Grant and Katie: 1st Year of Marriage in Review

For our recent road trip to Seattle I downloaded a number of podcasts to listen to while I drove.  My favorites were always those done by Radiolab, self described as "a show about curiosity. Where sound illuminates ideas, and the boundaries blur between science, philosophy, and human experience." Recently during a bus ride to a job interview, I heard a Radiolab podcast about a man named Nicholas Felton, who decided to record his entire year, everything that he did, and create "The Feltron Annual Report" at the end of the year as a way of seeing what he actually did, where he spent his money, who he spent his time with, etc.  For example: Different methods of transportation: 23.  Total different locations reported: 258.  Most encounters with one person: 226.  It is in this spirit that I write this post.  Katherine and I have been married for over one year.  What was that year like?  What did we do?  Where did we go?  While we did not keep detailed data for the entire year I spent some time reflecting and compiling data, and here it is, the 1st Annual Grant and Katie: Year in Review.  Hope you enjoy!

It made sense to me to start off with the question, where did we go?  So in a simple graphic, here is our "Location Summary." 

This leads to some obvious questions, like:
1. Hours spent on an airplane: 87
2. Number of countries visited: 4
3. Number of continents visited: 2 1/2
4. Number of U.S. states driven through: 3
5. Favorite city of the year: Seattle
(Runner Up: Victoria, B.C.; Utila, Honduras)


6. Amount of time spent living out of a suitcase: a total of 4 months
7. Longest consecutive time living out of a suitcase: 102 days
8. Number of hours spent playing Settler's of Catan: not enough
9. Most times throwing up on a single airplane ride: 4
10. Worst movie seen while flying: Green Lantern

Next, we go to one of the most sacred and commonly used marriage metaphors... the bed.
1. Number of different beds slept in the past year: 34 (a different bed every 10.74 days)
2. Most comfortable bed slept in: Carmel Valley Ranch, Room 258
            (Runner Ups: Hotel Ballard, Seattle, WA; Our Bed!, Pacific Grove, CA)
3. Best view from a bedroom: Qualicum Beach, B.C.  (Runner Ups: Inn at Laurel Point, Victoria, B.C.; Utila,  Honduras)
4. Number of nights sleeping on Cole's twin bed together at Christmas: 2
And now for something completely different, the "Best Of":
1. Best phrase: "You just wrinkled my brain"- Troy, Community
2. Best movie seen in theaters: "Midnight in Paris"
3. Best movie seen at a midnight showing: "The Hunger Games"
4. Top 5 Best Meals (chronological order):
            i. Gluten-Free Burger; The Westin, Vancouver, B.C.  
            ii. Chang's Spicy Chicken; P.F. Changs, Pacific Grove, CA  
            iii. Chilaquiles; Comida Fer, Tegucigalpa, Honduras, C.A.  
            iv. Yemenese Food; Unknown Restaurant, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
v. Goat cheese filled jalapenos wrapped in bacon; The Matador, Seattle, WA
5. Best Outdoor Adventure:
Katie: Scuba Diving in the Caribbean at the 2nd biggest coral reef in the world; Utila, Honduras
Grant: Climbing Super Slide (5.9) at Royal Arches in Yosemite, CA. 5 pitches with Rob Simpson
6. Best coffee shop: Cafe Trieste; Monterey, CA 
7. Best concert: Young the Giant at The Moore; Seattle, WA
8. Best citing of David Beckham: L.A. Galaxy vs C.D. Motagua; Tegucigalpa, Honduras
9. Best book read together on a plane to Ethiopia: "The Hunger Games"
10. Best time drinking rum on a Caribbean beach: Tela, Northern Coast of Honduras
11. Best disc golf shot: Brent Smith; Ace on #11 at Carmel Middle School (March 10th, 2012)

And now,  the "Most of" list:
1. Most listened to music: 
    Grant: Ben Harper
    Katie: Young the Giant
2. Most disturbing thing witnessed: Small goat's throat slit by an Afar warrior; Ethiopia
3. Most disturbing thing eaten: See #2
4. Most watched show: Community
5. Most frequented coffee shop: The Q Cafe; Seattle, WA
6. Most crazy looking fruit: Lychee
7. Most visited restaurant: Comida Fer; Tegucigalpa, Honduras
8. Most fun day of the year: March 26th, 2011


All in all a good year.  If it had to be summed up in one word, I guess "nomadic" would be about as good as any other.  Hopefully this next year will be a little bit more settled, with lots more Settlers. I can't end this post with that.  That joke was horrible.  Stay tuned for more on our second year of marriage.  Ok, that's a better ending.

http://www.adventureprotocol.com/