Our 23rd anniversary

  Grab a cup of tea, this one could take awhile.

We were married by a JP  in our living room on November 10th 1987.

Who are those skinny people?

Both Carse & Cowling clans were present in full.

But of course, the story started well before then.

We met at the International Balloon Fiesta,

Alburquerque, New Mexico. 

October 1983. 

It's 7:00am and yes, that's champagne in my glass. 

We spent a wonderful decade flying the Spirit all over Alberta, BC, Montana and of course back in New Mexico.  We could be found most week-end mornings on a launch field at the crack of dawn.

We've been extremely fortunate to be able to travel and have adventures around the world. 

  In no particular order:

Our first trip together was to England, Scotland and Wales in 1986.

Castles, canal boats and an introduction to some of my crazier relatives.

We've made a movie in San Martin de los Andes, Argentina

We've sailed around the Greek Islands

In Australia, we climbed Ayers Rock, played with kangaroos and koalas, snorkeled on the Great Barrier Reef and drank enough Fosters to make the Aussies proud.

We've been on the most amazing safari in Africa.  We saw every kind of animal up much closer than we ever imagined. (Too close for comfort sometimes).  We petted cheetahs, fed giraffes, watched the wildebeast gathering for their annual migration, had a midnight picnic in the middle of the Serengetti and "camped" in the jungle surrounded by lions and baboons.

So much to do in New Zealand we ran out of time.  We'll have to go back to see the rest later. Spent 2½ weeks driving like fools in our rented camper van.  Built our own hot pool at low tide at Hot Water Beach, climbed around a very active volcano on White Island.  Punted along the beautiful Avon River in Christchurch and did a little sea kayaking. No trouble sleeping - lots of sheep to count. 

China was our first vacation with the Wongs.  Too lazy to use a thesaurus, but there's got to be something better than  awesome and amazing, because it was WAY beyond those wimpy descriptions.

We squeezed in a visit to Epcot centre on our way to a Caribbean cruise.  The mv Caribe (or was it the ss Minnow?) was somewhat less than luxurious, and we didn't really enjoy the whole cruising thing, but we did get a tiny taste of Puerto Rico, we rode horses in the Dominican Republic and had a spectacular, albeit  terrifying helicopter ride over the British Virgin Islands

 Then there was a bicycling/barge tour of the Netherlands.

Another vacation with Lesley and Dave.  Peru was everything we had ever imagined it to be.  Hiking up to the Sun Gate at Machu Picchu was breathtaking in both senses of the word. Touring Lake Titicaca and the floating islands in a reed boat was a hoot.  We flew over the Nazca lines, petted a condor, missed a flight, but found a miracle-performing Jesus in the parking lot of the airport (There's a story there)  We ate some of the best food I've ever tasted and fell in love with Pisco Sours, the national drink.

 

A quick, romantic trip to Paris & Versailles

Pictures and words couldn't possibly do justice to the San Franciso Kidnap caper with Bill & Vi.  Ask us about it sometime.  It's a story we love to share.  Complete with CD slide show.

New York.  The Big Apple. It started with me hearing about a show that I HAD to see.  (Movin' Up with Billy Joel's music and Twyla Tharpe's choreography. - What's not to love?)  It turned into a Wong family reunion of sorts.  Dave reunited with his mother after several decades and Jessica & Samantha finally met their other grandmother.

We packed a lot of stuff into that long weekend!

A camping and cycling trip around the the rim of the Grand Canyon

We battled flooding and hurricanes on a trip to the Baja peninsular in search of vacation property after a very persuasive sales pitch convinced us to check out Loreto Bay.

Can't believe I missed Chile & Easter Island.  It was one of my favourite vacations too!  Lesley, Dave, Dan & I covered a LOT of ground on this trip.  It was all excellent, but the expedition cruise around Cape Horn and Easter Island were definite highlights.

 There have been countless trips to Mexico including a couple to Playa del Carmen, a couple to San Miguel de Allende, Guadalajara, Lake Chapala, Ajijic, Ixtapa, and of course Puerto Peñasco.  
A couple of years ago we spent 4 months driving aimlessly around the southern US and Mexico in our first VW van, just following the sunshine.  And now we have a vacation property in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico.

We're not finished yet, there is still a LOT of world out there that we want to see.

It's not all adventure and travelling though.  We've survived plenty of home renovations and major backyard building projects. 

We've had our share of sorrow too.  We've lost some good friends along the way, both sets of parents and Shanda, our sweet, 3-legged beauty. 

It doesn't matter if it's sudden or prolonged, there's just no easy way to handle those kinds of losses.

So today we celebrate 23 years.  Of harmony?  Hardly...

We have different tastes in almost everything.

Musically, Dan leans toward Phil Collins and Elton John

While I, apparently, grew up on the harsher side of the '70's and prefer Janis Joplin and Led Zeppelin

We don't agree on books.  Dan reads mostly non-fiction tomes involving politics and current events.

And I think we've already established that I like the girly, escapist fluff novels.

The widest chasm though is our food tastes.  They border on irreconcilable differences.  Dan has been known to eat (and I'm trying not to gag here)  peanut butter and pickle sandwiches, while I eat Marmite (aka road tar) on toast, daily. 

With all our differences though, the core values that make us who we are, are the same, and that's what keeps us going in a world with a 50% divorce rate.

Best friends and soul mates...just don't ask me to be in the same room when he's eating one of those sandwiches!