"Russia in winter?" we were asked. "Seriously? Do you guys own a history book?" Well, we went, anyway, for Christmas 2008. The Russian people were sweet, the sites were phenomenal, and the lines were even short. The highlight, in a bulging quiver of highlights, was probably walking around Red Square at night. Sitting alongside that, though, was seeing Lenin's body, watching people skate through Gorky Park, the cornucopia of Rembrandts in the Hermitage, the beautiful restoration of Peterhof, and even the stunning Metro stations. The lowlight, and we're stretching, here, was probably the Cosmonaut Museum -- it was closed for restoration. Russia in winter. Who knew?

We've been excited about going to the middle east, in general, and Egypt, in specific, for quite some time. For Christmas 2007, we went to up and down the Nile and over to Petra in Jordan and had a whopping good time. The highlight may have been seeing the Tut exhibit in the Cairo museum or seeing Petra or the Valley of the Kings or -- there's so much to choose from. The lowlight was the incredible stench of the Horus Hotel in Aswan -- and their make-shift bidet.

So, my family likes to scuba dive and we have a thing for sharks (it can get to be kind-of embarrasing). We've been wanting for ages to dive with great white sharks and we finally got the chance at Isla Guadalupe, Mexico, with San Diego Shark Diving. The highlight of the trip was sitting in a cage, seeing as many as four 17 foot sharks in view at once, some almost close enough to touch, and realizing that these creatures are intelligent. Yikes! The lowlight, of course, was the motion sickness that comes from bouncing around in a cage after an 18 hour trip through open ocean. But, man, was it worth it!

We have a great Irish friend who was gettng married and there was no way we would miss it. The reception was, easily one of the top ten best events of our lives. The warmth of Doreen's family, the traditional Irish music, the food, but most of all it was the privelege of watching the guests interact with each other. This was the warm family experience the movies try to reproduce but never quite accomplish.

We got together with Wade's dad, his girlfriend, and some of their friends for a raft trip through the Grand Canyon. The highlight was the phenomenally beautiful scenery. I did this trip with my Dad and mom when I was 15 and I just don't remember it being so pretty. The lowlight was, well, that we aren't campers and we weren't used to the heat and the sand and the lack of showers and the...

We wanted to get wet and we hadn't done Coz so, off to the Yucatan it was in July of 2006. What a wonderful dive spot! We saw all sorts of cool stuff including whale sharks in Holbox! The highlight, though, had to be meeting a great group of divers. Not only did we make some new friends on the dive boat, we also met up with a bunch of great people from ScubaBoard. The lowlight was the bug bites (not that we had that many bug bites, it's just that this was a pretty cool trip).

So we gave the Albuquerque balloon festival another visit in October of 2005. The highlight was a morning mass ascention against a perfect New Mexico sky, munching on a paper cone full of cinnamon rolls. The lowlight must have been the bitter cold the morning before (but we had to think pretty hard to find this).

Our daughter went to Europe with four of her friends (Karen and I tagged along, too) to celebrate high school graduation in the Summer of 2005. The highlight was watching five teenagers feeding pigeons in Venice. The lowlight was, if only for 15 minutes, losing track of two of them in London.

This trip taught us a lot about, well, running a tour. Karen wrote this stuff down and you can read about it here.

We dove Phuket with the Sea Bees dive operation in April of 2005. The highlight was the clouds of fish and all the different species of shrimp. The lowlight was the visibility. It wasn't the worst vis we've ever seen but it was 20 - 30 feet on many dives.

Boston and New York were the co-destinations for Christmas 2004. The highlight was, probably, seeing Rent on Broadway. The lowlight, if you can call it that, was the intense cold (at least for us California kids) in Boston. The snow sure was pretty, though.

This scuba diving trip took us to two sites on the Viti Levu island of Fiji in August 2004: Beqa Lagoon Resort and Wananavu Beach Resort. The highlight had to be diving with eight (eight) bull sharks. The lowlight was a tank emptying swim back through a heavy current on that same dive. Luckily, everyone came out of it okay.

We went on this scuba diving trip aboard the Nekton Pilot in April of 2004. The highlight was all the fish (more than the Caymans) including free-floating shrimp, conchs, gigantic hermit crabs, foot-long squid on a night dive, sand-colored rays, and schools of creole wrasse. Arminda's cookies were a close second (she's the Pilot's excellent cook). The lowlight was that we had two, count-'em, two diving accidents on the boat. Luckily, everyone came out of it okay.

This was the Christmas trip for 2003. The highlight was the entire city of Siena (though Venice is always pretty cool). The lowlight was schlepping our luggage through some of the less desirable neighborhoods of Venice at around eleven PM.

We went on this trip in August of 2002. The best highlight was watching the sun rise over Angkor Wat. The lowlight was in Tibet, sitting in our third hotel in as many days (1st had no water, 2nd had no room), having some trouble with the food, gasping for air, and working to help our sick daughter feel better.

We did a quick trip to the Albuquerque Balloon Festival in October of 2001. The highlight had to be going up in one of the balloons on Sunday -- that was fantastic. If there was any lowlight it would have to be that some of the events were winded-out (I guess this isn't abnormal for the festival).

This was our summer 2001 trip, taken in July. There were several highlights but the best was probably sitting silently at the bottom of a tidewater glacier listening to it pop and rumble. The lowlight had to be the cost -- there was a lot of bang but, for us, it cost too many bucks.

We did this in August of 1999. It was pretty interesting but a lot more work than we expected. The highlight was seeing Machu Picchu but the lowlight was when Karen ended up in the Quito hospital with amoebic dysentary.

This trip, made in February of 1998 was the best we've ever done. It was mind bogglingly beautiful. The highlight was having penguins crawling all over us at Aicho Island. The lowlight was extreme motion sickness while crossing the Drake Passage.

In April of 1997 we visited Spain (Semana Santa in Grenada is pretty cool), Portugal, and Morocco. We really enjoyed the warmth and hospitality of the Arabic culture in Morocco and our highlight was experiencing this, as well as the exotic sights, sounds, and scents, in the souks of Marrakech. The lowlight was getting our lives threatened (!!!) by an over-zealous hustler in Fes.

We took off for Cancun in February of 1995. We really enjoyed our two days in Chichen Itza and our highlight has to be seeing it in the twilight from our hotel room while listening to the music drifting up from the cantina downstairs. The lowlight was running out of cash when the whole system of ATM cash machines went down the Sunday before we were to leave.

We got married at the end of this trip in 1985 which, kind of, makes it our honeymoon -- if you squint. Apart from the obvious, the highlight was seeing Everst with a trio of new-found friends. The lowlight was getting metaphorically kicked in the head for 24 hours by various individuals in Dehli.

"Men wanted: for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success."

Sir Ernest Shackleton