The Wedding and After

Thursday, I went to this welcome center as I entered Vermont. 

In front of this building stood this marvelous sculpture by a local artist (there was also a moose by the same artist on the drive in).  Though it looked like ceramic, I decided it is paper mache, similar to the Surmel pieces we found in Mexico.

 

 

Pete,  Megan, and I at the brewery restaurant in Stowe on Thursday.  Megan's brother, Brian, is taking the picture.

My pictures of the Friday evening meet and greet in the bar came out really blurry and I am ashamed of them. 

 What follows are pictures of the wedding, starting with the setting:

 

 

The wedding party is approaching....from a long distance away.

 

My nephew Michael's wife, Heather.

 

 

 

Pete's oldest daughter, Kelly, the bride's sister and Matron of Honor.

 

My brother, Pete, and his daughter, Becky.  Pete is looking very similar to my dad on the day of my wedding.  This wedding made me very nostalgic about past weddings I have experienced.

 

During the service a poem by Neil Gaimin was read.  It was something like, "It was the day the

flying saucers landed all over the world, but no one paid much attention because it was also the day all graves opened and zombies came out terrorizing everyone, but then (something even worse happened.)  But you knew none of it because you were staring at the phone wondering if I would call." 

 

 

 

Becky and Joe.  The recessional was the Star Wars theme.

 

The cocktail party.

 

The setting for the reception.

 

And the reception.

 

The bride and groom dance.

Others dance

 

The cake.  At the top are Wall-E and Eve.

On the way into the wedding, we were given paper airplanes with our names and table assignments.  The sign-in sheet asked us to make a yellow thumb print, draw wings on it making it into an angel, and write our name on it.  Because a scrapbook was also on the table with pictures of Becky and Joe at Disney World (among other places) and the table was crowned with Mickey and Minnie bride and groom ears, I tried to make my thumbprint look like Mickey, but it looked more like a bear.

 

The cake was delicious.

 

Later, a fire was set in the fireplace outside the dining and dancing room in the cocktail area.

 

Sideways, I know, but this is Pete and Megan (my brother and sister-in-law) dancing.

 

Great cake!

 

Pete and Megan having a slow dance.

Everyone had a great time.

 

A conga line.

 

Megan's brother, Brian.  He took care of me all week-end.  Not an easy task since I was riding my scooter everywhere.  He and I had gone swimming in the Trapp Family Lodge's beautiful pool and then got into the hot tub earlier in the day.  Yes, that is where this whole wedding happened...The Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont.

I had way too much wine and I hope I didn't embarrass my family too much.  TR says he is sure it was because I was trying to make up for being there alone and feeling lonely, which is probably true.  I paid for it the next day.  I went to the Stowe Motel and just stayed in bed all day.  Didn't even have the energy to update my blog or even read.

 

The following day, yesterday, I just did some beautiful driving.  I went north in Vermont through the Green Mountains which appeared to be among the highest in the Appalachian range.  Magnificent!  I drove around the northern end of  Lake Champlain and skirted the east side of it down to Champlain, New York.  Then, drove through the Adirondack Mountains.  Drove through part of Potsdam, where I got my undergraduate degree.  It didn't look much different.  I spent the night at a motel in Oswego.

 

Today, I drove down along the east side of Cayuga Lake (one the finger lakes in NY), where I scouted a few locations--state parks, wineries--for TR and I to do together when we come back.  I bought 9 bottles of wine to take home.  Got that many bottles at two wineries.  The third winery had a restaurant and I decided to go there.  They had a beautiful terrace roofed by vines that hung down the front framing our view of the vineyard.  Cold as it had been in Stowe (it was getting down to 28 degrees a couple nights), today in southern NY, it was 96.  But, in the shade it was lovely.  I had a merlot mushroom soup which was amazing and a crab cake which was also very good.  With it, I had a flight of Rieslings, the last of which I thought was very good, but by that time, my judgement was suspect (everything was starting to taste good).  As good as the food was, the service was terrible.  The flight had more wine in it than I expected it to, and my waiter had forgotten to bring me bread.  I asked him if my dinner had come with bread and he says, "Oh, yeah.  I forgot to bring it"  and just stood there.  I asked him if I could have some bread and my check.  It took him another half hour to bring them.  Of course, one never knows if slow service is caused by the waiter or the kitchen...

 

I am now staying at a Budget Inn in Bath, New York (south central NY).  I was thinking I would head toward home more quickly now, but TR has a meeting about his family trusts on Friday, so he is stuck there until at least then, so I may go home at a bit more leisurely pace.