Thirty Years and Counting!

Tomorrow is March 8th, which is a fairly significant date in history. It was on that very date, thirty years ago, that Vicki and I got married. It was a fairly humble ceremony by today's standards, with about 50 guests attending, followed by a "cake and punch" reception in the fellowship hall at the Westbury Church of Christ in southwest Houston. I cried like a baby the entire time. We honeymooned in southern California, staying in such memorable places as Super 8, Motel 6 and the most run-down Best Western in North America. Half way through the trip I became so sick that my temperature spiked to 104 degrees. Vicki became panic-stricken, worrying not so much about becoming an instant widow, but about how she would ship my body back to Texas. We've come a long way since 1980.

To celebrate our anniversary we decided on taking a little "stay-cation" by traveling to Uptown Houston, home of the world famous Galleria, great restaurants and hordes of other over-priced hoity-toity places. Our first stop was the Hotel Granduca, a place included on the list of "Great Small Hotels of the World." We checked into a Junior Suite, which came complete with a full kitchen (who cooks in a five-star hotel?), and a great view of the pool area of the luxury high-rise property next door. If you ever want to pamper yourself, check out the Granduca. My favorite part of our stay was watching the doormen/bell boys literally run through the lobby to open the door for us.

After checking in we strolled across the street for a visit to Crave Cupcakes, where we picked up a couple gourmet cupcakes. We then walked a few feet down the sidewalk to Starbucks. Ahh, the perfect combination - washing down a $4.00 cupcake with a $5.00 cup of coffee. The joys of Uptown. Following our excursion to the land of hollow calories we returned to the hotel to shoot a few spirited games of pool in the Billiards Room before our afternoon nap to rest up for dinner.

Dinner was at the Capitol Grille near the Galleria. If you don't want steak, king crab or lobster don't go here. Vicki ordered the king crab, and was elated beyond description when it was delivered already cracked! The Capitol staff went all out for us. They gave us the "quietest table in the whole place", decorated our table, and even took our picture (which they printed and presented to us). And then there was the free creme brulee. We also ordered the coconut cream pie, just for good measure. This is the only place I've ever been where our server presented us with her business card, with instructions to call her if we ever had any questions about the Capitol Grille. During dinner we took a serious look back down memory lane, and made an actual written inventory of all of the places we had visited during our thirty years of wedded bliss. Believe it or not, we actually came up with something for each year. We also threw in some significant events for good measure - weddings, funerals, jobs found, jobs lost . . .

Feeling like almost beached whales we headed back to our junior suite, eagerly anticipating going to breakfast the next morning. Breakfast, by the way, was French toast (Vicki) and waffles (me). We then spent the rest of the morning lounging in our suite, reading the paper and contemplating our next meal. After one last race through the lobby with the doorman we were in our car and heading back to Sugar Land, stopping only to get Vicki a diet Coke at McDonalds. Home again, we rested up for our next event - dinner that evening at Churrascos with members of our First Family.

Vicki lining up a shot in the Billiards Room.

Crave Cupcakes looms in the distance.

Our table at the Capitol Grille.

(A picture of a picture)

Still smiling after 30 years!