50th Wedding Anniversary

My wife and I have been retired for several years, and after retirement, the next big occasion is the 50th Wedding Anniversary. The 50th high school reunion actually preceded this big occasion, but since I had not seen those people in 50 years, I decided to skip that commemeration. That probably was a mistake, but I had reservations about seeing what 50 years did to all those people I knew and remember as teenagers. In any case, my wife and I faced what to do to celebrate the benchmark anniversary. In addition, it seems to me that wedding anniversaries are not as important to young people today as to previous generations, but marriages are more fragile today than in the past and golden anniversaries probably are rarer now than in the past and will be more so in the future. Therefore, we decided not to leave it up to our family, who for us are the principle celebrants for such occasions.

We decided to host a family cruise that included the anniversary date and invited our two sons and their families, ten people, including six children from 17 months to 13 years old. My wife's brother and sister-in-law also joined us, but at their own expense. The ship made a round-trip to New England and eastern Canada, leaving from Norfolk. We all drove to the to the port, and this made getting to the ship easy and not subject to the restrictions and inconviences of air travel. The actual anniversary day was spent in port at Bar Harbor, Maine, where we had a family lunch on the patio of the Parkside Restaurant. Dinner with sparkling wine was on the ship as it sailed for Saint John, New Brunswick. A few days later, on a formal night when the family dressed for dinner, we took a family photograph, and my wife and I also posed with our six grandchildren. The cruise celebration was fun, and it marked the occasion in a way that most of our family will remember it.

In addition to Bar Harbor and Saint John, the ship visited Boston, Portland, Maine, and Halifax, Nova Scotia. We did family tours at many of these ports, but my brother-in-law and I took a tour to the Cog Railway at Mount Washington, New Hampshire from Portland, and my wife and I took a tour to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia from Halifax. My wife and I had visited some of these ports in the past, but Saint John and Portland were new to us. I had thought about a visit to L. L. Bean in Freeport from Portland, as I am a big fan of their clothing, but an uncle, who is a train buff, encouraged me to see the Cog Railway, and I was not disappointed. Besides, L. L. Bean has a large store not far from the harbor in Portland.





The Cog Railway, built in the 1860s, now uses both steam and diesel engines and climbs to the summit of Mount Washington at 6,288 feet above sea level (from the Marshfield Base Station at 2700 feet). For us, the summit was wet and foggy. The view must be spectacular on clear days, but we found ourselves "above the clouds."

Lunenburg is a UNESCO World Heritage site, with many charming and historic structures from the 18th century. It is a famous fishing port and was home to the Bluenose, the winner of four international schooner races from 1921 to 1931 (See the Canadian dime for her likeness). The Bluenose II is now docked there. I had a great lunch of fresh mussels on the porch of the Rumrunner Restaurant with a splendid view of harbor.

Bluenose II

Boston was the final stop before returning to Norfolk. We took the Old Town Trolley Tour to get around the city and to see the sights. We visited the usual sites (Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall, the USS Constitution, Trinity Church, Fenway Park, etc.), bought a Harvard tee shirt, and had lunch at Skipjack's at Copley Square. We had a day at sea to recuperate before arriving in Norfolk. It was a memorable 50th wedding anniversary for us.