For several years now I've been collecting refrigerator magnets as souvenirs of the places I've been to in my travels. But this year has been quite the bummer as I've not been anywhere since the beginning of the Covid lockdowns. (As you know though, the whole year hasn't been exactly a bust since I was able to eek out one cruise back in February.)
With just 13 days until I start my new job, I'm really itchin' to try and squeeze one more vacation in and cram that magnet up with the ones shown below.
From left to right, top to bottom, I'll try to point out what each magnet is and from when and where it came:
Made from a small square of painted wood, this is one of my oldest magnets. I got it at the gift shop on the south rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona back in October 2001. (The flat panoramic view magnet on the far upper right is also from the same visit)
The dollar sign is not a travel memento, it's part of a collection of Andy Warhol painting depictions scattered throughout the other ones.
The famous Las Vegas sign is from the huge gift shop near the Stratosphere on the Las Vegas strip from my first visit to Vegas back in April 2012.
Of course I live in Florida but this Disney themed Florida magnet is oddly enough from a visit to an I-Drive gift shop when I stayed overnight at a Red Roof Inn to play at SeaWorld for a couple of days back in December 2009.
I have yet to look up why flying pigs are apparently a thing associated with Cincinnati, Ohio but I got this winged sow at an airport shop while I visited there the first time in August 2018.
Another non-travel magnet, this Coke drinking polar bear is from a collection of Coke memorabilia magnets several years ago.
The aforementioned other Grand Canyon piece.
Key West sunset from a Mallory Square gift shop on my first visit there in July 2019 while sailing on the Royal Caribbean Majesty of the Seas.
Belize fish magnet from my first visit to Harvest Kaye, Belize in November 2018 while sailing on the Norwegian Breakaway.
Two more tiny Warhol magnets.
The dino skeleton fossil from the Museum of Science in Boston, Massachusetts gotten from the museum gift shop in June 2013.
The very next day after getting that Museum of Science magnet, I got this Empire State Building magnet from a sidewalk vendor about a block away from the actual Empire State Building in New York City, New York in June 2013.
Got this fabulous Mardi Gras mask magnet from a shop within the Riverwalk Shopping Complex near the New Orleans pier as I waited to embark the Norwegian Breakaway in November 2018.
I think I bought this Majesty of the Seas button magnet during my second cruise on her back in September 2019.
Back to the far left again, this is clearly another Coke memorabilia magnet.
Got this Mayan art figure magnet from the gift store at the Choccoben Mayan ruin site near Costa Maya in Quintana Roo, Mexico while sailing on the Norwegian Breakaway in November 2018.
This chunky map of Rhode Island magnet was bought while waiting for my train to Boston at the Providence Amtrak Station in downtown Providence, RI in June 2013.
Got this square skyline sketch of Atlanta (along with a not shown bigger 3-D lucite dolphin magnet filled with blue water and little, tiny dolphins) from the gift shop within the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Georgia in March 2017.
Just below the dinosaur skeleton mentioned already, there is a silver metallic teddy bear with swinging arms and legs from Las Vegas bought at an airport gift shop on my second visit to Las Vegas, Nevada back in January 2016. He has a little Las Vegas sign printed on his belly. The JFK and Elvis on either side of him are more Warhol magnets, of course.
The UOAP (Universal Orlando Annual Passholder) magnet was mailed to me while I was last a passholder back in 2017.
This Las Vegas nighttime Strip pic magnet is, I think, from the near Stratosphere souvenir shop back in 2012.
And this tiny Jacki O is another Warhol magnet. Along with the iconic Marilyn back on the far left.
This metallic Oregon Ducks magnet is NOT from one of my travels. I've never been to Oregon. Cheryl K. a co-worker back in my Symantec days gave one of these out to each of us in the department after her visit to the Customer Care division home office in Springfield, Oregon sometime in 2007 or 2008.
This raised plastic bas relief of a dolphin breaching near a palm-tree festooned beach is from my first visit to the Bahamas while sailing on the Royal Caribbean Monarch of the Seas back in November 2012.
This brightly colored Cozumel magnet is from a gift shop near the pier on that island in Mexico while sailing on the Norwegian Breakaway in November 2018.
Got this Kentucky magnet from a shop in the Cincinnati airport which is actually in Kentucky back in August 2017.
Campbells soup can, you know who of course.
Shull and crossbones from Nassau, Bahamas visited while sailing on the Royal Caribbean Monarch of the Seas in November 2012.
And just to the right of that is some plastic molded sea shells on a magnet from a small souvenir shop at Ocho Rios, Jamaica visited while sailing on the MSC Armonia in September 2019.
Back to the left, we have a lucite slab depiction of the Budweiser Clydesdale sleigh bought from the gift shop inside the Anheuser-Busch brewery in St. Louis, Missouri in February 2019.
Greetings from Indianapolis magnet bought at a shop in the Indianapolis, Indiana airport in November 2019.
This hand-painted wood sailing ship and lobster magnet was purchased from a sidewalk vendor near the embarkation pier for the Codzilla speedboat ride in downtown Boston back in June 2013.
A hard-to-see tiny self-portrait of AW.
A metallic-faced magnet drawing of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri from the gift store underneath the arch in February 2019.
Hand-painted classic NASA logo magnet from the gift shop at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor's Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida in May 2018.
From an onboard gift shop comes this depiction of the Norwegian Breakaway while sailing on her for the second time in April 2019.
All the way left again, I think this one is made of molded plaster. Just another example of the fun weirdness that was the MSC Armonia sailed in September 2019.
This rubbery depiction of gambling is yet another Las Vegas magnet, this one from the airport shop in January 2016.
This one showing the front of Mann's Chinese Theater and the similar on all the way to the right showing a collage of LA scenes are from the same gift store probably at LAX when I visited Los Angeles, California back in September 2014.
Another magnet, this one a holograph of the Space Shuttle from my visit to KSC in May 2018.
And last, but not least, this small lucite square with a colorful fish drawing from a pier-side gift store in Georgetown, Cayman Islands visited while sailing the MSC Armonia in September 2019.