Five couples who are longtime friends were together celebrating the birthday of one of the members. While the other six were at the dining room table eating, my wife and I sat with the final couple next to the kitchen munching happily on Lowcountry Boil. There are few things better than the shrimp, crab legs, corn on the cob, potatoes and sausage cooked together along with a heavy dose of Old Bay spice.
In our conversation, we talked about family, retirement, friends and travel. Our friends across the table have had trips to a number of destinations, as have my wife and I. We had just returned from our trip to France, and our friends were eager to hear about it.
Then came the question. After listening to a few of our French highlights, the gentleman asked, “What is the favorite place you have visited?” My wife and I looked at each other and pondered the sites we have seen — most of them since our retirements. There have been visits to amazing places.
We scanned back through the years thinking of visits to national parks in the American west — Glacier, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Death Valley, Sequoia among them. There were trips to Alaska where we had a whale of a time and were enthralled with our nation’s largest state. A visit to Maine with a pair of grandchildren was fascinating as we dined on lobster and went whitewater rafting.
Cruises have taken us places we never would have dreamed as younger adults. London, Paris, Istanbul and Athens were only names in history b.