More 25 Year Thoughts

Writing about the girls' 25 years of marriage made me think about ours. For our 25th anniversary Forry made all of the arrangements for us to go to the Virgin Islands -- to Sailing School! We tooled about the American and British Virgin Islands on a 34 foot sail boat. There was another couple and ourselves and our instructor/captain. The water in the BVIs is incredible, turquoise, clear and warm. We did a great deal of swimming, snorkeling and scuba diving. Forry went on a dive on a shipwreck that I thought was a little bit deeper than I was comfortable diving. So I went visiting with our captain while the rest of them were gone. We visited various friends of his who worked as crew on some of the larger boats. It was so interesting to hear their stories of what it was like to cook or crew for their wealthy owners and guests -- and to hear how how on the hog they lived when the owners were not there.

Our final exam for the sailing school was a night sail from the island of Virgin Gorda back to the American Virgin Islands. I couldn't believe that our instructor went below and went to bed while we made the three hour trip. I really wonder how much sleep he actually got.

In those days many airlines offered flights with three stops that were cheaper then a round trip. For our extra stop we went to Martinique for a couple of days. Forry still occasionally mentions how much he enjoyed the French influence on the beaches.

Of course, the follow-up to this story is that Forry ended up buying a 21 foot San Juan sailboat that we enjoyed immensely. After it sat in our driveway in Spokane the entire 18 years we lived there, Son-in-law Todd has spent the last couple of years refurbishing it for his family to enjoy.

I took this picture this afternoon when we were out on our walk. The owners of this orange rig have been driving around the area with the top down. It looks like it's a great way to sight-see.