Honeymoon 1981

A Simple Wedding and a Big Adventure

Marty and I were both 23 years old when we married each other in 1981. We had fallen in love about a year earlier and could not wait for the day when we could finally be together permanently. She was living in Georgia at the time, so I bought an old hippie van, drove down there, and lived with her and her family for about three months.

During those months we took off almost every weekend, heading to Florida, places around Georgia, and pretty much anywhere we could go just to camp, travel, and spend time together. Marty was a teacher, and once school ended, she moved with me back up to Massachusetts in early June. We set our wedding date for August.

Neither of our parents had much money for a wedding, and besides that, we wanted something very small anyway, with just family and a handful of friends. It turned out to be a very nice wedding, enjoyable and low-stress, exactly what we wanted.

The one place my parents were able to help us was with a wedding gift. They said they would give us $1,000, but it had to be spent on travel. We could go to Europe, take a nice cruise, or go somewhere fancy. But they understood my love for travel from the time I was a young kid, and Marty seemed to love travel too, so they suggested we take a road trip.

So we bought a tent and sleeping bags, packed up our little Toyota, and headed west. We had both quit our jobs already, so there was no schedule, no mortgage, no career path locking us down yet. Just the two of us, a little car, and eight weeks to see as much as we could.

Across Canada

We headed north first, up to Montreal, then across Canada through Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. It was September and October, so the fall colors were beautiful, but the nights were already getting colder. Still, there was something incredibly exciting about being young, newly married, and crossing an entire continent with almost no money and no real responsibilities yet.

Eventually we came back down into the United States at Glacier National Park, which became one of the first places on that trip that really opened my eyes to what the American West had to offer.

Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park was incredibly beautiful. Back in 1981, it still had the glaciers it was famous for. We did our first hike together there, which was probably the first serious hike for either of us, up to Avalanche Lake. It was only about two miles each way, but it felt like a real mountain hike, with a steady climb and absolutely gorgeous scenery the whole way.

We did some other easy hikes, stayed mostly in campgrounds, and eventually headed south toward the Tetons and Yellowstone. Looking back now, I think Glacier quietly planted a seed in me. I had enjoyed travel before, but hiking into places like Avalanche Lake made me realize there was a whole other world beyond roads, overlooks, and campgrounds.

Yellowstone, the Tetons, and Salt Lake City

Yellowstone and the Tetons were both absolutely beautiful and a lot of fun, especially because we were camping. But we only stayed a couple of days in each park. Part of the issue was that our trip was in September and October, so although the colors were wonderful, the nights were getting pretty cold.

After the Tetons, we made our way down to Salt Lake City and spent a day or two there, actually swimming and floating in the Great Salt Lake, camping, and just being tourists. We slowly made our way toward Los Angeles, stopping at several parks along the way.

We had relatives in Los Angeles, an aunt and uncle of mine, and stayed with them for about a week. Every day we toured around LA, driving through the famous places like Sunset Drive, Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, Bel Air, and all the places we had heard about. We were just young kids from the East Coast, looking for celebrities and having fun pretending we were living the life.

The Grand Canyon

After Los Angeles, we headed across to Las Vegas and then toward the parks of the Southwest. Before Utah, we spent several days at the Grand Canyon, which to me was absolutely mind-blowing.

One day Marty did not want to hike because it was pretty hot and steep, so she went shopping for the day while I hiked down into the canyon on the Bright Angel Trail. I planned to stop at the mile-and-a-half rest house, but once I got there, I kept going to the three-mile rest house.

It was just a life-changing experience to be down inside something that immense and beautiful. The hike back up was hard, much harder than I expected. But once I made it back to the top, I remember thinking that maybe I could hike just about anywhere in my life, no matter how steep it was, if I really wanted to.

Zion, Bryce, Arches, and One Youthful Mistake

We went to the Utah parks, including Zion, Bryce, and Arches. They were absolutely incredible. We skipped Canyonlands and Capitol Reef, mostly because we just did not have enough time, but those parks made a lasting impression on me too.

We also stopped at Petrified Forest National Park. Even though it was illegal, I grabbed two pieces of petrified wood and took them with me. I stole them, really, and it was a federal crime. As we were leaving through the national park exit, the rangers were checking cars and asking people to open their trunks.

I had been smoking a cigarette at the time, and when I turned to Marty, nervous and kind of freaked out, the cigarette accidentally burned her. She screamed, and the ranger focused on that instead of my guilty-looking face. Somehow they let us go without checking anything.

For years I had those two pieces in a giant fish tank, but eventually I have no idea where they ended up. It is a funny memory now, but also a reminder of how much you learn and change over a lifetime.

New Orleans and the Long Way Home

We continued east and eventually ended up in New Orleans for several days, camping at a KOA right in the middle of town. One thing I will never forget is how hard it rained one day when we were down on Bourbon Street. It just pounded like crazy.

When we got back to the campsite, the tent was down and everything inside it was wet. Somehow we made do, dried out what we could, and kept going.

From New Orleans we made our way across to Georgia, where we stayed with Marty's family for a few days. I wanted to keep going down into Florida, but by then we were about seven weeks into the trip. So we slowly picked our way back up the East Coast and eventually returned home.

Looking Back

The thing I remember most about that honeymoon trip is that it showed me two things. Marty enjoyed the beauty of the national parks, but she was not all that interested in the physical part of hiking and exploring the backcountry. That is probably how most people feel. I, on the other hand, loved the hiking part and kept dreaming that someday I might get back out there and spend more time really seeing the parks and the wild places beyond the roads.

As luck would have it, six years later in 1987, before accepting a major career change for a big job, I took off for three months to visit many of those same national parks again. This time I could spend a week or ten days at each one if I wanted. I could hike the backcountry trails, camp, explore, and not be in any hurry to move on.

I usually left at the end of June, when the days were long, the weather was warm, and the high-elevation wildflowers were in full bloom. The snow was mostly gone, the days could stretch to 15 hours, and it was the perfect time to be in the mountains. That 1987 trip became just the beginning of many more long western road trips over the next four decades.

Marty and I eventually divorced in 2000 after spending 19 years together. Looking back, I think a big part of the reason was simply that our interests gradually moved in different directions. I still had an overwhelming desire to keep exploring, taking long road trips, hiking, camping, and looking for the next adventure. Marty, like many people, had become more comfortable with a more traditional routine of work, home, relaxing, and quiet evenings.

There was nothing wrong with either lifestyle. We had simply become different people with different dreams. I am grateful that we shared those years together because they included some wonderful memories, especially that unforgettable honeymoon. But I also realized how important it was for me to share adventures with someone who enjoyed exploring the world in the same way.

I have been fortunate to find that with Kym. Over the past few years we have shared so many incredible adventures together, and it has reminded me how much richer life feels when you are experiencing beautiful places with someone who is just as excited to be there as you are.

One thing I will always be grateful for is that wedding gift from my parents. We managed to stretch that $1,000 into an incredible eight-week honeymoon, circling much of North America in a little Toyota, mostly camping along the way.

Looking back, I realize they gave me something far more valuable than money. My parents did not have the money to send me to college, so I paid my own way, working full-time while going to school part-time. It took me eight years to finish my degree.

But they gave me this opportunity to travel and see the world before settling down, raising a family, building a career, taking on a mortgage, and maybe never getting the chance to travel until retirement. So many people do not get that chance until much later in life, if they get it at all.

That honeymoon did not just create wonderful memories with Marty. It helped spark a lifelong passion for exploring the American West and eventually led to countless return trips over the next forty years.

For that gift, and for understanding what travel meant to me even when I was a kid, I owe them incredible gratitude.

Thanks, Mom and Dad.