A Celebration of 25 Years of Marriage in Bodega Bay, and Our Visit to Google
Posted: Friday, April 01, 2011
by Bruce Horst
WryteStuff
This past week Jean and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. If you know us at all, this is not new information. For various reasons, our 25th anniversary has been the most-anticipated date of our lifetimes. Maybe it was the time capsule that we created before anyone knew we were engaged to be married, which we decided to open on our 25th anniversary. Maybe it was the fact that we've used the date of our 25th anniversary as part of our passwords for many years. Whatever it was, we regarded this anniversary as a monumental occasion (and a time to change our passwords!)
I'd like to live close to Silicon Valley because of it's business environment and the possibilities it would open up for our own business. I'd also like to live in a house with a spectacular view. Last Fall we discovered a community about an hour North of San Francisco that seemed to be perfect. It's a community called Bodega Bay and almost every house in this area overlooks either the bay or the Pacific Ocean. It's also a very tight community which has no choice but to work together to weather the storms it encounters, both meteorological and economic.
Last week Jean and I flew into San Francisco and drove a rental car up to Bodega Bay. The view of the bay was breath-taking. We have a great respect for the people in the area. Jean and I have spent much of our adult life trying to escape the small-town mentality we grew up with, and Bodega Bay is a very small town (population 950) which seems to be trying to escape small-town-ness itself. The people were friendly and helpful, and we even got to spend a few hours looking at real estate with a very knowledgable realtor.
Bodega Bay is perhaps best known for it's role in the 1963 Alfred Hitchcock film, "The Birds". The local residents embrace this film as their claim to fame, but honestly I think they would be better off forgetting the film and promoting the other things the area has to offer. Jean and I stayed in the Tides Inn, which has spacious rooms overlooking the bay. Because of the time of year, it was a bit chilly at night, but as is typical in the area, the Tides offers fireplaces in each room, and every day they restocked our supply of firewood for the coming night.
Wine country is to the East, so Jean and I were sure to drive through Guerneville, Santa Rose and Sabastopol to take in the vineyards. We also stopped by the Korbel Winery to tour their Champagne cellars and vineyard, with a Champagne tasting at the end.On Monday we left the area to drive South to Mountain View to meet with our Google representative. I've met with my Google representatives at the Googleplex in years past, but this time our rep brought his manager along. I think they were expecting me to start yelling at them since Google's recent update has had such a negative effect on our business.
I didn't yell (are you surprised?) and I tried to be gracious and appreciative for all that they've done for us over the years. Though most of our conversation was covered under a mandatory non-disclosure agreement, I maintain my belief that in general Google tries to do what they believe is the right thing to do. I also think they've made some major mistakes with this latest search update, but I'm only responsible for my own actions, so I'll continue to try to make the best of it. I love how Google tries to maintain a start-up mentality, but with a market cap of $160 billion, I'm not sure that's even possible for them anymore.
Something that was greatly impressed on me on this day was that one of the core talents that Jean and I have is our ability to understand and exploit 'new media'. I think I've been remiss in not working toward helping the writers on SearchWarp master new media to promote their writing. Look for things to go in that direction in the near future.
A while back, Jean and I were invited by SearchWarp travel writers Wayne and Judy Bayliff to visit them in their bay area home. We haven't visited a lot of SearchWarp writers in the past, but Wayne and Judy seemed to be the kind of people we would have a great time with, and we were right! Maybe it's because they are seasoned travelers with lots of stories to tell. We had a great time reminiscing on their back patio and then later at a neighborhood seafood restaurant. These are good people, and they were a good reminder for us of how SearchWarp is made up of deeply-rich, salt-of-the-earth writers. We finished the evening feeling very fortunate.
The next day, the final day of our trip, Jean and I spent walking around in the Chinatown part of San Francisco. This was a great place to buy souvenirs for our kids. I'm not much of a food connoisseur, but we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant which served us the best Chinese food I've ever had. And these were my sentiments even before they served us dessert, which included a fortune cookie with a fortune that said, "Boats and water are in your future. Have fun!" Needless to say, I've taken this message seriously! We had a great time, and I think it was a proper sendoff for the next 25 years of married life.
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More commentsHappy anniversary Bruce & Jean. May you enjoy the next 25 and the next 25 and the next 25.
Interesting read. Thanks for sharing. Hope all things with big G go well.
Congratulations Bruce, as I told Jean in an article she wrote about your 25th. anniversary. "May you both be blessed with many more years together."
Oh, my old neck of the woods a(spent most of my adult live in the Stockton/Lodi area with trips north through areas you mentioned while traveling to visit my parents in Roseburg - I MISS the ocean! Happy 25th - ours was last year!
So, this husband approaches his priest and says,"Father, I think that my wife is trying to poison me."
The priest says,"Let me talk to her."
The priest talks to the wife for three and a half hours.
He returns to the husband and says,"I just talked to your wife for three and a half hours."
".......Take the poison!"
May your marriage continue to make you laugh.
Much affection,
Paul
A great read, Bruce. I have thought for awhile you guys would move to the West Coast; since the Google Dance, at least. I won't be surprised when it happens. In the meantime, I'm glad you had a wonderful time away. Happy Anniversary! You guys are two of my favorite people.
It sounds like a wonderful trip, the Tides Inn, the fireplace, the view and winery. Funny I just wrote about how I don't like to look too far ahead, and you're planning your next twenty-five years. I like that. I have no doubt great things are in store for your family and for SearchWarp. All the best in your next twenty-five. :)
Hi Bruce.
I've "said" it all ready but I'll say it again anyway ... Congrats for 25 years! That's a long time to stay committed to each other and a life goal no matter how you cut it.
Thanks for the look at Bodega Bay. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I have a friend who lives in Oakland and works in San Francisco and she loves that part of California.
Hugs,
Dianne
» left by Wayne and Judy Bayliff
1 year 38 days ago.
8 fans. Follow Wayne and Judy Bayliff on twitter!Hi Bruce,
Thanks for the kind words, and glad we could share just a little of your special 25th Anniversary trip. Looking forward to seeing more of you and Jean in the not-to-distant future out here in beautiful northern California!
Wayne and Judy
I admire your life result, i just wish you were a bit more wealthy :)
Your Friend that it seems you don't like him anymore Yosef Iranman :)
Congratulations - This December it will be my 25th , I love it when a plan comes together :) (I am still 3,000 short tho on the 3,000 diamond ring I promised her) :(
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