Vivian Lawry white water rafted down the Colorado River for two weeks. She rode camels in Israel, parasailed in the Bahamas, hiked in the Adirondacks, danced with the Maori in New Zealand, visited seventeen countries and forty-seven of the fifty United States - so far. Her greatest adventure regrets are that she chose to stay on campus to work on her doctoral dissertation rather than go to Woodstock, that she never rode a motorcycle cross-country, and that she won't live long enough to climb every mountain, visit every country, or taste every wine. Whether she is rewarded in heaven or burns in hell, she wants it to be for what she did rather than what she refrained from doing.

In her quieter interludes, she reads voraciously and plays spider solitaire. One of her favorite getaways is Niagara on the Lake. Another is the Outer Banks of North Carolina. She loves being alone en route, whether by plane, train, car, or shank's mare because on the move, anything is possible. On long-distance drives, she sings along with Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, the Beatles, Appalachian gospel groups, and show tunes.

Besides her family and long-time friends, three enduring passions are cooking, gardening, and sailing.

Her cookbook collection numbers in the hundreds.

She's particularly partial to perennials, cutting gardens, anything evergreen, and shade gardens (e.g., sacred lilies, hellebores, and hostas).

Her most treasured respite is sailing the Chesapeake - anytime, any weather.