Tuesday, September 15, 2009

twenty-one years, but who's counting???

Last month, Keith and I celebrated our twenty-first year of marriage. Wow, right?? Which means I have been married for as long as I was single. That is kind of a crazy thing to wrap my mind around. We have spent most of our entire adult lives together -- what a weird and wonderful thing that is.

Last year for our big 20th, we had tentively planned a trip to the Pacific Northwest. It was going to be great. Instead, Keith got (not-too-reluctantly) pulled into coaching Austin's football team, so on our anniversary he was on the sidelines and we were not in the Pacific Northwest. This year, he is not coaching, but with money tight, we took a very speedy retreat to nearby Lake Tahoe instead. We were only gone from home for about 30 hours, and although we would love to have stayed a month, it was better than nothing. I surprised him by making reservations for the Heavenly Flyer, the longest zipline in the lower 48. To ride that, you first have to take a Gondola ride up to Heavenly ski resort, then take a ski lift even further up, and then take the 80-second, 60 mph, 525 foot drop ride from there. I told him that I thought it was symbolic of the ride of marriage. It was gorgeous up there, and SO MUCH FUN; I would recommend it to all of you on your next Tahoe vacation.

Here we are, most of the way up on the Gondola (in the background). The gondola ride was way more scary to me than the zipline. I hate the bumpy feeling as it goes over the joints, so I took the chance to hop off for a few minutes and regain my courage for the rest of the vertical journey.

Here we are at the top. Pretty high!


Here we are in line for the Heavenly Flyer. Perhaps Keith was saying a final quick prayer?


And there are the sturdy, safe harnesses. Oh my.


Keith tried to take pictures of me on the way down, but as you might imagine, he had a difficult time balancing the camera from his zipline, so the pictures were all blurry. But for a quick peak into the ride, check out http://www.skiheavenly.com/mountain/heavenly_flyer/ .

I'm grateful for the fun ride of marriage. And I think since the first 21 years have worked out so well, Keith and I might try for a few more.