30 Years of Happiness and Travel

Wine and dinner in Whistler, Canada

Thirty years ago today I married an amazing woman who is my love, my best friend and my soul mate. She is everything one could want in a wife, and more.

As this posts, at roughly 7:30am Pacific Time, we will be already up and at our anniversary day, celebrating the event in London. Plans are for a vow renewal with our friend Lindsay, a priest with the Church of England, officiating. Then off to an evening at the pub with friends for a night of mayhem (well, at our age maybe "hem" is more appropriate).

But for me, the most important part is the fulfillment of something I wondered when we were young and freshly married: what would we be like, what would we be doing in thirty years.

And answering my 24 year old self: We're having a great time.

Here are a few of our many adventures over the years.

Wedding day. June 15, 1985

In Monet's Garden, Giverny, France

Crossing Abbey Road

On the tundra, looking for polar bears

My wife counseling turtles in the Cayman Islands

Swimming with dolphins in Puerto Vallarta

Glaciers in the Tracy Arm Fjord, Alaska

Ballooning with Jim and Glenda

Times Square

Whitewater Rafting in Northern California

The Yukon. Of course.

Snorkeling on the Na Pali Coast, Kauai

Chilling out on St Barth

Swimming with manta rays off Kona

Seattle Underground with Ray and Vicky

Our first big trip: Paris

Venice gondola ride

Bandolier National Monument, NM

The Grand Canyon

At the Sydney Opera House

Sunset atop Blackcomb Mountain, BC

Riding a fan boat in the Everglades

Snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef

The Colosseum, Rome

Visiting Washington, DC

Celebrating my 54th birthday at Disneyland Resort. Cheers!

Pic of the Day: One Month From Today

One month from today my blushing bride and I will be in London celebrating our 30th anniversary. We have a planned "Party at the Pub" and an earlier in the day recommitment ceremony in the park near Big Ben. Our friend Lindsay -- a priest at St. James Piccadilly -- will be performing the ceremony.

I will be posting photos of our entire journey, which will commence in New York City, cross the pond to London, and join my parents for Fathers' Day in Annapolis.

And yes, there will be martinis.

God we were young...

(No, I did not take this picture. Obviously. It's from our official photographer's work. I suppose he thought he was being funny when he included the Stop sign in the background, or he simply didn't see it -- any decent photographer would have caught that and moved to his left to obscure the sign behind the limo driver. I catch those things now, many years later.)

300

A TOAST FOR THIS, MY 300TH POST

 -- More than 37,000 hits along the way --

Thank you for joining me and mine on our journey, and hopefully creating a few of your own!

All I need is a change of clothes, my Nikon, an open mind and a strong cup of coffee.