TRAVEL TALES

Young Chang

Herb Kostlan and Donna Pennington sent in a vacation picture that

looked, sure enough, like nothing more than a picture from their

vacation.

Kostlan is wearing a white shirt patterned with slender leaves.

Pennington is wearing a white spaghetti-strapped dress with a white pearl

necklace and a wreath atop her head. They’re both wearing leis, holding

different ends of the Daily Pilot and smiling. They even look giddy --

like newlyweds.

During a trip to Wailea, Maui early last month, the two 65-year-olds

got married on the beach. Few people came to the ceremony -- just

Pennington’s three children, sister and brother in law -- but with the

ocean before them and a Hawaiian sky above them, the Balboa Island

residents indulged in a fairy-tale wedding resembling, in near-fictional

details, the way they met.

It was a blind date two years ago, Kostlan said, but if you hear him

out, it becomes clear that the blindness was one-sided. The two Southern

California natives first met in the fifth grade in Pasadena. They were

playmates and neighbors, growing up together until the 10th grade.

Each went their way, each got married, Pennington became widowed and

Kostlan got divorced.

Two years ago, a mutual friend fixed them up on what was said to be a

“blind date.” Kostlan got the details, though, and knew he was about to

meet a friend from his youth. Pennington found out during the evening.

“He was my best friend’s boyfriend,” Pennington said. “I called her

the next day to tell her she wouldn’t believe who I got fixed up with

last night. I got her permission to date him.”

A year and a half ago, after only six months of re-knowing each other,

Kostlan proposed to Pennington during a trip to Hawaii.

On Sept. 6, they got married. Four days later, they started their

honeymoon in -- of course -- Hawaii. The next morning, Sept. 11, they

awoke to news of terrorists attacking the East Coast.

What struck Kostlan, within this mournful mind-set, was the innocence

of the islands.

“Especially, in light of the heavy heart we had on our honeymoon,” he

said.

They stayed in Hawaii longer than they intended as flight conflicts

arose after Sept. 11, but neither can complain.

“If the good Lord blesses you and you live as long as we have, he can

bless you,” a still giddy Kostlan said.

* Have you, or someone you know, gone on an interesting vacation

recently? Tell us your adventures. Drop us a line to Travel Tales, 330 W.

Bay St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627; e-mail young.chang@latimes.com; or fax to

(949) 646-4170.