Last week Miss Em and I celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary by going out to supper.

As celebrations go, it was a quiet, low-key affair-just the two of us with all the treasured memories we've made together since we met at a conference in Charleston, West Virginia 34 years ago.

We enjoy each other more with each passing year. We talk and laugh and plan for the future just as we did all those years ago.

We both dreamed of traveling and seeing the world, but like most other young couples, money was hard to come by. When our work took us out of town, we'd squeeze in as much sightseeing as we could along the way, but that just whetted our appetites for more.

Since we couldn't afford to do much going, we kept our travel dreams alive with books, magazines and free literature from tourism agencies in places we hoped to visit and explore someday.

When I retired in 1994, we left the very next day on our first real vacation. We were gone for eight weeks and loved every minute of it.

On that trip, Emily discovered a book about the Highpointers, an organization that encouraged going to the highest point in each of our 50 states. We knew from reading the book that several of the high points were too dangerous or too strenuous for us, but we believed we could hike 44 of the 50 if we planned carefully and got ourselves in good physical condition. To get in shape, we began walking 20 miles a week and reached our goal of 1,000 miles a year for several years.

Since '94 we've visited all 50 states-many of them several times-and made it to 42 of the 44 high points on our list. Our list was cut to 42 last year when we attempted Wheeler Peak (13,161 feet) near Taos, N.M. The altitude, strenuous trail and shortness of breath stopped me a half mile from the top. Miss Em was in good shape. She could have made it to the top without a problem, but she had to help me down.

Plans for our big trip next year are almost done. We won't be risking high altitude breathing problems. We plan to visit the USA's lowest spot, Death Valley, California, at minus 282 feet, and return to one of our old favorites, the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

Don't get the wrong idea about Miss Em and me. While we spend lots of time planning for and talking about traveling, the really important things in our lives are our love for each other, our family and our home here in Little Mountain. Probably the best thing about going places is getting back home again.

Hugh and Emily Clements, of Little Mountain, is a columnist for The Newberry Observer. The Bits & Pieces column appears the second Wednesday of each month.