It’s hard to believe that we’ll be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary this week. (It’s not that we’re surprised we’re still married — it’s that we can’t believe it’s been 25 years since our wedding day!) If there’s one theme that’s been a big part of our quarter-century together, it’s travel.

St. John, USVI, 2004

Dubrovnik, Croatia, 2001

The Big Apple, 2000

Budapest, Hungary, 2001

The big day in 1989

Tanzania, 2005

Lake Geneva, WI, 1999

Cinque Terre, Italy, 2001

Uluru, Australia, 2010

Over the past 25 years, we’ve been lucky enough to visit four continents, 33 countries, 37 US states, and 42 US national parks. (Yes, we’re listers.) We decided to extend our anniversary celebration to our blog by listing our 25 favorite travel destinations. (We’re looking forward to spending the next 25 years adding to the list!)

1. Virgin Islands National Park, St. John, USVI
2. Great Barrier Reef, Australia
3. Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
4. Cinque Terre, Italy
5. Gimmelwald, Switzerland
6. Hallstatt, Austria
7. Sydney, Australia
8. National Park of American Samoa
9. Zanzibar, Tanzania
10. Paris, France
11. Exmouth, Western Australia
12. Monteverde, Costa Rica
13. Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska, USA
14. Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska, USA
15. Glacier National Park, Montana, USA
16. Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, USA
17. Lassen Volcanic National Park, California, USA
18. Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia
19. Washington, DC, USA
20. Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada
21. Crater Lake National Park, Oregon, USA
22. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Florida, USA
23. New York, New York, USA
24. Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
25. San Francisco, California, USA

Honorable mentions: Denali and Kenai Fjords National Parks, Alaska, USA; Chicago, Illinois, USA; and of course our go-to destination:  the Oregon coast. Of course, even after 25 years, we still love exploring our hometown, the Rose City of Portland, Oregon. It doesn’t exactly qualify as a travel destination for us because we live here. But we certainly recommend it as a travel destination for those who don’t!

We had a ton of fun compiling the list and revisiting our fantastic travel memories, but we have to admit that ranking them was tough — how can you compare a beachside resort in Mexico with the wildlife and views of the mountains?!? Ask us tomorrow, and we’d probably shuffle the rankings!

Wherever your travel adventures take you, we hope that you enjoy your week or your weekend as much as we’ve enjoyed traveling together over the past 25 years! Cheers!