The Big Adventure & Other Life Events

Maricor and I met in the Philippines in December 2007.  The Philippine Travel section documents that story in fairly great detail.  You can see a bit more of our travels in the Turkey Travel section.

This section documents the start of our really big adventure - Maricor's arrival in America and our subsequent wedding and reception.  

The short version of the back story (which is more fully illustrated on the links above):

A Filipino golf buddy suggested that in winter, when golf in America is cold and dreary, it's perfect weather for golf in the Philippines, and that golf there is very affordable, so I decided to lug my clubs 7000 miles on a two-week Christmas golf vacation.  A High School English teacher agreed to show me some of the sights, but to insure I wouldn't take liberties, she insisted on bringing her co-teacher as a chaperone. 

Maricor was the chaperone.  I fell for her, but she was aloof.  Then miraculously, after two weeks of adventures on four different islands, the other teacher left us alone for a couple of days - the opportunity I needed to press my suit.  Maricor let me kiss her on the cheek and the rest is history.

Valentine's day 2008 on my second trip to the Philippines, I asked Maricor to be my wife and she accepted.  We started working on her  fiancé visa and after 8 months (including a couple months it took us to figure out the immigration process) her visa was approved.  We saw each other three times during that period, but when she arrived, I was excited to return the favor and show her around my country. 

It was probably a little overwhelming putting a couple thousand miles on my car as I showed her around, but she seemed to enjoy it anyway.  Yosemite is one of my favorite places, so we spent a cozy weekend there just as the first rains of winter hit.  We also took a whirl wind tour of L.A., Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, and even spent a couple of days seeing the sights in San Francisco.  These trips and a bit more are documented below.

The night M arrived in America after 14 hours on the plane, M wanted a bubble bath!	We visited the Grand Canyon	You should have seen her hiking back up the trail ...	Hoover Dam	M at Hoover Dam
With Hoover Dam in the background	At the Riviera hotel and casino in Las Vegas	At Circus Circus in Las Vegas	At Harrah's casino - we didn't lose a dime at any of the casinos	With my "unemployed" brother near Yosemite
On the road into Yosemite National Park	At the Wawona Hotel in Yosemite	Bridal Veil Falls in Yosemite	Getting ready for a great drive	My turn to tee off
American Jollibee in Union City	My future wife the tart maker	Christmas dinner 2008	San Francisco trip	Me and the Golden Gate
Me under the Golden Gate	My love on the Marin side

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Last modified: 03/18/09