This page has been built for Mitchell's family and friends to connect online and share their personal memories and stories.
Contributing family and friends
Photos will be oncoming as I sort and find the best ones of Mitchell's life and our travels together.
Amber Peterson Mitchell in the kitchen at our first home after marriage, Mapache Dr, in Diamond Bar, CA. We had scheduled our wedding for May 1985. the day after we received the printed wedding invitations to be mailed to our friends, Mitchell got the job offer from Chevron. Chevron was not interested in waiting until June before he started working. I wasn't about to give up my first European trip for a honeymoon so we moved the wedding up to March 24 (had to get new invitations and a news bridesmaid as my original friend could not come earlier) and had our honeymoon in Germany & Amsterdam. He then started work April 15. Angela finished the school year then went to stay with her biological dad while Mitchell and I looked for a house. We started with concentric circles around where his job was in La Habra, CA. We kept having to move further out in our circles because the houses were so much more expensive than we thought. We were being shown houses where the back yard was 2' wide then a cliff. Or the house was tilted from past earthquakes, or the rooms were closet sized or the garage was flooded from water heater issues, etc. etc. Each realtor always was so upbeat about whatever horrible condition the house was in. I was in tears most days from the lack of anything suitable. Finally Mitchell's mom suggested Diamond Bar and we found the perfect house. Then the mortgage company kept asking for things like "why did you make a late payment on your magazine subscription 8 years ago". Again in tears until Mitchell finally went to them and pulled our package and gave it to a new and better mortgage company who approved us in a few days. We got the house.
Amber Peterson family photo - our second/third year in CA after we were married, we hosted a Spanish exchange student for a year - Fernanda. So Mitchell in the back, Amber, Fernanda, Angela in front
Amber Peterson Girl Scout event, Ca. Dreamin, Mitchell always helped at all my Girl Scout events. We are both lifetime members.
Amber Peterson climbing through the Cu Chi tunnels in Viet Nam. Angela and I visited them a few years later and the tour wasn't near as extensive underground but still as wretchedly hot
Amber Peterson bamboo rafting on the River Kwai close to Chaing Mai, Thailand
Amber Peterson long trip this year. We started in Switzerland where we dropped Angela off at Our Chalet where she worked as a volunteer for the summer. Then to Moscow and St. Petersburg, then flew to Irkutsk and Listvyanka, then the train to Ulaan Baator, Mongolia and train on to Beijing. On the Great Wall of China here
Amber Peterson riding a pony in the outback Mongolia. the hosts were besides themselves laughing at him so hard. I declined. then we were given the "seat of honor" behind the stove in their gers (yurt). close to the stove for the heat and facing the door so you could see who was coming inside. they served us curds and whey. was quite tasty actually. one of those times when all the "don't eat anything not processed or cooked well when overseas" went out the window. would have been rude to refuse. we were fine afterwards. no ill effects.
Amber Peterson our bnb in Listvyanka, Siberia, Russia on the shores of Lake Baikal. Russia in serious economic difficulties at the time. All our guides and taxi drivers throughout the trip had been engineers or doctors who weren't being paid. The people in Listvyanka were renting out their houses and going to sleep with friends when they had guests. This was a small one bedroom house and we got the bedroom. While we felt bad for displacing the family for the night, at least they got some much needed cash. Our tour agent had neglected to inform us of this fact when we asked for local accommodation. We displaced several families in different cities/towns around the country that trip. But they were all happy to have us, it seemed.
Amber Peterson walking around the prayer wheel at the Gaandan Monastery, Ulaan Baator
Amber Peterson Hakkone hot springs in Japan, outside Tokyo. you go there and eat boiled eggs from the hot springs which were surprisingly good in spite of the smell and coloring
Amber Peterson standing in a storage jar space in the ruins of Krak des Chevaliers in Syria. so glad we made it to Syria when everything was still standing (as much as ruins do) and saw Palmyra and other sites before the civil war destroyed much of it. oddly, our guide kept telling us we could take statue heads or columns or whatever we wanted from the ruins without a problem. we turned her down as we didn't want to have an "Elgin Marbles" situation plus the transporting of large items of such. Sadly, we should have done it so we could have shipped it back to them after the destruction. who knew.
Amber Peterson halfway up the 1000 steps to the fortress in Nafplio, Greece
Amber Peterson Hand in the Bocca del Verati or Mouth of Truth, Rome, Italy. think "Roman Holiday" with Audrey Hepburn. Mitchell kept his hand so he must be telling the truth
Amber Peterson the snow day in Okpo again. no work - couldn't drive up any hills
Amber Peterson Mitchell, my korean shopkeeper friend - Myoungsun, and me in Okpo, Korea on a rare snowy day. Okpo was in a dip. so when it snowed, you could drive over the hill and down into Okpo but chances are you would not be able to drive up the hill and out the other side - on the way to Daewoo Shipyard (so named at the time). So Mitchell did not go to work this particular day as we sat in our house up on the hill and watched all the cars congregate on the main street in Okpo - unable to drive either way up the hill to get out. Myoungsun owned a small "everything" store. She had toys, gifts, cosmetics, office supplies, cleaning supplies, and on and on. very tiny packed store. Her husband worked for Daewoo of course. they lived in Daewoo housing. It was a good husband who held a job at Daewoo and could afford to let his wife operate a store. Myoungsun and I would take turns hosting each other and teaching cooking. she taught me how to make kimchee and store it in a kimchee pot. plus many other Korean dishes. I taught her tamales, biscuits, and many other "American" dishes.
Amber Peterson one of the secretaries at Daewoo who worked with the Chevron team. Ms. Sun who got married on maybe our third trip to Okpo, not sure of the timeline here.
Amber Peterson making a friend on our trip to Cyprus
Amber Peterson we had hired a Smart Car in Italy during our Tuscany cooking adventure. might have been Mitchell's start of his love of tiny cars. We had a Mini Cooper in England
Amber Peterson Mitchell loved cooking. so much so that he pretty much took over most of the cooking eventually. usually because I would start and he'd just come in to "help" and get in my way so much that I'd just leave. We took several cooking classes in various places. We took an Italian cooking class for a week in Tuscany. It was magnificent. We ended up in a small town in a small hillside resort for our base. it was a very exclusive resort and past guests were people like Michael Jackson, Madonna, etc. Some famous artist was in residence giving art lessons as well. wasn't anyone we knew. Our class only had one other couple, a mother and son. Every day, we would go to someone's home in another small beautiful town and cook something. Today Mitchell is making gnocchi. We would start cooking around 9:30 or so. The first bottle of wine would be opened when we got there. We would finally eat lunch anywhere from 1:30 to 3. Then we would tour somewhere, Sienna, San Gimignano, a vineyard, a pasta company, an olive factory, etc. then back to the resort for a gourmet dinner. Wine at every stop!
Amber Peterson the last day of our cooking class in Tuscany, we prepared our evening meal in the gourmet restaurant at the resort where we were staying in their gourmet kitchen. Mitchell and the other student were working on prepared the boar which was very delicious. We received recipes of all the various dishes, pasta and otherwise, that we cooked during that week. strangely, we never made the boar dish again. We did make some of the pastas and salads and desserts though.
Amber Peterson This was tagliatelle day for our Italian cooking class. One day we went to a famous truffle restaurant way out in the country - nothing for miles around. Every dish, including dessert, had some sort of truffle in it or truffle oil. The first dish was soup. This is where Mitchell found out he was allergic to truffles. About 1/2 way through the soup, he could tell his throat was swelling. We were too far to go to any medical facility. And I didn't have any Sudafed or Actifed with me. He solved the problem by drinking 4 cups of espresso, as coffee is a vaso dilator. Whew. the restaurant very graciously and probably relieved that he was ok - just cooked him some french fries. Ever since, I always had something with me in case of an allergic reaction to anything. Sadly, Mitchell did love the taste of truffles. Always after that, when someone asked him for allergies, he would say truffles and we would then have to explain that it was the fungus - NOT mushrooms and not the chocolate type as they would invariably put down either chocolate or mushrooms
Amber Peterson We also made ravioli to go with our main course of boar
Amber Peterson In Tallin, Estonia on an Earthwatch Project. We just got a kick out of the name of the store.
Amber Peterson Christmas dinner in Belize. We had two Christmases in warm climates. One year we were in Australia staying with friends in the outback over Christmas. This year we all trooped to Belize.
Amber Peterson We did tubing through the jungle, snorkeling in Shark Alley which made Angela very nervous, and some other activities. No diving though as Angela doesn't dive. Mitchell and I always meant to go back to dive but didn't happen. Here, waiting to leave. trip over
Amber Peterson trip to India this time to see the Pushkar Camel Fair and Rajasthan. We rode bicycles through this town and camels in the desert.
Amber Peterson Maharajah Mitchell. Thar desert, India. camel trek for the morning. Mitchell was the oldest male tourist in the group so he got a turban and to lead the pack.
Amber Peterson lunch break after crossing the desert on camels
Amber Peterson Mitchell in a Jain temple with an elephant carving/statue
Amber Peterson In Jaipur, at Jantar Mantar, where Jal Singh built his colossal outside observatory. Mitchell is standing at Libra, which is his birthsign
Amber Peterson getting a fabric stamp at a fabric center. I wanted one but didn't like where they were putting it so declined. Mitchell got one so I could have that T shirt later. Still have it.
Amber Peterson back in Korea in Seoul. not sure what the occasion was but Mitchell posing with Keanu Reeves from the Matrix
Amber Peterson seoul, Korea. Mitchell and Godiva, my cat. Angela flew in to surprise me for my birthday that year. she and I are in the mirror
Amber Peterson In South Korea at Jeongbang waterfall
Amber Peterson at Yongdaum rock in South Korea. Koreans loved to make the peace sign for photos. most Asians like doing this. don't know if they still do as I haven't been in Asia in about 8 years but Mitchell's pose here is typical if you asked a Korean for a photo
Amber Peterson in front of Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Amber Peterson Mitchell at Ta Phrom,, Cambodia
Amber Peterson Mitchell and our guide, De, at Ta Som carving
Amber Peterson After Cambodia, we went to Laos and flew a small plane to Phonsavan, in the Xiangkhouang Province. The Plain of Jars is there. fields of large stone jars. amazing. it is also in an active land mine area. you must stay on the paths as one side is cleared and the other side of the path is not. This is a medium sized jar
Amber Peterson this is one of the large jars at Phonsavan in Laos. would have loved Mitchell to climb into one so I could take his photo peeking out of it but we couldn't figure out a way to do that and really shouldn't be messing with national monuments anyway so settled for this with his hand on it to show the size.
Amber Peterson Mitchell and our guide, Kinley, at a mandala in Bhutan. I still get emails from Kinley all these years later and we are Facebook friends.
Amber Peterson We had a trip to Thailand planned in Sept 2006. They had a coup 3 days before we went. We went anyway as it didn't seem to be that big of a deal. The Thai people loved their king and it was a coup to support him really and get rid of the corrupt prime minister. As we wandered around Bangkok, there were soldiers everywhere and tanks in a few places but mainly there were people celebrating joyously. Soldiers were taking photos with citizens and happily posing kids on their tanks. We were stopped in the street by a Chinese TV station and asked if we could be interviewed. Mitchell loves attention so he said yes. I stepped out of the way. The interview consisted of "why did we come even though we knew there was a coup", "were we enjoying ourselves", "did we feel safe", etc. Never saw the program on TV since it would have been in Chinese but he enjoyed giving the interview.
Amber Peterson Our trip to Thailand went then to Nepal, Bhutan, India (Sikkim) and back to Nepal then to fly home. Originally we were trekking in Bhutan but I had some difficulties in walking at the time due to osteoarthritis - comes and goes. At the last minute, we told Himalayan Holidays that we didn't want to trek after all. He suggested we add Sikkim instead as an alternative. So that's what we did. Mitchell is standing outside Drukgyeldzong fortress in Bhutan here. We were fortunate enough to be in Bhutan during their festival season. My first trip to Bhutan with Angela several years before was limited to 2000 visas issued that year. In 2006, there were many more issued. but it was still hard to get one for festival time.
Amber Peterson In Darjeeling, India - yes, where the tea comes from. just walking through the town. Loved the sign on this workshop. Our guide explained it as a place for older people to still work and have some worth. Darjeeling and Sikkim have a lot of Tibetan refugees
Amber Peterson Mitchell at the restaurant for our lunch stop in Darjeeling. When we were there, Darjeeling was a dry town - no alcohol may be purchased or served. They asked Mitchell if he wanted a beer and he said sure. They brought it to him in a teapot and served it in teacups.
Amber Peterson for being a dry state, somehow they were still able to get Mitchell a beer for the road
Amber Peterson Darjeeling, India is in the mountains. The plan was to descend the mountain, taking in all the beautiful sights, stop halfway down the mountain for the night, then continue the next day to the Nepal/India border and cross back into Nepal. The road down the mountain was not in the best of shape plus it was narrow. We had to crowd over to the side whenever a large truck was coming up the hill to pass us. In one case, we got stuck in the mud and it took all the men to get us out again. Luckily, we were close to a small mountain homestead and the men came from the house to help as well. Then our guide, who had been in touch with his main office in Kathmandu, informed us that there was danger of rioting in Sikkim the next day. "riots have been called and there will be burning bagels." which is what we thought he said. Finally we figured out that he meant "burning vehicles". So at that point, we raced down the mountain and I was sure we would fly off the mountain road at some point and die. We made it to the border at 8:45, 15 minutes before closing. The border guards on the Indian side were drunk. They had to enter all of our data by hand - no such thing as computers at this small crossing. We drove across the border to Nepal. No guard. Our guide went to his house and practically dragged him out of bed - yelling at him all the time that he wasn't being professional and not showing a good impression of his country. At one point - the border guard threw our passports at us but somehow, our guide mollified him and we were stamped back into Nepal and went to a hotel for the night. Whether they burnt bagels or vehicles the next day in Sikkim, we never found out.
Amber Peterson riding a carriage into the Palmeraie - a place in the desert where there is water and palm trees are being cultivated, Morocco
Amber Peterson Think this was India in the Thar desert. I am on the camel behind him and my camel is already standing which is why I got this photo looking down at him.
Amber Peterson after a few hours at St. Elizabeth's hospital Hong Kong, another long line waiting at the pharmacy to get meds.
Amber Peterson In Paris with our friend Sunghee who married one of the men that Mitchell worked with on our first trip to South Korea. One of the nicest things about being an expat was traveling. and often we would meet friends in odd places for a few days as our holidays crossed paths.
Amber Peterson Mitchell as a Roman Senator in Tunisia. many tourists must take this photo. There were not many people around the day we visited this site but there was a step stool behind the statue so you could climb up and stick your head on top of the statue.
Amber Peterson Went to Hong Kong for an anniversary trip. As we got older and had a bit more money, we tried to go somewhere different or interesting every year. We'd been to Hong Kong before but we like it so went back for our 22nd wedding anniversary. But as we are riding the bus, it made a very sudden stop and Mitchell went tumbling and hit his head. When we got off, he was dizzy and his eyes were wonky so we got to spend the first day at the emergency clinic at St. Elizabeth's.
Amber Peterson In Hong Kong in Chater Park under a shrimp tree. Not sure if that's the actual name of the tree but it's what we always called the one we had in Ca.
Amber Peterson Mitchell clearing fennel from the backyard of our house in Alameda, CA. anything we planted grew like crazy. we did not know fennel got so big. it was much taller than him. not sure of the date
Amber Peterson A trip to Boracay, Philippines for Mitchell's birthday. Angela came along too. lovely sand castle
Amber Peterson We made only one dive in Boracay because Angela is not a diver. enjoyed it though. much prefer Puerto Galera though
Amber Peterson Mitchell coming off the boat after our dive in Boracay
Amber Peterson Mitchell and me in front of the bridge in Ronda, Spain not sure of date but will find it for sure later
Amber Peterson holding a baby crocodile, Egypt
Amber Peterson In front of statues at Abu Simbel, Egypt
Amber Peterson in the Selim Caravanseri, Armenia
Amber Peterson Hasmik, our guide, me and Mitchell at a stone cemetery in Armenia. we had been set to go Georgia and Armenia when tanks from Russia rolled into Georgia and our tour was cancelled. we scrambled to find a new one and ended up with about 8 days in Armenia with Hasmik.
Amber Peterson our driver parked the car and we got out to walk up a hill to a fortress on the top. He said his car would not make it to the top of the hill. We asked how long it would take to walk up there. Hasmik said maybe 20 minutes or so. After 1 1/2 hours of walking, we were only about 2/3rds of the way up the hill. I was complaining bitterly so Hasmik called the mayor of the town and he came out to pick us up in his Russian Lada. By then, I got stubborn and finished walking up the hill by myself while everyone else crammed into the tiny Lada and was driven the last 200 yards. the mayor did drive us all down the hill though.
Amber Peterson standing in the gate of the fortress after our long walk up the hill. Armenia
Amber Peterson standing in the over in Tatev Monastery, Armenia
Amber Peterson we spent a day going to Tatev Monastery in the Armenian hills. it was a rather perilous journey by Lada which labored up and down hills on a wretched road. it was well worth the trip though. a beautiful place. I understand now you can get there by cable car. very sorry that it is so easy to get to now because half the joy of being there is that you made the journey.
Amber Peterson standing in front of the Holy Church Etchmaidzin in Yerevan, Armenia
Amber Peterson a wine vat, sadly, empty
Amber Peterson posing as Ramses II, Egypt
Amber Peterson Mitchell in the ruins at Saqqara, Egypt
Amber Peterson sea monster spouts. not sure if they were fountains or downspouts in past times
Amber Peterson an unfinished obelisk in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt
Amber Peterson the colonnade of the ruins at Philae, Egypt
Amber Peterson Mitchell and Mr. Ankh. everywhere we went were hieroglyphics of an ankh (symbol of life) holding these two bird headed staffs. we called him Mr. Ankh. Mitchell didn't have the staffs but he assumed the position in this temple
Amber Peterson Nighttime at Luxor and the light show among the ruins
Amber Peterson Mitchell and Horus again, this time with Horus wearing the crown of Egypt
Amber Peterson Mitchell standing next to Horus at Philae temple
Amber Peterson Part of any tour in Asia, and certainly Turkey and Eqypt too, is to stop at all the different workshops to give you the opportunity and push you into buying their goods. Mitchell was always game to try anything even though I knew they were just wanting a tip. I was never fast enough to warn him that is what they were doing when he was invited to "try" something. Here he is trying alabaster carving and yep, guy stuck out his hand and asked for a tip after Mitchell had turned the crank about 3 times. In Turkey once, we were walking up a hill and a shoe shine man threw his brush in front of Mitchell. Mitchell, being the good naive man he was, picked it up and handed it to him - which was the bait. I started walking again, forgetting how vulnerable Mitchell was. By the time I turned around again - maybe less than 5 seconds, the man had already told Mitchell to thank Mitchell he would shine his shoes. Mitchell, of course, said yes, thinking it was a friendly gesture on the man's part. He gets one shoe shined and then the man asked for money. Poor Mitchell. He always thought his acts of kindness would be repaid by acts of kindness from others. maybe so but not in some parts of the world. He got "caught" by the "help me" scheme in many different countries. He never realized he was stepping into a "pay me a tip" trap, ever. MUCH too kindhearted and seeing the good in everyone. Another reason why we made such a good couple. He viewed everything with rosy glasses. I viewed everyone with skepticism.
Amber Peterson the temple of Hatshepsut in the Valley of the Kings and Mitchell playing out his role of the Pharaoh's statue again
Amber Peterson underwater in the Red Sea. couldn't tell you which dive site it is. Just off Dahab somewhere
Amber Peterson This particular trip to Egypt, we went on to Dahab to dive in the Red Sea. Lovely. We dove twice there. We also went to St. Catherine's monastery on this trip - high up in the hills, in the Sinai Peninsula. Our second trip to Dahab was markedly different as Egypt was suffering from many tourist scares and a remarkable lack of visitors. Dahab had almost become a ghost town and they were very happy to see us. On our second trip, we had to stop at a pharmacy because Mitchell had miscounted his medications. I'm standing right next to him at the pharmacy and yet the druggist kept trying to convince Mitchell to buy some Viagra. Did he think Mitchell might have a harem somewhere and needed more pep? Or do all western tourist men come in for a regular dose? who knows. OH, got off track. this is at the dive shop in Dahab. Our first Dahab diving trip, we just rented gear. Our second Dahab diving trip, we brought all of our own so really never went into a dive shop. we'd get picked up and just driving to the dive site
Amber Peterson On occasion, Mitchell would have a great deal of trouble equalizing his ears when descending. any divers out there know that is critical. On this dive, he had to go up and down several times before they got equalized and we could continue the dive. As his dive buddy, I was always there helping and waiting. On this dive, so was the divemaster also helping because we had him to ourselves. On a couple of dives - once in the Maldives, by the time he finished equalizing his ears, the group of divers with the divemaster were out of sight and we just swam in the general direction they had gone and finally found them. Once, we didn't find the group and had to just do our own thing and then surface. divemasters aren't supposed to do that. But we've experienced all kind of divemasters. In Dominica, Mitchell ended up helping two novice divers who were critically low on air and the divemaster was nowhere to be seen. you never quite know what you are going to get on a dive in unfamiliar waters. Both in Dahab and once in Saipan, Mitchell came up from the dive with a bloody nose. Both times, we went to a doctor to check it out and both times, he was told to stay out of the water for a few days. Luckily, there were other things to do although we were pressed in Saipan for enough to fill our days that were supposed to be dive days. And turn about is fair play, on our diving trip to Zanzibar, I came up with trouble in my ear. The hotel called a doctor to the hotel to see me late at night as it was screaming in pain at me. Again, had to find other activities as we stayed out of the water for a few days to heal.
Amber Peterson In Dahab, there are hundreds of cats. Most restaurants are along the shore and sport a dozen or more cats that hang out hoping to get food from the patrons. some restaurants will try and chase them away but the cats never go far and are back soon looking for handouts. As we are cat lovers, they always got something from us.
Amber Peterson in our hotel room in Alexandria, Egypt. Like many places that have fallen on hard times, some former palace is now a hotel. magnificent rooms.
Amber Peterson always have a day at the end of a dive trip when you are not in the water and are de-gassing so you can fly later. We always allow 24 hours to be super safe. Plus we had St. Catherine's which was high. with Redone, our guide here, we just went out to the countryside around Dahab and wandered in the sand dunes and hills for a day.
Amber Peterson I'm in the train going somewhere, Mitchell is outside clowning around. don't even remember where this was, where I was going, if he was going too or not. but love the photo.
Amber Peterson Outside the library at Alexandria, Egypt.
Amber Peterson at the hauptbahnhof in Munich with their painted bear. they had bears all over the town. pretty nice
Amber Peterson at a raptor center. Mitchell holding and looking at a black kite who is looking back and seems to be thinking - I could tear out his throat!
Amber Peterson Mitchell on his Yamaha
Amber Peterson riding the Yamaha
Amber Peterson another loving photo of Puff and Mitchell
Amber Peterson On the boat around Dominica - looking for whales. A fairly typical pose for Mitchell. He could fall asleep just about anywhere. In fact, once he fell asleep while standing up in the Paris Metro. It was so crowded that he was kept in place by the crowd and never even leaned over and certainly wasn't in danger of falling down.
Amber Peterson we did a dive trip to Dominica in 2011. went out looking for whales one day. did find some but didn't get any spectacular photos.
Amber Peterson snorkeling in Dominica - these were volcanic bubbles rising up through cracks in the rocks underwater
Amber Peterson the avenue of stones at Avebury, England
Amber Peterson The standing stones at Avebury, England. I have a "thing" for standing stones. I love them and think them fascinating but not to the point where we have to be at some for summer or winter solstice. But we still tried to visit as many as we could while living in England. If I heard about some, we went.
Amber Peterson this was the Devil's Seat standing stone at Avebury, England. Mitchell is there for size comparison.
Amber Peterson Mitchell doing his impression of Munch's The Scream as we get ready to walk along the breakwater in Guernsey. No waves today though and think it was at low tide anyway.
Amber Peterson took the ferry from Guernsey to Herm, an even smaller island but worth a day visit
Amber Peterson Mitchell and an ubiquitous red phone box. not actually quite as ubiquitous now. we were not Doctor Who fans at the time. that came later as we lived in England. would have searched for a blue police box to stand in front of then. Sadly, they are disappearing also as are the taxi cab shelters.
Amber Peterson the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens in London, England. We (Angela and I) often accused Mitchell of being a Peter Pan. he had many endearing qualities and some annoying qualities that were very childlike. When asked to stop them, he was always "no, don't wanna grow up."
Amber Peterson of course, at the end of the tour, you get a glass of Guinness. think Mitchell drank mine as well. Not a big beer fan. Did learn to drink and love whiskey though while we lived in England. Sadly, it's much more expensive now that I am living where it is "imported".
Amber Peterson a lovely waterfall in the Guinness brewery
Amber Peterson Ah but what is a trip to Dublin, Ireland without a visit to Guinness. Funny tale, 1992, I hit Dublin, Ireland and bought some posters to send home to Mitchell. At the time, it was Angela and I traveling together and he was in Houston working. To this date, I have not received those posters. I did not mail them from Dublin because I had friends tell me, because of the "troubles" in Northern Ireland at that time, anything mailed from N.I. or from Ireland would probably not go through. Think I mailed them from England. Still waiting but not very hopeful.
Amber Peterson Naturally we had to visit the Blarney Stone at Blarney Castle, outside of Cork, Ireland. It is a very popular tourist place. There was a long line to climb the stairs. Then a set up at the stone as you have to lay on your back and scrunch out and lean backwards to "kiss" the stone which supposedly gives you the gift of gab. As I've read that the locals are just as likely to pee on the stone as kiss it, and there have been thousands of tourists coming through to kiss it over the years, I just did a touch my lips with my fingers and touch the stone with said fingers. can't say if Mitchell did the same or not. Probably why I did not get the gift of gab. Mitchell already had that gift so can't tell if the Blarney Stone worked for him or not.
Amber Peterson still climbing the stairs to the Blarney Stone
Amber Peterson As well as going around the English countryside looking at standing stones, we also visited a good many dolmens. Just happened to find this one in Ireland A dolmen is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more vertical megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the early Neolithic and were sometimes covered with earth or smaller stones to form a tumulus. Wikipedia
Amber Peterson another tasting. This time Jameson Whiskey. Luckily, Mitchell was chosen as one of the few who got to sit and have a tasting demonstration which consisted of them giving the participants an off brand (probably) of some cheap, rot gut whiskey (probably) and then some Jameson and tasked to compare the two. Of course, all agreed that the Jameson was much better. No big surprise there. Luckily, we all got to taste the Jameson and of course, we bought a bottle or two.
Amber Peterson Mitchell getting ready to "kiss" the stone. as you can see, there is someone there to help you, (1) so you don't hurt yourself, (2) so you don't take so long as the line is very long, and (3) so they can take a photo to sell you. My dad, who was crippled, visited the stone years before. I don't remember his photos having any of this. but that was probably in the late 70's.
Amber Peterson At the Rock of Cashel, is St. Patrick's Cross, hundreds of years old and supposedly has healing powers - especially dental (I should have been the one trying to encircle it. Mitchell gave it a go and was just a wee bit short of being able to touch his hands. Mitchell was always willing to give things a go and try them for photos as long as it didn't involve climbing up too many stairs. Another reason why I have a lot of photos looking down on him as I always headed up. The best photos and views are always up.
Amber Peterson a chilly day in England with Mitchell's mini cooper
Amber Peterson Mitchell and a shamrock, drinking green beer, for St. Patrick's Day in England
Amber Peterson at the Farnborough Air Show. Every other year, Farnborough - the city where Mitchell worked - would host a huge air show. On the alternate years, the show was held in Paris. We went several times. You had to arrive early to get a good seat so you could see the various planes taking off. the rest of the time you were looking up. Farnborough is England's "Kitty Hawk"
Amber Peterson exploring an old fort along the road in the UAE.
Amber Peterson another cold day in England
Amber Peterson Mitchell and Puff
Amber Peterson at the Making of Harry Potter at Warner Bros Studio outside London, Mitchell with the Gryffendor Griffin
Amber Peterson somewhere in England, from the background, I'd say it was Waterloo Station, and we were really cold so I got these silly hats
Amber Peterson Craft Beer Festival in London, Conehead beer poster
Amber Peterson On the balcony with Nikko, Angela's cat, at our house in Camberley, England
Amber Peterson Mitchell watching TV in Camberley, England. Puff not so much
Amber Peterson In the Faroe Islands - one of the tunnels from island to island
Amber Peterson having champagne in the garden at Buckingham Palace after a tour
Amber Peterson not beer this time, mussels. He loved them. I was very iffy on them. this restaurant specialized in them. he said they were very good
Amber Peterson leaving on the Eurostar for Brussels
Amber Peterson there will be several photos here from our short Brussels trip. you might notice a theme. There was a lot of beer drinking.
Amber Peterson his flight of beers from that huge menu. and we really did do others things in Brussels that weekend.
Amber Peterson this was the beer menu. so many beers, so little time.
Amber Peterson enjoying his beer
Amber Peterson one of the brewerys we visited
Amber Peterson trying to decide what to buy at a gold vending machine in Dubai, UAE
Amber Peterson Mapledurham house in England
Amber Peterson in Santorini, Greece along the walk down into town. our hotel was up on the hill top
Amber Peterson in the sea at Santorini, Greece. Mitchell always got into the sea whenever we were on the coast. I'm an underwater person so I just stood and watched him play in the waves.
Amber Peterson eating breakfast on the balcony of our room in Santorini, Greece
Amber Peterson cake for our 30th wedding anniversary. 30th is "pearl". Angela got this cake for us and gave us an antique saber with a pearl handle. We met fencing
Amber Peterson Mitchell making a Star Trek symbol in stained glass at our friend Amanda's studio. took many classes from her and Mitchell joined in for a few of them.
Amber Peterson we took a glass blowing class where we made paperweights. This was several hours drive from the house so we stayed overnight in a thatched roof cottage just so we could say we had. later we found a glass blowing studio closer to home and took several classes. Mitchell wanted desperately to make a nice beer mug. the final result was only about 4" tall. But it did look good.
Amber Peterson working on our electric lawnmower in Camberley, England
Amber Peterson The Giants Causeway - huge basalt columns, Northern Ireland
Amber Peterson giants causeway, northern ireland
Amber Peterson Mitchell at the wheel of the SS Normandic in Belfast, Northern Ireland
Amber Peterson we had a trampoline in the side garden at our rental house in England. sadly, we didn't use it very much but had some fun the few times we did
Amber Peterson friend of our was from the Orkney Islands in Scotland. He always showed us photos of how beautiful it was. So we went to the Shetlands and the Orkneys. Yep, he was right. very beautiful. Lots of standing stones and mysterious places as well. good trip
Amber Peterson Natalie - Mitchell's second cousin - her then future husband, James, and Mitchell on a day out in London Natalie told me the date but need to look it up again and of course can't find it right now
Amber Peterson Our last family trip together in Iceland, in front of Seljalandsfoss
Amber Peterson Mitchell and Angela on a glacier in Iceland
Amber Peterson two lions in Malta - our last anniversary trip together
Amber Peterson hairnets so we could ride quad bikes in Malta - on Gonzo
Amber Peterson Mitchell standing in front of Bird Island off Easter Island
Amber Peterson land yachting in southern England
Amber Peterson Mitchell wading in the sea in the Aland Islands
Amber Peterson arriving in Florida to start our retirement
Amber Peterson mitchell at the breakfast table in Florida - checking news on his phone - after cancer diagnosis but before the real problems started
Amber Peterson the daily food preparation on the table after the insertion of the feeding peg - 3 months into the cancer diagnosis - after the first rounds of chemo
Amber Peterson the spare food and drink and tubing for the feeding pump
Amber Peterson the daily medicine preparation area. everything had to be ground up and liquefied to go through the feeding tube as he couldn't swallow anything. Bob the Blob (the neuroendocrine esophageal carcinoma as we named it) was squeezing his esophagus shut so no swallowing. He had meds ever 4 hours rotating between nausea pills and his beta blocker and paracetamol and then OTC meds to help other side effects
Amber Peterson Our garage door in Florida painted in the time vortex from one of our favorite TV shows: Doctor Who with the tardis, Timey Wimey Wibbly Wobbly, Adipose, and Bad Wolf in Welsh
Amber Peterson
What a really lovely idea Amber. Xxx
1996 was when Mitchy and I first met in Geoje, South Korea on the Chevron South Nemba and Lomba project. The Korean guys all said he looked like santa claus and he had a heart and personality the same. Had a great time on that project and we stayed in contact ever since. A perfect gentleman. I know you will be keeping an eye on the control systems ...
From Sharon Davies Moore on Facebook Sharon Davies Moore I will forever remember when I decided to head to Paris on my own. Made all the reservations and then shared them with Mitchell and Amber. He headed to Paris the first chance he had to check out the hotel I had chosen and make certain it would be OK. It was, and they, too, stayed there. Great...
I will always remember how supportive Mitch was and what a great personality he had. We all thought very highly of Mitch and he had a way of just getting on with everyone. I could come and talk to him and he always made time to listen and discuss through concerns I had.
From Kim Barber Felt on Facebook Kimberly Barber Felt I love this idea!! This is the perfect tribute!!! Let me see—Mitchell memories—so many!! How about when you guys took me skiing for the first time and I couldn’t figure out how to stop and took him out!! Or dinners at your house and we would say feet out when we wanted more leg room to claim the...
From Heather May from Facebook Heather May Amber Peterson yes! Some of my favorite memories are with your family. I didn’t know what adventure meant until I met you guys. Now years later I finally understand after traveling the world a bit. I aspire to see the world as your family has. I remember as a little girl wondering what on earth you were ta...
From Andy Klevens on Facebook Andy Klevens I remember Mitchell at Girl Scout camp outs and events, always helping, participating supporting. Wearing costumes when appropriate, in good spirits, glad to be a part of the things important to Amber. I think of book discussions in the 1980’s and Mitchell introducing me to titles and authors who become lo...
from friends we made traveling Maria Cecilia Lapertosa Flávio and I are really sad with the news. Sending you hugs and prayers, hoping the good and happy memories you shared together warm your heart. 🙏🏻💙😔💗
From one of our Finnish Girl Guide friends Charlotta Buchert So sad news Amber! I know he was the world to you. I wish you a lot of strength and the ability to get through this, although nothing will be the same. ❤
An email I received from a work colleague Dear Mrs Peterson, I have just been told about Mitch passing away and I am very saddened to hear of your loss. Mitch was my boss for the last four years, and I felt I had to convey my complete and utter admiration of him as my Supervisor and general all around good human being, as well as my condolence ...
From Ellen on Facebook Ellen Vankann Graham So sorry to hear this heartbreaking news. Mitchell was a wonderful person. He had a great sense of humor and the two of you were perfect together. You have many great memories to look back upon, I know it is not the same as having him at your side, but they will help. Our sympathies and condolences to you...
Amber Peterson Mitchell with his second cousin Natalie and future husband James out for a day in London
from diving buddy Susannah White from Facebook Susannah White I met the two of you a few years ago in Puerta Galera in the Philippines when my friend Kat and I were doing my open water certification (refresher for her). You took and shared lovely pictures of us and shared your joy in Nudibranchs and lots of good humor on a boat. Our encounter was b...
from Jennifer Jackson - Mitchell's cousin Amber - Keith remembers that fishing trip also, and that he cooked grilled tuna. I don't remember the tuna, do you? I do often think of the fun we had in London, and climbing inside the dome of St. Paul's, and you singing Scout songs to pull me through it,, and getting out on that narrow balcony. Since w...
Mitchell was the tech wizard in the house. I am going to have a lot of trouble once something goes wrong with anything - internet - tv connections - phones, etc. i am so dreading this. and it won't be long before my black thumb shows itself, I am sure. everyone wish me luck that Mitchell is watching me from the cosmos and can help me from there...
I first met Mitch in Korea where we were working on different Chevron projects and worked with him for nearly 6 years in UK on TCO FGP. I always enjoyed talking to him both professionally and personally. He was a bright spot in my time in the UK. I will miss him and I am so sorry he didn't get to enjoy his well deserved retirement.
Condolences Amber. Mitchell was a lovely man. Great to meet him in the Philippines and share some great experiences in the underwater world. Wishing you strength, peace and love in the coming months..Take care. Rick
an email from Mitchell's friend at work: James D Jones Hi Amber, I am so sorry for your loss. Thank you for writing. I did hear about Mitch’s passing from others who saw your original Facebook post and did pass word on to Henry that he was ill but not sure that I passed the sad news on. I will let him know. Very thoughtful of you to search for ...
It says a lot about a man when you see how he treats little children. We met Mitch and Amber when Richard joined EGP3 in Houston and then did life with them for awhile at Lotte Castle in South Korea. Mitch always tried to make himself not so scary to Danielle and Melanie when they were little, little. He gave them sweet attention and showed them li...
I met Mitch in 2014, with all communication done remotely. 2 years later before Christmas, I traveled to London and finally met Mitch face to face...Ohh Saint Nick. We discussed many technical issues and found a way to come up with solutions, even though we were separated by distance and time. Mitch had tremendous technical prowess and I enjoyed...
Today is Thanksgiving. I am thankful that Mitchell was such a big part of my adult life and that I had him for 40 years and he was such a wonderful dad to Angela - not his biological child - but he definitely wore off on her and taught her so much. Because we were expats, in the past 20 + years, we just got out of the habit of celebrating Thanks...
from an email to me: Dear Amber, I wanted to let you know I am thinking of you today. I imagine it must be very difficult. I hope you are able to be with your daughter if that is possible, and/or others who care about you. Whenever you posted and spoke of Mitchell I could feel the love you shared with him flow through your words. Despite your dee...
Mitchell's sayings: he had some sayings and jokes that he would repeat over and over again- sometimes ad nauseam - and sometimes they were brilliant. so just a few here and I'll edit the post and add more as I remember them. a couple of his jokes - old standards - old favorites - for him anyway. Patient: Dr. Dr., it hurts when I do this (raising ...
Mitch was a great person to work with on the Chevron TCO Project. He made me laugh at every meeting and he was very supportive of the Houston Team. He showed much concern and compassion when I left Chevron. I will always remember him and be grateful for knowing him.
Amber Peterson climbed a lighthouse in Gadansk, Poland will have to look up where it goes in the timeline as it wasn't labeled
Amber Peterson Today Puff joined Mitchell. he was almost 18 and he'd been Mitchell's cat for almost all of those years. He was our miracle cat as he almost died several times but Mitchell and I pulled him back and he went on to live a very happy life with us in many different states and many countries. Today it was just too much for him and he went to join his "daddy" Mitchell was always Puff's daddy. Lost both "my boys" now. I miss them both so much. Love them always