Espanola, Ont., couple Kathy and Mike Carre are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary on June 29, and they're marking the occasion by doing 50 fun things – including taking a trip to the Ottawa Tulip Festival and riding in a 1939 vintage biplane. They began the initiative in December of last year and carried out fun activity number 32 in mid June when they went on a series of three hikes on the Black Creek trails in Espanola with 50 people.
"It just kind of came to us a couple of days ago," Kathy said of the idea for the hikes. "Wouldn't it be neat to go for a walk with 50 people to mark our 50th and to also be part of Participaction for our community. So it's a win-win right? In fact, each of the three hikes drew between 20 and 35 people, adding up to far more than 50.
Kathy and Mike Carre pose for a picture while riding a vintage plane in Ottawa earlier this year, as part of their challenge to break out of their comfort zone for their 50th anniversary. (Submitted by Kathy Carre) "The first thing that we did was – now I'm going to get emotional. We had a family trip with our kids and our grandchildren to Costa Rica," Kathy told CBC, during one of the trail hikes.
"It was just pure magic and so much fun. So fun thing number one was anticipating that trip." Another fun thing involved going on a sunset dinner cruise with seniors from their area, she said.
Not all of the fun things have involved travel or tourist attractions though. They've also included family hikes an.