50 for 50: 1997

YEAR: 1997

AGE: Turned 27 on Nov. 6

LOCATION: Madison, Harbor House Apartments

BULLS' RECORD: 69-13

SONGS I LIKED: "Monkey Wrench" by Foo Fighters; "Wrong Number" by The Cure; "One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces" by Ben Folds Five

MOVIES I SAW: "Grosse Pointe Blank"; "My Best Friend's Wedding"

TV SHOWS I WATCHED: "Ally McBeal"; "Pop-Up Videos"

MUSIC VIDEOS I ENJOYED: "Around the World" by Daft Punk; "Criminal" by Fiona Apple

CONCERTS I EXPERIENCED: U2, Pearl Jam

VIDEO GAMES I PLAYED: Donkey Kong Country 2; SimTower

The summer of 1997 was really the summer of Lori and Joey. We bought a new car, traveled all over Wisconsin and Illinois, saw concerts, and enjoyed Madison ... all before we got married on Aug. 2. 

I could write a whole series of blog posts about our wedding (kind of like what "How I Met Your Mother" did with its last season, except I wouldn't drag it out or force the narrative ...), but the wedding was as much for everybody as it was for us. Instead, I'm writing about the honeymoon.

Our wedding was on a Saturday, we recovered on Sunday and took Monday off, then worked Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Lori worked just a half day, and when I got home, we hit the road on our way to Colorado.

We drove about a third of the way into Nebraska before finding a hotel for the night. The next day, we continued the journey, and in Eastern Colorado saw the most beautiful thunderstorm far in the distance to our north. Eventually, we could see something on the horizon I had never seen before (before this trip, I had never been west of Minneapolis): the Rocky Mountains. We arrived in Denver, found a hotel, and eased into our honeymoon.

Lori and I chose Colorado because we could drive the trip and because we wanted somewhat of an adventure that wasn't too expensive and offered great scenery and things to do. We had this idea of an active honeymoon in Colorado -- we'd rent bikes, hike every day in the mountains, and explore, explore, explore.

It didn't quite turn out that way.

After a nonstop summer planning the wedding, and a truly ridiculous week leading up to the big day, we discovered that, even after a few days of normalcy, we were ready to just relax. In Denver, we did explore a bit -- going to this great bookstore that was recommended to us, visiting the capital and the natural history museum, and seeing "Face/Off" -- but our goal was the mountains. We drove up to Vail, where the tourism office found us a condo for a couple days. the weather was gray and chilly, and we did take the lift up and hiked back down, which was fun, if not cold. The town was great, and the condo was nice, too.

On the hike, however, we discovered something that bummed us out. We had bought a new camera that summer; while taking a break at one of the mid-mountain lodges, we noticed a crack in the lens. The picture of Lori I included here is right before we found the crack. We walked back down the mountain and took it to a photo shop, where the ski bum who was working declared, "Dude, that's a big-ass crack in your lens!" Our solution for the rest of the trip was to buy a disposable camera, and we got the real one replaced when we got back home.

After two nights in Vail, we drove to Winter Park. The weather didn't get much better, but the pool at the condos we stayed at was heated. We tried one hike and hit bad weather, tried another and also became concerned we'd get rained on, then finally was able to enjoy one on our third attempt (though it wasn't that long). At the BLM office, I'll never forget what the gentleman said as he was showing us showing us some hiking options and explaining what to look out for when hiking in the mountains. Basically, he looked at me and said, "You two are newlyweds, and these mountains get lightning, so if a storm comes, just duck a little bit and your wife will be the tallest instead of you."

We didn't get too ambitious otherwise -- the idea of rain was enough to send us back to the condo and the hot tub. We did explore a lot -- I'm amazed the Corolla did as well on poor mountain roads as it did. Mostly, again, we swam and lounged in the hot tub, watched a couple movies in the condo (I remember "Primal Fear" on this trip), and relaxed.

After a few nights in Winter Park, the return trip began. We spent a fun day at a water park in Denver, then drove to Grand Island, Neb., for the night. 

Driving through Iowa the next day we got one more near jolt of excitement. A thunderstorm was ahead of us, which eventually slammed us with rain. We turned on the radio for any alerts and heard there was a tornado sighted 20 miles east of Anamosa (or something like that -- I don't remember exactly where, and I just looked it up on a map and didn't get clarity). Lori looked at the atlas and said, "Joe, we're east of Anamosa right now." We were heading northeast and the storm was heading east and we probably didn't get that close to rear-ending the tornado. Still, it made the rest of the trip anything but boring.

We arrived back in Madison, and the fantastic, relaxing honeymoon was over. One of our cats meowed at us angrily for an hour under the bed that we left him for so long (someone came by to check in on him, but he still wasn't happy). The summer of Lori and Joey would come to a sad ending a few weeks later when my Grandma Elsie, who made it to the wedding even though she was on morphine at that point, died of pancreatic cancer.

For the trip and a few afterward, we kept a vacation journal, highlighting every day of every trip. After several years and once kids came, updating the book became too much of a chore (vacation days are tiring, and by the end, physically writing a few pages loses its urgency), and I eventually just started blogging each vacation instead. However, for this first trip, that journal was great ... but I purposely didn't consult it to write this post. I may unearth it this weekend and show the boys, or at least to read it with Lori. I was happy to write about what I immediately remember for this post (and several things I hadn't thought about in years, such as the tornado, sprung to mind), but I really want to rediscover this vacation -- the first real one of many we've enjoyed over the years -- with the person who was with me at the start of our marriage.

Maybe for our 25th anniversary, I can get her to go with me on a real tornado chase instead of an accidental one. Or, we'll find someplace cozy, sit in the hot tub, and just relax after a busy summer.