Time warp

This week a friend asked me an interesting question.
"Say time travel was possible and affordable. It only cost as much as it does to go to Australia or Africa, say around $2500. But you could only do it 3 times in your life. Where would you want to go?"
I came up with so many ideas. He left it pretty much wide open. I didn't have to worry about affecting what would happen in the future. I didn't have to worry about clothes, speech, or culture for the time period, all things which would probably be very important. I was also free to choose from the vast span of history, all the way back to the dinosaurs and early man. If I died in the past however, I was fucked. There's no travel insurance for time travel, at least not in this scenario.
I can't tell you how hard it is to come up with three places in time I would want to go to. At first my answers felt really dumb. Here I was, free to go to places and moments in time that have affected the way we live our lives today, and my first two had to do with sporting events. So I've given it a lot more thought and I've come up with a list of ten. Yeah yeah I know I only get three. Well these are my top ten. If it ever becomes a possibility then I will randomly pick three of these out of a hat, fair enough? Enjoy.

1-To be a passenger on the Enola Gay.
I'd travel back to the summer of 1945, and I guess I'd have to figure out a way to finagle a ride on the B-29 that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. I can't imagine what it would look like to see that mushroom cloud rising over the city, to the the shockwave roll out and annihilate everything in it's path. The power and destruction must have been breathtaking.
2-To see the Rumble in the Jungle
I would head to Africa in 1974 so I could witness probably one of the greatest boxing matches in history. I'd have to figure out a way to get a press pass so I could get into the training area. I also would have had to get some kind of access to ringside in the hopes of hearing Ali tell Foreman that his punches were weak.
3-To see the Chicago Bulls begin their second 3-peat
I can remember watching this final series on TV, god it seems like forever ago. Father's Day, June 1996 marked the beginning of the second 3-peat for the Chicago Bulls. I was a Bulls nut when I was younger, but back then who wasn't? To make this jaunt back in time more special, I'd have to get back into the locker room after the game so I could see Michael Jordan actually cradling the trophy and crying.
4-To be in the last helicopter convoy leaving Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War
Now this is a really dark one. I'd have to travel back to April of 1975, so I could hop a ride on one of the helicopters that left the American embassy before Saigon fell. I don't really know why this one makes the list, it's so fucking grim. It just seems like such an important moment, albeit a depressing one.
5-To witness the gunfight at the O.K. Corral
It's pretty crazy to travel back in time to witness an event that took thirty seconds, but come on. I mean the Earps and Doc Holliday against the Clantons and McLaurys? I would have definitely had to find a saloon where I could have watched from a window or balcony as these legends tried to take each other out.
6-To see Houdini in a magic show
My next destination would take me back to some time in the early 1900s, so I could witness one of the greats, Harry Houdini. Magic has always interested me since I was a kid, not so much that I sit around doing card tricks in my spare time, but I love to see a good magic trick and wonder how it was done. I figure if you have to watch someone do it, you might as well watch one of the best.
7-To ride with Sonny Barger and the Hells Angels
Now for this one I'd have to go back to the mid 50s so I could ride with Sonny Barger and his Oakland chapter of the Angels. I think this one speaks for itself. I mean we are talking about riding with the most notorious biker gang of all time, with the man who would really bring the gang into the limelight.
8-To be part of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
I don't know how I'd do this one, since the expedition took two years. As I've gone back and forth across the country the past few years I've always wondered what it would be like to see something like the Rocky Mountains or the Grand Canyon for the first time. I would love to see prairies full of buffalo. I know the danger of this one is off the charts, but it'd be worth it to me.
9-To ride with the Mongols
No I don't mean the other motorcycle gang. I'm talking about Ghengis Khan and his horde that rode and conquered so much of Asia in the thirteenth century. Did you know that Mongol archers were so accurate that they could hit a rabbit from 100 yards while riding a horse at full gallop? I mean do you know how hard that would be? Once again the logistics of doing this would be insane, considering I'm as white as a ghost I don't know how I'd be able to slip in unnoticed, but we're not worrying about that.
10-To see Bad Brains at CBGBs in the 1980s
I thought long and hard about one band that I would really want to go back and see in their heyday. Bad Brains is my favorite band of all time. CBGBs was probably one of the best punk/hardcore venues of all time. New York city in the 1980s was like the wild west. 'Nuff said.