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Wish Me A Happy 25th Anniversary

July 10, 2008 When this post is released, I will be celebrating my 25th wedding anniversary at Banff Springs Hotel in Alberta, Canada. I very rarely dip into my personal life in this blog, but I figure every now and then is OK since perhaps it makes me more human to my readers (all two of you). Besides, there's a backstory, so maybe this will be interesting, or funny, or both.

Coincident with our first wedding anniversary, my wife's family was having a family reunion in Victoria, British Columbia. We decided to make a trip out of it, by swinging through the Rocky Mountains, from Glacier National Park (see picture at right) through Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper, and on to the coast. Although my wife Gina had graduated from UCSB I was late to college and we were just scraping by. This meant our trip consisted almost completely of camping, except for a splurge to stay at a hotel at the family reunion.

So after days of roughing it, we stumbled into the Banff Springs Hotel, dusty and near broke but with wonder and dreams to spare. We were stunned by both the natural beauty and the splendor of this mountain hotel, and right then we promised ourselves to return for our 25th wedding anniversary, which we deemed distant enough to allow us to be able to afford such an extravagance.

That day has arrived, and we are making good on our anniversary promise. But before I leave you with the impression of a life lived with symmetry and grace, I must finish my story.

After leaving Jasper we were making our way to the coast when we had an urge that seems to particularly afflict newlyweds. Spying a dirt road going off from the highway, we pulled well off the road and parked. Not long thereafter we made our first acquaintaince with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, almost in flagrante delicto. He checked our ID and let us go, no doubt laughing all the way back to the station. I'm still laughing about it now, 25 years later.

Posted by Roy Tennant on July 10, 2008 | Comments (5)