It's been five years

Happy Anniversary dessert
Originally uploaded by iTripped.

My fifth wedding anniversary is on Friday. To say that I have learned a lot about marriage is only slightly less of an understatement than to say I have a lot more to learn about marriage. Still, there have been many more good times than bad, and I can honestly say I still love my wife.

I'm not entirely sure what we will do to celebrate this year, but rest assured, we will do something to remember this milestone. The pictures displayed are from an anniversary gone by (our third, I think) and I would say they capture the spirit of the upcoming occasion.

The second picture is my favorite of the two. We ate at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts which is located on Granville Island. The students run a classy french restaurant that shouldn't be missed. It's one of our 'secret places' when in Vancouver and I highly reccomend it. Note the two forks - neither one of us had much room left after our meal.

UPDATE: For those who are curious, Holly and I decided to spend the day like this: We slept in late and then headed out to an organic berry farm to pick red and black currants, as well as some gooseberries. After that, we went out to a local restaurant to have English High Tea. Then it was off to the lake, to let the dog have a swim, which neccessitated our returning home to change clothes. Later that evening we headed over to the marina for some dinner and finished the evening with some fireworks.

Oh yeah, and I have been corrected. The dessert pictured here was from our FOURTH anniversary, not our third.

Another interesting kit plane

zipster2
Originally uploaded by iTripped.

This little marvel is an ultralight kit airplane designed by Ed Fisher. He calls it the Zipster and it certainly looks fun.

As built, the plane weighs 249 lbs and has a cruise speed of 55 mph. Stall speed is a mere 27 mph. If you need more speed and don't require the ultralight status, a larger engine can be installed.

Overall, this makes a nice plane for taking a solo flight on a sunny day. I'm still looking for pricing info, as well as specifications such as effective range. I'll update as I find more. The design kind of reminds me of a World War I fighter plane - something that would go up against the Red Baron. Follow the link for more pictures, including some of the cockpit.

Adventure in Baltimore's Inner harbour

USS Constellation
Originally uploaded by iTripped.

Yes, I'm still processing pictures from our trip. Cut me some slack, I don't take a vacation often. One of the places Holly wanted to revisit was Baltimore city, specifically the Inner harbour. We were there once before, when we were still dating and had a good time, so were eager to return.

The ship pictured here is the USS Constellation and it really adds character to the harbour. One of the ebooks I was reading on this trip was 'The Sea Wolf' by Jack London and this ship helped to set the stage perfectly.

After strolling around the harbour, we headed over to Fell's Point and ate at a restaurant called Crabby Dick's. The whole area oozed atmosphere and reminded Holly of New Orleans at times.

More planes at the Smithsonian

Smithsonian aircraft display
Originally uploaded by iTripped.

Here is another picture from inside the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

As you can see, there was a lot to take in. I really liked the fact that we were allowed to take pictures of anything, and most displays we were able to walk up to and touch if we wanted. If a display was to be protected, it was generally behind glass, so there was no confusion.

I could have easily spent a day or two here, and probably will return, given that Holly's family is not far away.

Smallest Jet Engine

Smallest Jet Engine
Originally uploaded by iTripped.

One of the places I really wanted to visit on my vacation was the Smithsonian Air and Space museum. So accordingly, my wife and I planned a day trip to Washington DC, where this museum happens to be located.

To be honest, I was a little overwhelmed at the amount of stuff on display. Since parking is always a challenge in DC, and we only had 2 hours on the meter, I decided to focus on the 'Air' part of the museum, and to forego much of the 'Space' part, as quite frankly, I am less interested in that.

Anyway, I found this little gem on display. I can't quite remember the title it had, but it was something like 'smallest jet engine in production'. Feel free to correct me if you know more about it. Also feel free to tell me what make and model it is if you know, as I failed to record that.

Usually when I think of flying, it is in a propeller driven aircraft but I think that is mostly because I'm not really interested in military craft. When I saw this engine, my eyes widened at the possibilities for personal aviation. Of course, I can only imagine how expensive it is, and like the saying says, 'if you gotta ask...'

As promised, some wedding photos

Me and the groom
Originally uploaded by iTripped.

Sorry Derek, I didn't manage to get any pictures of drunken bridesmaids. I know that is what you were hoping for, and I am sure we saw a few, but never when I had a camera in hand. Which is really too bad, because I am sure there were more than a few ladies there that you would have been happy to see pictures of.

Anyway, here are the pictures, starting with the bride and groom.

Next up is a picture of my mom, with her brother Don, and his wife. Mom is in the middle.

Another one of Mom, this time sitting next to my brother Shawn. Yes, the same brother I had a dream about. He was a little nervous about meeting me this time, although I can't imagine why.

For those of you who know this mug, you recognize trouble when you see it. This is my Mom's youngest brother Kendall, and he was up to his usual tricks at the reception. Ahh, family. You gotta love 'em, because if you don't, they'll strap a tin of sardines on your manifold before you leave for a road trip.

Tornado warnings in PA

Well the weather here has certainly been interesting.

Talk about humidity. It seems that we brought the hot weather with us, as we have been experiencing high 80 degree temperatures with heavy humidity. To quote Holly, 'It's HOT!' Of course, along with this came some tornado warnings. We actually got caught in torrential rains a couple times now, complete with hail. In some areas, the hail stones were a couple inches across.

You just know I was hoping to see a tornado.

At any rate, it has been a fun first week and we are preparing to travel north to Hamilton for my cousin's wedding. We decided to stay in a nearby bed and breakfast instead of a hotel. We have enjoyed B&Bs ever since our first anniversary, so hopefully this will be another good one.

I'll probably try to get some pictures posted, just not today.

Blogging on a PDA

...would be a lot less painful if I had a keyboard.

Went diving on the weekend

BillDaveDivin1
Originally uploaded by iTripped.

I went diving yesterday with Bill. There are some things in life you never get really good at, mostly because you don't do them often enough. Diving is like that for me, or rather, navigating underwater. Bill is always teasing me about how pathetic my underwater nav skills are. He's right, for the most part, but I just tease him about losing his mask on our last dive. Despite some ill-fitting rental gear, we had a good time diving at Ellison Park, which is on Okanagan lake.

Our first dive was to see a tug boat, but we almost didn't make it down because Bill was having gear 'issues'. Eventually he got them sorted though, and we did the dive. The wreck is pretty fun, with the hull resting on rocks at a severe angle. Whenever I approach a shipwreck, the moment of first contact is the best for me. I'm usually cold (because wrecks are usually deep) and tired of seeing nothing but rocks when suddenly, out of the darkness the ship begins to form. I realize at that point that the dive was worth it. There is nothing more frustrating than doing a dive to see a wreck, only to not find it.

So back to the wreck. Since this was in freshwater, the usual amount of sea life was missing. For me, that usually means no threat, as I usually get a bit jumpy around strange wrecks as I half expect some sea monster to pop out. Too many horror movies, I guess. Luckily for us, Ogopogo (a local mythological creature much like the Loch Ness monster) decided to pull a no-show. Still, it was fun examining the finer details of the hull, like the broken port-hole that looked like it had a bullet hole in it, or the intricate design on the keel.