We celebrated our 4th year of marriage in Oregon to check it off the list for golf. We flew into Portland and got a rental car to drive about 2 hours to the coast. I was really looking forward to this location, as it was right along the beach and was going to make for a relaxing, romantic anniversary.
We spent many mornings and evenings enjoying the view
As always our main goal for this destination was to golf and get the poker chip, checking Oregon off the list! Along the way we enjoyed dinners at small boutique restaurants, time together laughing and celebrating, and lots of walks on the beach to check out Haystack Rock.
The golf course we found was a links style and had some pretty cool history behind it.
The Oldest Course west of the Mississippi
Overall we enjoyed Oregon, mainly though we enjoyed celebrating each other!
2013 was a big stadium year for us – we went to three others outside of our hometown Broncos. For New Year’s Eve 2013 into 2014, we decided to go visit Dan’s family in Arizona. We surprised his dad, Marvin, with tickets to the Arizona Cardinal’s vs San Francisco 49er’s game.
Surprising him first with a jersey
Pure Joy
The Cardinal’s stadium is a dome, and they are actually the only field that rolls their grass outside to get sunlight. Their dome has a retractable roof as well which allows some natural light in during the game. It also allows the warmer Arizona temps in. We had really good seats in a section of the endzone, and beforehand we were able to walk around the stadium a bit for our Arizona fans to soak it all in.
Enjoying some eats after walking around
Watching Pre Game warm ups
A few days later we rang in the New Year with Marvin and the boys. In between, we got to visit Dan’s Uncles, Dan took me on a tour of where he grew up, and we just enjoyed the time spent with Marvin. It was a great trip – and we checked Arizona off of the NFL list!
Dan and I got married in 2014 and didn’t take a honeymoon. Before we decided that every year we would celebrate by golfing in another state, we decided to take a long one year anniversary trip. I am not sure how we picked the location, but it was one I was VERY familiar with; San Francisco, CA. I grew up just an hour east in the valley, and I went to college just over the bridge in Hayward.
Enjoying an anniversary crab dinner at the Wharf
I went all out when planning this trip, I wanted to show Dan all the sights – and by sights, I mean the places I grew up with, went to school to, visited as a child. We had Alcatraz, Fisherman’s Wharf, Sonoma, Hayward and Tracy on deck for the trip.
Wine Tasting in Sonoma
The whole point of this though, is in 2015 we checked California off of our bucket list and golfed in San Francisco twice. Now, although I grew up in California, I definitely did not recall that the weather in the bay is much different then the weather I grew up in. Tracy was hot in the summer, barely ever rained, very dry. San Francisco … not so much. Gray every morning, it was typically cool when we decided to golf and the sun rarely came out.
Our first course was full of four-leaf clovers, everywhere we went it was wet and sloppy, and overall while it was a nice course, the weather didn’t pan out as nice. We made the most of it with some music, beers and laughs of course.
Our first round of California golf!
The second course we decided to play stated they had the “best view of the Golden Gate” from hole 17. Well, when we got to hole 17, the fog and clouds were so thick, we wouldn’t have even known a bridge was there! It made for a funny little video we posted on social media, and we made the most of it. Of course, once the clouds cleared and the sun came out we did make it to see the Golden Gate Bridge and get a few pictures.
Super windy, iconic view of the Golden Gate
Overall our California golf trip was one that we truly enjoyed, because we got to pack a lot into the trip; we caught up with old friends and family, we toured the area, went to a few wineries and made some great memories together.
Before we started making it into a “thing”, one of the first
NFL stadiums we travelled to together was all for Dan – AT&T Stadium. As a
Christmas gift I got Dan tickets to see the Cowboys in Dallas (they just so
happened to be playing the Packers) We jet set out there on a Thursday night,
so we had plenty of time to explore the area.
One of the coolest things we did was go to the JFK memorial
museum. I grew up in a generation that really didn’t go over history much. (OK,
maybe I wasn’t paying attention) so I was very oblivious to what happened to
JFK in 1963. The museum was fascinating and I loaded up on tons of books to
learn all I could about the Kennedy family.
We spent a good deal of time driving around touring Dallas.
And if you know Dan, you know that really means we were on the hunt for a
Whataburger lol.
Gameday in Dallas is an experience for sure. For one, the
stadium is incredible. I just so happened to get a parking pass for the lot
that players were walking through pre game, and Dan got his jersey signed as we
were walking in. Our club level tickets allowed us access to the entire
stadium, which was also a highlight.
One of the major things Dan still talks about to this day is
the giant TV’s Jerry has outside the stadium. People can literally come to the
stadium just to sit outside it and watch (and there are bars and food out
there) It’s incredible. Plus people pay over $100 just to stand around inside
the stadium?! The ways to make money are endless here.
We had a great time cheering for the Cowboys. I promised Dan
that since it was a gift for him I would wear absolutely no Packers gear … and
the only Cowboy gear I told him I would wear was Aikman. Many a family member
were not pleased with my decision, but back then I was just making my boyfriend
happy – and that was worth it!
2013 – Dallas Cowboys stadium, checked off the bucket list!
Duncan Travels 