Silver Anniversary Trip, Day Twenty-one

a calming cycle
on a rails-to-trails flat path:
way to start the day

more history learned 
at a medieval castle 
built, burned, lost, rebuilt

my man boating us
back down the river, towards home
our heritage left

Silver Anniversary Trip, Day Nineteen

a castle day trip
cycling on sketchy roads
yet worth the visit

hidden Irish gems:
four hundred years of earls
residing in stone

science surprises:
this telescope discovered 
distant galaxies

and Bruce got to stand
in the largest redwood grove
outside the U.S.

night ends with laughter
in a 1500s pub
kindness in their blood

we’re the post office:
through wind, rain, sleet, clouds… weather
we weather the storm

just another day
in the life we’ve created 
in sickness and health

ten thousand stone steps
slippery at dawn, at noon 
as mist never stops

ten thousand reasons 
to be afraid of this hike,
yet we keep trekking

ten thousand peak views
all in different shades of light
just like our marriage

ten thousand questions 
when we married at twenty
look how far we’ve come

javelina hike 
to a cactus-filled Thumb Butte
to start the morning

a Whiskey Row lunch
Watson Lake under blue skies
for the afternoon

my daughter’s new friends 
soon to be her new roommates:
a perfect evening

a new Corona 
three years after quarantine 
back to wilderness

girls’ trip for spring break 
to collect our Subaru 
and meet our sister

miracle arches 
connect the past and future 
with hope for this life

your bucket list waits
for a ‘delicate’ sunset,
a breathtaking arch

your children await
at the top of a boulder 
with the perfect view

a lifetime awaits
at the end of vacation 
yet memories last