo, the Natural History Museum, the Science Center, and then down El Prado past all of the Spanish-themed buildings from the 1915 and 1935 expositions, and then south to the Aerospace Museum.  Back on Park Blvd., we go past San Diego High, my alma mater.  Finally, past the new San Diego library at K Street and remembering the daily visits to the old library on E Street as a high school kid.

*  It's a short way down Imperial Avenue to Petco Park where we've had Padres season tickets since 2004, then past another favorite restaurant, the Tin Fish on 5th Avenue, and onto Hilltop Drive to go along the Bay past Seaport Village, the Midway Museum, to the Airport, and onto Harbor Island for a last view of the city buildings and the ships moored at the Navy base in Coronado, and then back on Harbor Drive to Scott Street, and south on Scott to Shelter Island, driving around Shelter Island past the fishing pier (my grandfather took us fishing as boys), and then up Talbot Street to Armada Terrace to see my grandparents home for the last time.  One more journey down steep Lucinda Street and we are back on Talbot past Westminster Presbyterian, where we had my mother's memorial service and saw many plays, and then south on Catalina Blvd. to the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery to visit mom and dad one more time, and to thank them for bringing me into this world and teaching me about life.  

*  We return north on Catalina and go down Hill Street to Ocean Beach to drive along the cliffs, and see the surfers, then through OB to visit Mission Bay, a trip around the Sea World parking lot, and over to Mission Beach and Belmont Park where we enjoyed the rides, the boardwalk,  bodysurfing and watching girls while lying on the beach.  North on Mission Blvd. to La Jolla Blvd, and we wind our way through La Jolla to the Cove area to see the seals and watch the waves, then up La Jolla Shores to visit UCSD where I did some graduate work.  

*  From La Jolla we go east to I-805, and south to I-8 and go east to visit SDCCU Stadium (used to be Qualcomm Stadium) where we watched many Padres and Chargers games from 1968 to 2004, then across the freeway to the Family History Center where I reviewed family history microfilms for about 25 years every Saturday doing genealogy research.  From there it is up Montezuma Road to San Diego State University where I graduated with an aerospace engineering degree in 1966, but I don't recognize the buildings!  Then it is south on I-15 to Highway 94, and onto I-5 south to go across the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge one last time.  

*  We drive down Orange Avenue past the Lamb's Player's theatre where we had season tickets for 20 years, and past Miguel's, another favorite restaurant, and then to the stately Hotel del Coronado to see the inside.  Back on the road, we go the ten miles down the Silver Strand to the State Beach where our family enjoyed the beach, sand castles, bodysurfing, and food for decades.  Several more miles south is Imperial Beach where we have taken the grandkids to the beach.   From there, it's east on Palm Avenue all the way to Otay Mesa to see our first home on Coleman Court, and then north on I-805 back to Chula Vista and the shopping center on Palomar and then past the softball field where the girls played and I coached for 10 years, and, hey, we're home again on Via Trieste.

*  I decided I would rather pass away in my home surrounded by my loved ones, our familiar furniture and stuff, my genealogy work, and watching the Padres on TV.  One last trip through the family tree, and I think I'm done - give me a minute or two to post it to Facebook.  It's been a great life full of love and happiness and learning and friends and travel and memories.  My only wishes are that the Chargers were still here, the Padres had won a World Series, and one of my descendants had shown an interest in genealogy and family history.  Hope springs eternal...

Where will my body end up?  Probably Glen Abbey Memorial Park in Bonita so that I am close to my roots and my memorable places.

Here's the map - for the descendants to follow on the Randy Seaver San Diego Memory Tour in case they don't get to take my last ride with me ... 


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Copyright (c) 2020, Randall J. Seaver

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5 comments:

Diane Gould Hall said...

Well, my dear friend, I hope this isn’t a trip you'll take any time soon. That being said, I also hope your girls are listening and save your post.

Janice M. Sellers said...

It's an interesting subject to think about.

http://www.ancestraldiscoveries.com/2020/05/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-tell-us.html

M. Diane Rogers said...

Hope we've all got years and years more. Here's my answer - sort of: https://canadagenealogy.blogspot.com/2020/05/a-last-ride-day-17-21-day-family.html

Ellen T-J said...

Randy, I hope this ride does not happen for many years to come. What I loved about this blog is that it helped me discover your other blog, which I didn't know about.(I know sometimes it amazes me what I've missed) It's now in my Feedly list.

Lacie Madison said...

I haven't really thought about this. Hopefully, we have more years to come and create many more life-fulling memories.
My post.