Over 13 years ago we met in a hostel in Brugge, Belgium, while each traveling by ourselves after graduating college, and immediately just clicked. But being that we literally lived on opposite ends of the planet, it wasn’t easy to co-ordinate a life together until 2 and 1/2 years later, when I moved to Melbourne, Australia while Bell was finishing her masters degree in statistics. Back then, I had been working on an MBA at UCF in Florida, but I decided that she was worth leaving my degree for (I also really disliked finance and accounting). Ultimately, it was a great decision, because we recently celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary and have seen so much of the world together along the way!
We usually travel for our wedding anniversary and while living in Ireland last year, we travelled to Barcelona to ring in year 9. We would have loved to have returned to Brugge for our 10 year wedding anniversary, but since we currently live in Boston we decided to stay closer to home. So our thoughts turned to places like Maine, New York City and Montreal. Since we miss the cultural diversity of Europe, we decided that Montreal was an excellent place to ring in 10 years, so we planned to rent a car and drive up for a few days! But alas, sometimes life gets in the way and plans change…

Shortly before our 10 year wedding anniversary, Bell’s company informed her that they wanted her to be in Canton, Ohio for a week to interview patients with cancer at a clinic. Since I also have family in Ohio (and she was nervous about this challenging task), she asked me if I’d instead like to rent a car and combine our anniversary with a family and work trip that would extend a total of 12 days and 1,800 miles (3,000 km) of me driving (she has an Australian drivers license but doesn’t drive in the US). It wasn’t exactly what I’d had in mind but I’m flexible, we both are, and this is very important in keeping a marriage alive for 10 years!
We left Boston on March 11th, a day before our anniversary and we didn’t get off to a good start. A few hours into our trip I was pulled over for speeding in Montgomery, New York. It was a definitive speed trap on Interstate 84, as for no apparent reason, the speed limit dropped from 65 mph to 55 mph, before returning to 65 mph within eyesight of where I was pulled over, which was obviously annoying. The police officer handed me a speeding ticket for driving 70 mph in a 55 mph zone, a really bad start to our very long road trip.
That evening we stopped in Scranton, Ohio, home of the nation’s first electric light rail line and famous for being home of the hit comedy sitcom, The Office. The TV show kinda portrays Scranton as a downtrodden town with very little to do, and not much in the form of history, so we were surprised to discover significant history, some beautiful buildings and a hip cafe called Northern Light Espresso. We ordered some of the most delicious herbal teas we’ve ever drank before hitting the road again (their tea selection was honestly better than most cafes in major American cities like Boston).
We generally try and avoid chain restaurants when possible, but since we left dinner late, thanks to speeding tickets and herbal tea stops, we had little choice but to stop and eat at Denny’s for the first time in many years. We were surprised to find that the chain had some healthy options including a generous side of raw vegetables and brown rice. Too often food that is marketed as healthy in the US isn’t healthy at all, so Denny’s definitely threw us a curve ball. Of course, you can still order a mountain of fried eggs, bacon, hash browns, cheese.






The important thing is, despite being from opposite ends of the planet, we’ve been happily married for 10 years! We’ve both made major life sacrifices for each other and we’re really proud of this accomplishment. And the actual day itself is one we can now look back on and laugh, because spontaneity isn’t supposed to go smoothly, and it’s what brought us together in the first place.
Here’s a quick summary of some highlights from our 1,800 mile (3,000 km) road trip, involving Bell’s 5 day work trip to interview patients with cancer in Canton, immediately following our 10 year wedding anniversary:
Starting with our short stop in downtown Pittsburgh, where we were quickly reminded that we needed a break from city life…



There’s a lot of Amish communities in certain areas of Ohio and Pennsylvania. This buggy was on its way to church on Sunday morning. Church rotates between families in the Amish community.










On our way home, at the very end of our trip, I drove quite a bit out of our way so we could visit Gettysburg, the turning point of the American Civil War. It was special to watch the sunset over the memorials and eat a Pennsylvania Dutch dinner at a historic restaurant, Farnsworth House Inn.

While not what we originally intended for our 10 year wedding anniversary, it was 1,800 miles well driven. And I think we officially recovered from our mishaps, which is an important lesson in marriage. While you will screw up on occasion, there’s usually an opportunity to turn the ship around!
Life does throw us some curved balls!!! Glad to hear you can go with the flow…
Indeed! Perfect 10 year wedding anniversary? No. Great and interesting trip surrounding it? Yes, so we’re definitely not complaining! 🙂
Congratulations on 10 years of marriage! BTW, next time you’re in West Virginia ask for hot bologne. I was visiting Charleston, WV years ago on a business trip and asked my colleagues if there were any local specialties. They told me ‘hot bologne!’… Pan fried lunch meat with hot sauce 🙂
Thanks for the tip and good wishes, Jen!! So funny you mentioned this because they have something similar in central Ohio too. My brother took us to a deli near Hocking Hills State Park (about an hour south of Columbus) and that’s what he ordered! We were trying to be healthier so we ordered leaner sandwiches and didn’t realize how interesting his sandwich was going to be. It was a very thick fried bologne patty. Looked really good!! Next time! 🙂
The hot bologne craze is spreading! Pretty soon we might have a nation wide sensation 😉
Yes!! I smell a great promotional campaign by Oscar Meyer! 🙂
Awww looks like a great anniversary trip. Even though it may not have exactly what you wanted all that matters is that you’re with each other. Congratulations on 10 years and here’s to many more guys! 🙂
Thanks so much, Samantha! Really appreciate that! You’re absolutely right, and we experienced a lot on that trip so we definitely can’t complain. Our very best to you and Yeison in Costa Rica, keep up the awesome work! 🙂