The Wedding Stories, Friday, April 29, 2022

We have arrived at the penultimate day of the Wedding Stories week. The morning was clear and the sunshine was bright. The temp was cool. We stepped out on the patio for a sip of coffee and were just in time to see the hot air balloons rising over our BnB.

A beautiful sight. Jake and Audrey took off early and drove into the town of Temecula for a „just the two of us“ breakfast - a well deserved break from the madding crowd. That left Mark in charge of the group breakfast. He pulled yesterday‘s roast potatoes from the fridge, chopped them up and tossed them in the huge skillet to create hash browns. Next a dozen eggs were beaten to a slurry froth with a bit of mild for creamy scrambled eggs; the toaster was pushed into duty for toast and bagels, while the last of the bananas and oranges were prepped. A good start to what is shaping up to be a busy day.

Chris, Avery and Spenser hopped into the swimming pool for a bit of relaxation, Abby broke out the knitting needles and ended up finishing a good eight inches of the sweater she is working on. Mark Cleaned up from breakfast and started some loads of laundry - this crew burns thorough pool and bath towels like no other! In the late morning, Darcy, Avery and the boys head into town for a look around. Audrey chooses a bit of a nap, Jake works on some computer stuff, and Abby decides to order some Del Taco to be delivered for her lunch. Just as the delivery driver left her order, the other kids pulled in with their own Del Taco run fortifications. 

After the lunch hour, we cleaned up and then headed out to the first scheduled event of the day‘s activities, a wine stop at Doffo Winery just up the road from our BnB. A unique venue with an entire garage of vintage motorcycles to view. We enjoyed one glass of wine and then visited with some of the wedding guests we would see tomorrow, such as Ed‘s buddy Jeff Spicka and his partner Krishna, who had arrived from Omaha, also Ed‘s former room mate Robby, in from D.C. We took our leave after one glass and headed back to the home base. Darcy and Deb then left for a grocery run to forage for additional provisions for the weekend crowd.

At 4:30, the van loaded up with those who are in the wedding ceremony, leaving Audrey, Darcy and Abby to follow a bit later. We arrived at the wedding venue, Montserate Winery, just shy of our 5:00 schedule to meet the entire party for the rehearsal.

After a couple of practice runs, we then journeyed over the mountain to the neighboring Ella Rose Farm where the rehearsal dinner and the rest of the families, including the three we left behind gathered for cocktails and the arrival of the Taco Truck for our dinner. Lynne Covert and her daughters, Claire from Lincoln and Jessica from Chicago had arrived to fill out the final Covert contingent.

Brother John Covert, due to his aversion to airline travel, was left to go to Lincoln to help out with the dogs, kids, and to binge watch some good TV on the Bybee channels with James and the grandchildren, Seth, Genesis and Emily. The food was good, speeches were made, thank you’s to all the gathered friends and family were handed out by the feted couple and then, due to the breeze and chill in the air, the party broke up and headed back to home base.

While we were at the dinner and rehearsal, our friends Glenda Pierce and Jeff Kirkpatrick arrived at our BnB from Omaha. We sat with them for an hour or two (your author is not sure of the exact time, as he wandered off to his bed) and spent some time rehashing our weeks long list of activities. We are now ready to face the wedding day, hopefully refreshed and rehearsed. Tomorrow will go smoothly if the lead up is any indication.

The Wedding Stories, Thursday, April 28, 2022

It is a glorious morning at the Zinfandel Estate in Temecula California. All the various travellers stumble into the great room in stages. Jake is the first up and has showered and made the coffee. He is quickly followed by his sisters Abigail and Darcy. Darcy was seen dancing to Whitney Houston early on. We are not sure whether it is the climate, the sunshine or the trip to the “dispensary” yesterday that accounts for her wonderful mood! 

Today is the relaxation day for this Covert crew. We are free until the evening and plans are made. Dad got to experience the amazing multi-head shower in the master suite that he and Deb occupy. The shower room is almost as large as their entire bathroom at home.

Ever the property manager, he is already making suggestions to improve the area, starting with a plastic chair or stool as a place to wash one’s feet or to shave legs. Maybe a retractable shower mirror for face shaving. If we are talking luxury, it is the little things that count. Still, it was a great experience. The space would be truly conducive for a pair of bathers, just sayin’!

Jake assumed cook’s duties for the morning, preparing a veritable feast of roasted potatoes, scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, bagels and toast. Post breakfast the crew turned to cleaning the mess, straightening the domicile and then retreating to their suites to dress, shower, or just to grab a late morning nap. Audrey fired up the jacuzzi so those wanting to partake of the relaxation could do so. Jake competed home computer work, Spenser, Avery and Chris put on their bathing attire and lounged in the jacuzzi hot tub, Abby and Audrey took long naps. Darcy and Avery took off later to scout out the legal (yeah!) dispensary stores, and Ed returned to offer Mark a spin in the mid-life crisis toy - his sparkly dark blue

Mazda Miata convertible. Dad eagerly accepted even though a bit sceptical as to how he was going to disembark when done.

Lunch plans were laid and Abby collected individual In & Out Burger orders. She and Darcy took off for the revered establishment and finally returned with the burger order, some tacos from the neighboring Del Taco Restaurant and we all sat down at the large outdoor patio table to enjoy our late lunch. One would think we had not eaten some three hours prior. Although lounging in the jacuzzi pool or sunning in the chaise lounge chairs can be exhausting, especially when accompanied by an adult beverage or a finely compounded gummy!

At 5:00, everyone went in to clean up and prepare for the evening festivity. Tonight is the first grand meeting of the families - easily the most fraught affair of the weekend for the celebrants. Both Ed and Meg have two sets of parents; the families have never met one another, and the group is large. The event this evening is a hamburger, Hot Dog barbecue hosted at the AirBNB of Meg’s family, about 30 minutes drive from where we are staying. The home is within site of the coming wedding venue and will be convenient for Meg’s extended Morman family, of which there are more than for the Covert side.

Their BnB is a large, multi-storey abode, with untold and probably undiscovered bedrooms, the obligatory pool, this one with a slide, multiple balconies and a large number of gathering rooms and a big kitchen. The place is packed, and now there are 3 and 4 year old children scootering through the crowd. Everyone does their best to introduce and remember names and relationships. The cardinal rules laid down by everyone’s family are observed, to wit: no talk of politics or religion, and please, stay sober! It worked! We all had a very pleasant time, the hamburgers, Hot Dogs, potato salad, macaroni salad, baked beans and other sides were gobbled up and the crowd mingled well. By 8:30, the Covert crew was taking its leave, saying goodbyes in the normal midwestern fashion, that is, taking forever to straggle out the door, and then we were off and headed back to the Zinfandel. We were home shortly after 9:00.  We spent some time dissecting the evening, agreeing that everything went off without a hitch. Groom and Bride appeared to have weathered it well and we all are now looking forward to the next few days.

The Wedding Stories, Wednesday, April 27, 2022

This is one long travel day. We are up at 5:30 AM to repack our suitcases.  Once packed, we went next door for our breakfast. We walked into the Hilton Garden Inn to find this wonderful restaurant. We had just reached an open table when the waitress stopped us and said no, we couldn’t eat there. She directed us around the corner to a typical hotel meeting room set up with 10-person rounds. There was a paper sign at the door stating “Hampton Inn Breakfast Room.” There was a typical breakfast buffet with chicken sausage, egg “patties,” cereal, bagels etc. The tables were populated by some very unhappy travelers like us, who had seen the real restaurant and were all feeling a bit like 2nd class citizens. 

Back to our room, we loaded our six bags onto the cart and down from the 5th floor into the lobby and load up the Camry for the final time. Our hotel in Crystal City was only 5 minutes from National Airport; we will never stay anywhere else again when we are flying out of D.C., although we may pick a different hotel. Our first flight, from D.C. to Chicago was an uneventful hour and 45 minute hop. We had an hour and a half layover and then onto the flight to San Diego. Allow us a moment to voice a complaint about airline travel in today’s world. Every passenger airplane must leave the ground with a nearly empty cargo hold as the number and size of the rolling stock is enormous. People come aboard with two rolling pieces and a backpack enough for a Himalaya trek. Additionally, with the pre boarding of active military, passengers with small children, 1K Members, first class passengers and then those that are in boarding group one, all the overhead space is gone before we even can board. On both our flights, we were only two or three rows back from the first class cabin and there were no overhead spaces available. People will book the cheaper seats, but because they get preferential boarding, they throw their luggage into the front area compartments and then stop to pick it up on the way off the plane. We know there is nothing to be done, but it does give Mark something to exercise his “grumpy old man chops” about.

We are last of the Covert contingent to arrive in San Diego. Ed’s three children, Christopher, Avery and Spenser arrived around 1:00 on their non-stop flight from Baltimore. Abigail arrived around 3:00, Darcy next around 3:30 and finally we landed at 3:45.  The kids were all chattering away when we arrived. Darcy and Deb took the shuttle to National Car Rental to pick up our 7-passenger van and then came back to load us and all the luggage in for the drive to Temecula. Darcy handled driving duties and Abigail handled navigation.The three grandchildren ages 26, 22 and 19 (almost 20) were relegated to the “way back” seat for the hour long drive up to our Air BnB.

Jake and Audrey had arrived earlier in the day and rented a small vehicle to get to the home first and get it opened up. Audrey handled the research and found this 6 bedroom, 5 bathroom rental with a pool, a putting green, grills, Theater room, pool table and more. WE arrived around 5:30, unloaded all the luggage and then found our various rooms. As Deb and Mark are the seniors, they were assigned the master suite. The entire bedroom and bath area with a 6-head shower room and a complete jacuzzi soaking tub is almost larger than our entire Pierce Street home! As we soon found, it is a long hike to the bathroom for a middle of the night plumbing check.  

Ed & Meg soon arrived and the ladies began filling the wedding gift bags that are to be distributed tomorrow. Ed ordered pizza for us, we found wine, beer and alcohol, sat around and visited, some overindulging a bit. A great family reunion for a great upcoming event. We retired early for a well deserved sleep after a long travel day.

The Wedding Stories, Tuesday, April 26, 2022

 

Tuesday morning, we arose and began packing our bags in anticipation of a day of travel. We ate our morning sausage and scrambled eggs and then finished our packing and check-out. Next we headed over to Cindy and Pete Marshall’s for a morning visit and some more reminiscing. We then hopped in their Subaru to head to a meet up with Marcia and lunch. Following our cheeseburger (Mark) and salad (Deb) we bid farewell to Marcia; tears were detected, or maybe it was the light sprinkling rain that started while we were in the restaurant.

Pete and Cindy then drove us on a tour of the historic Fredericksburg homes. This entire week is Garden Week in the State of Virginia as organized by the Garden Club of Virginia. Wednesday is Fredericksburg’s day and the streets are packed with garden groupies! These homes, dating from well before the Civil War, were

stunning from the street and the gardens we were able to seed as we drove by were magnificent. We did not take the offered tour, as we would not have had the time, but we are seriously thinking of trying for next year. At 3:00 PM we returned to the Marshall’s home, said more goodbyes, and loaded back into our rental Camry for the drive to D.C. 

We stayed to the small highways in order to avoid the major congestion of I-95. This added some time to the drive, as there was a stoplight or other crossing every few miles, and as we got closer to the metropolis, every few blocks. We arrived at our destination hotel of Hampton Inn & Suites in Crystal City shortly after 5:00. The hotel is under major remodelling which was not listed on the website. Most disconcerting, as was the fact that we were charged an additional $35.00 just to park the car in the attached underground car park. We received a chit for breakfast at the next door Hilton for our morning breakfast, included in our rate. The room was very nice, totally remodelled, and it appeared we were the first inhabitants. The real problem was that they were down to one elevator for the entire  8-storey facility, both for guests and staff. The remodelling work managed to muck up the wifi system, which meant that there was no way to create a Covert Journey entry for the day; hence this delayed entry. 

 We walked a few blocks for dinner at McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant for a nice sit-down meal. We ordered a Dirty Martini for Deb and a glass of Pinot Noir for mark and then a cup of Lobster Bisque followed by an Herb-Roasted sea bass for Deb and scallops over linguini for Mark. The soup arrived immediately, followed some minutes later by the cocktails. Two sips in and our food arrived. The herb-roasted vegetables underlying the sea bass were basically inedible salted, so Deb transferred the sea bass to her bread plate and declared it good. The scalloped linguini was fine. We walked back in a light rain and up to our room. The general review was food: OK, service: bad.

Back to our room and into bed by 10:00 - a fun but tiring day, considering the driving involved.

The Wedding Stories, Monday, April 26, 2022

This morning is overcast and 55ºF - cool but projecting sunny later in the day. We bathed and rolled down to the breakfast bar at Hyatt Place. Great scrambled eggs, pork link sausage, bagels, fruit and the other accoutrements. We scored some caffeine (they don’t offer an intravenous hook-up so we opted for cups.) We touched base with cousin Marcia Chaves and made arrangements to meet at her house around 10:30 AM to continue our exploration of Fredericksburg. 

We drove to her pre 1800 stone house on the banks of the Rappahanock River and toured the home, perused old family pictures, enjoyed a cup of tea and then toured her extensive garden and then to her art studio. Fredericksburg suffered a huge snow/freezing rain in January of this year which inflicted huge damage to trees, understory and shrubbery, crushing and breaking boughs all over the area. Marcia’s old boxwoods, magnolia trees, and even tall sycamores suffered immensely. She is still slowly cleaning it up. She and her late husband Juan moved into this home in 1972. It floods frequently as the river rapidly rises due to upriver runoff, constantly causing loss. Marcia valiantly recovers after each occurrence, pays the flood insurance premiums and despairs of the next “big one” that will have water five feet deep in her living room. What amazing stamina.

We next loaded into the Camry rental and took a short tour of the neighborhood before heading to a sandwich shop for a luncheon break. We stopped at a recommended Italian delicatessen for black bean soup, salads and a Reuben sandwich, nothing like the Omaha original, but satisfying. Following lunch wandered down the walk of the shopping center to search out a recommended yarn store on behalf of the prime knitter in our family, Abigail. Alas, the store had moved, which we could easily find, but learned from a person cleaning up the vacated store that the store was only open Wednesday through Saturday. Out of luck!

We drove to the 1740 Silversmith House near the river in old Fredericksburg. This is now the Fredericksburg Artist Cooperative Gallery. Marcia’s art is regularly featured at this gallery and they were very happy for our visit, seeing Marcia and chatting about current shows. We spent a good half hour looking at the current show, and found some things we were very interested in. We have one piece of Marcia’s work we purchased from this gallery a few years ago, which now hangs with another of hers in our bedroom at home so it was great to visit the facility. 

Next we drove back across the river to visit Hampton and Bunny Covert’s home.

Hamp is a true free spirit artist. He owns a masonry business with his son, Hampton Jr. They specialize in restoration to many of the older homes in the area. Most afternoons one finds Hamp in the log cabin workshop he hand-built on his acreage, where he practices his arts, wood carving of award winning duck decoys, practising his copper working skills building copper lanterns, or out in his blacksmithing shop creating works of iron. Unfortunately the shed where he had his forge was collapsed in the storm and he hasn’t yet rebuilt the shed. Hamp is also a commercial fisherman in the season, fishing and crabbing on the Potomac river. He has so many projects and works going on that, if he wasn’t so laid back in his life, he would already have suffered multiple heart attacks.

We left Hamp’s home, drove past some old Covert and Kennedy family homes nearby and then ended our afternoon at 4:00 at Pete and Cindy Covert Marshall’s home for cocktails, dinner and lots of conversation. The whole family (except for Sara and Jim Beam who live some 70 miles away and didn’t re-join the party,) gathered again as we sat on the patio, enjoying a beer or wine, chattering away. This time photos were gathered. We dined on some wonderful wraps, barbecued pork, Cole slaw and macaroni salad. We

capped off the event with a tasty cake Cindy had ordered, with our names on it.

This was a long and fun filled day of reminiscence. We were back in our hotel room at a respectable 8:00 PM and relaxed. No fire alarm malfunctions tonight, but house cleaning missed us and we discovered that meant no room coffee for tomorrow morning. On check with the front desk, they could not find where housekeeping hid the coffee supply, so we are resigned to getting up tomorrow to journey down to the breakfast room for early coffee. We have had worse problems in our travels so we let it go.  A good day.

The Wedding Stories, Sunday, April 25, 2022

A clear and sunny morning as we arose to pack our bags and prepare for departure from the Ruckersville Holiday Inn Express. The breakfast room this morning was mostly clear. Plenty of hot scrambled eggs, sausage and Sausage gravy with biscuits. We indulged. When sated we finished packing and double checking our room for leavings. Somehow our luggage load had grown, not more suitcases, but more stuff, partial bottles of wine and soda water, remainders of cheese, crackers, and a box of chocolates had managed to add to our load.

We wrestled all into our rental Camry and headed out for adventure. We had agreed to meet the wedding party at a winery around two so we had some time to kill. We headed north a few miles to find a pottery store whose advert we had noted earlier in the hotel lobby. Not very far away, but they didn’t open until noon  and as Deb has established an Etsy Store to try and shed a lot of the collectibles we have accumulated over the years, we decided we really didn’t need another bunch of doodads anyway so headed down the road. 

The road signs noted that the famous Skyline Drive through the Shenandoah National Park was just ahead, on the west side of the village of Stannardville, so we thought what the heck. We had driven this some 25 years ago but were up for the fun. We pulled in to the entry booth, lamented the facts that 1) the entry fee was $30.00 and 2) we had once again left our National Park Pass allowing free entry back home in a drawer. As Mark handed over his cash, he asked the Ranger if he was the only forgetful retiree who never remembers his Pass on long vacation trips from home. She chuckled, handed him his receipt and said “It happens more often than you would believe!”

We first headed north for about 15 miles until we realised we should head south if we were to eventually end up near the winery, so we turned around and began the 40 mile sojourn towards Waynesboro. The scenery was wonderful. The understory trees, dogwoods and redbuds, were in bloom, but the rest of the forest was just beginning to leaf out, allowing some marvellous views at the overlooks and through the trees. So stunning that we failed to even think of taking photos! Making these bloggers feel foolish this morning.

We stopped at the Park Store along the way and used the facilities, purchased some cold bottled water and two insulated water bottles and a pack of strawberry wafer crisps. This, combined with leftover cheese and crackers consumed in the parking lot accounted for our lunch, $35.00 of the store purchases, $30.00 for the entry fee - your basic $65.00 picnic lunch in the car on the move! But there was a view!

At exactly two o’clock we pulled into the destination of the Knights Gambit Winery, somewhere near Crozet, Virginia. The balance of the party pulled in shortly thereafter and we enjoyed another glass of wine and leftover cheese, veggies and fruit from the previous evenings festivities. We visited with some of our new friends, and gave our continued wishes to the newlyweds. After an hour, we said our goodbyes. We will see Glenda and Jeff again on the coming Friday in California, so we headed out to follow the backroads to Fredericksburg. It was a beautiful day for an afternoon drive and we stayed off main roads as we made our way eastward through central Virginia.

We arrived at the stone home of Marica Covert Chaves at 5:30. Her home is literally on the banks of the Rappahanock River in Falmouth, Virginia, just across the river from Fredericksburg. The name Falmouth arises due to the fact that this is the uppermost navigable point of the Rappahanock River, below the Falls. Another boring history lesson for readers.

We met with all the Fredericksburg Covert kids, Marcia, Cindy and Hampton. Marcia’s two children Sara and John, along with their spouses and a good collection of their children were present, as well as Cindy’s husband Pete Marshall, Hamp’s wife Bunny, and their daughter Kerry and her fiancé Eric. We learned that this is the first large family get together for their extended family in over three years, therefore we were warmly welcomed as the catalyst for the gathering! We dined alfresco on grilled brats and chicken, breaded snakehead fish which delicacy one of the family had caught the day before, and side dishes of macaroni, potato salad, cole slaw and tomato aspic. The conversation stretched into the dusk and broke up as the bugs came out for their evening meal. The younger families headed out as it was a school/work night, and the oldsters were fading fast. Again, we were having such a good time that pictures were forgotten- an error we will lament for a long time.

We headed out and found our hotel a few miles away - the Hyatt Place Fredericksburg. We pulled in and Deb stepped into the lobby to check in. Just as she finished, the fire alarms for the building went off and the lobby quickly filled as the guests streamed outside, along with the front desk clerk rapidly talking into her phone. Fire trucks arrived and a false alarm was declared. The alarms were reset, all headed back in and we unloaded our luggage and elevatored up to our third floor room. Smaller than the last few days, but obviously a step up in our accommodations, the fire alarm notwithstanding. We unpacked, sat to talk over the day, realised we had taken no pictures, read until the eyelids could no longer handle it and dozed off near 10:45 another long full day in Virginia. 

The Wedding Stories, Saturday, April 24, 2022

Today dawns sunny and bright, perfect weather for a spring wedding, the first of our sojourn. Although the day may get warm, trending towards hot before it ends, this morning is absolutely beautiful. We arise, cleanse the bodies and head to the breakfast room. Still full of track and field athletes strutting their perfect bodies (and all so uncommonly tall to my short eyes!) There were also some folks that we met at last night’s rehearsal after party, although most didn’t recognize us in our civilian attire.

After our eggs, sausage gravy over biscuits and sausage links, we piled into our chariot and headed back to the wedding venue. The wedding party was staying at the old, large home, converted to a B & B for the final two nights of the festivities. The place was a huge old antebellum home, fireplaces in every room, wide plank southern pine flooring, and enough bedrooms for the entire entourage.

The joint was hopping this morning. All the bridesmaids were flitting about, waiting their turn with the imported make-up artist, as were the mothers. Dads and groomsmen were milling about, trying to stay out of the way of the important people (the females) or fetching morning coffee or champagne from the kitchen.

We spent an hour on the front porch, visiting with Glenda and Jeff, admiring the setting and the home, and generally lending moral support representing 50% of the Nebraska non-wedding party guest list. When it was time for Glenda to enter  the makeup chamber, we took our leave and drove back to the hotel. We toyed with the thought of going back into town for a bit, but then realized we wouldn’t have time before needing to be back by 3:00 PM to change our clothes. So, we made an executive decision to visit the Charlottesville Trader Joe’s mart. TJ’s is one of our standard store visits back home; this one is slightly larger with a different layout. After multiple visits, one gains familiarity with the neighborhood stores. Here, though the products were the same, the location within the store was different, the crowd on a Saturday morning was huge and we felt like strangers in a foreign land.

We managed to score some water crackers, Brie, cheeses sticks and a bottle of wine - our lunch for the day. We went back to the hotel, lunched, read for a while and relaxed. Then promptly at three o’clock we costumed up and left for the Guildford Farm event of the day. The parking area was filling up, the sun was beating down on the lawn where the white folding chairs were set, and guests were milling about under the covered porch, sipping ice water and getting to meet new friends with whom they were about to share this wondrous event.

Beginning at 3:55 the guests moved en masse to the seating area, following the arrival and seclusion of the wedding party. The groomsman had all marched from the big house, neatly attired in their matching

grey suits. A shuttle car arrived, with two loads of bridesmaids in their apricot gowns, the bride and her parents arrived, resplendent in her white gown with train, sans veil, and Ryan and his parents were shuttled in. All the party hid inside of the venue. Promptly at 4:00, the bridesmaids and their escorts came out of hiding walking down the lawn to take their places on either side of the officiant. Of course, by this time the sun had reached its most punishing, most men had shed their suit coats, and the women were shielding their eyes. Isabelle finally arrived, escorted by her loving father Tom, not to the strains of the familiar “Here Comes The Bride” but to a lovely rendition of Pachabel’s Canon in D, played by the live string quartet that was seated nearby.

The ceremony was quick, this was not a religious ceremony but rather an understated but eloquent pledge of love between two supremely happy young people. It was very well done and the handkerchiefs were out, either to wipe a brow or dab at an eye! Following the ceremony the Bride and Groom went inside for some quick photos together - Ryan had been adamant about not seeing Isabelle’s gown prior to her walk down the lawn, so this was the first chance for the photographer to capture them together in their attire, wearing ear to ear grins, and interrupted by a quick kiss every few minutes.

While this was happening, we guests were  flowing in and out to the bar for much needed refreshments, and also partaking of the hors’deouvres  provided under the patio canopy. At six, we filed into to our assigned tables, listened to a few speechs from the Maid of Honor (sister Ivy) and Best Man (buddy Austin) both were appropriate and humorous. Dinner was then served by sending tables to the service line. We dined on roasted chicken breast with rosemary, a glazed salmon filet, a chickpea patty glazed in a sauce, broccoli and macaroni and cheese casserole. All was marvellously prepared by the caterer and went off without a hitch. 

Eventually the cake was cut and shared with the guests; the obligatory first dances were completed, and then the youngsters took to the floor in their native rituals, which in our day was a little more organized and called dancing! The only possible incident of the entire evening was when Deb realized that her Oura (a type of fitbit) ring was missing. In theory its bright shiny titanium finish should be easily recognisable, but searches were launched and turned up empty handed. Resigned to the fact that at least it was easily replaceable and not some heirloom gift, we folded up our tent and headed back to the hotel, arriving around 9:30. On the bathroom counter sat the missing silver ring- left behind following our early quick departure. All ended well and it was a beautiful ceremony. Only another week and one more ceremony to go. The next one will see a bit more involvement on our part, and Glenda and Jeff, who are also coming to California for Meg and Ed’s event, will be able to sit back and provide the support for Deb. We look forward to it. 

The Wedding Stories, Friday, April 22, 2022

 Our Holiday Inn Express is a bit wanting. Due to staffing shortages, there will be no daily room make-up or linen changes, although we can request things at the front desk if needed. The hot breakfast would be better if there weren’t two complete college track teams staying here for a track meet. Those young athletes can really clog up and clean out a morning breakfast room in a flash - fast is there operational mode. We managed to find some leftover bacon and sausage patties, and Deb braved her way back through the throng when fresh scrambled eggs arrived.

The other couple of guests from Lincoln arrived last night and joined us for the coffee. It was good to catch up with Paula and Dan before the rush of the wedding gets to us all. Deb and Mark headed out this morning to explore the UVA campus so Mark could re-live his college years here (or was it re-imagine?). After a 30 minute drive in heavy traffic, we arrived at the campus and then spent ANOTHER 30 minutes searching for a parking spot.

The original part of the campus (designed and founded by Thomas Jefferson) remains a stunning architectural achievement. The Rotunda, modeled after the Pantheon in Rome has been restored and looks amazing. The grounds and the lawn look as ever, crawling with students. When Mark attended, this was an all-male institution and they were required to wear a coat and tie to class. Today it is co-educational, and it seems there are more women than men wandering around. Searching for restrooms, we found Fralin Hall Art Museum and spent the better part of an hour looking at the exhibits. There was a wonderful exhibit of works by Emilio Sanchez, a Cuban born American artist; some of his works on paper from his studio in New York. 

Last week, In Omaha, we spent a number of hours at the Joslyn Museum, looking at the wonderful Karl Bodmer collection of drawings of Native Americans done during his trip up the Missouri in the 1830’s. We were lucky to have been accompanied by our good friends Marsha Gallagher and Ted James, both retirees from the Joslyn Museum. Marsha was the Native American Curator  for the Museum and catalogued the Bodmer collection, together with a number of their native artifacts. We viewed a wonderful beaded jacket that she had acquired for the museum. Lo and behold, here at the Fralin there was also a beautiful beaded Lakota vest, donated by Lady Nancy Astor.

Following our walk around campus, we stopped in at The Virginian Cafe, a campus tradition since 1923. Mark remembers consuming a lot of 3.2% beer at this site. We split a deviled crab patty sandwich with fries and sampled some Virginia Wine. Both were excellent and we scored a pair of tee-shirts after our trip down memory lane.

We drove back to our hotel for a quick freshening before heading back our through Charlottesville towards the small village of Ivy, west of town,. Our destination was the home of Sandy and Janice Wilcox, Mark’s cousin. We were greeted there by our two hosts, their young Boston Terrier named Stella, and Sandy’s brother Greg and his wife Sue, who also live in Charlottesville. Sandy’s son Scott arrived, bearing a pair of pizzas from Dr. Ho’s and some wonderful wine from Blenheim Estates. Scott manages this vineyard and lives on site in a large home of the winery. The owner of the establishment is Dave Matthews of Dave Matthews Band fame. (Abigail is now bouncing on her chair in excitement as she reads this - a huge fan.) 

We had a wonderful visit with the family, trying to erase 20 plus years of time as the three “boys” relived their adventures and mis-adventures from their time in Charlottesville, Fredericksburg and Tetotum Virginia as youngsters. The Wilcoxs lived in Charlottesville, Mark and his family would motor east every summer to spend two months at the Mt. Moriah farm on the shores of the Potomac river in King George County together with the other Covert kids from Fredericksburg. Three Omaha Covert kids, four Wilcox kids and three Fredericksburg Covert kids -10 little Indians up to no good running all over 800 acres of crop, pasture, woodlands and river shore, mostly unsupervised as their parents sat on the bluff enjoying their leisure, or driving into Colonial Beach to spend time at the casinos, on the piers. The Potomac river is the boundary between Virginia and Maryland. The state line was delineated as 15 feet past low tide. Virginia entrepreneurs built large buildings on piers that extended into the river, effectively in Maryland. This avoided the stringent liquor control laws of Virginia and, as Maryland allowed slot machines and gambling, they turned the structures into casinos.  Hence the draw for the adults.

Enough history. Following our visit to the Wilcox abode (a wonderful home set on picturesque hillsides surrounded by Blue Ridge hills, we journeyed back towards our hotel, and on past it a few miles to the Guildford Farm Winery and Venue. Here we joined the after party from the rehearsal dinner for Saturday’s big event. We visited with Glenda and Jeff, were briefly acknowledged by the bride and groom (they had more important things to do) and capped off our busy day with some more wine and conversation. We finally headed back to our Holiday Inn falling into bed at 11:30, exhausted but happy with all we had accomplished on our first day in Virginia.

 

The Wedding Stories, Thursday, April 21, 2022

 4:45 AM, the temperature in Omaha is either 42ºF and foggy (our back yard) or 22ºF and freezing fog (Millard Airport.) We begin our 11 day journey covering two weddings and a cross country trip to first the east coast and then the west coast. Today’s final destination is Charlottesville Virginia and an itinerary via Omaha’s Eppley Airfield to Chicago to Washington D.C. From there we pick up our rental vehicle to drive towards Charlottesville. It is going to be a long day ahead. 

Abigail arrived promptly at 6:15 AM to act as our chauffeur to Eppley Airfield as we begin the journey. We are all checked in by 7:00 and even have time to waste $2.00 on a paper edition of the Omaha World Herald, the local rag. The eight sheets of double fold newsprint didn’t seem worth the pice, but it had been so long since we were able to read and actually complete the crossword  and puzzles on paper that it was a joy. Easier to carry on the airplane, too. We will be spending a lot of time in airplanes over the next 10 days; Deb was able to use some travel points to obtain upgrades to 1st class on this two-leg trip, so we eased into the oversized seats and looked forward to good food. Wrong! A plastic bag containing some pretzels, a small bottle of water and a prepackaged German wafer in a plastic wrapping was the offering in this cabin. Oh, and some champagne if you wanted it at 7:20 in the morning!

An uneventful flight arrived on time to Chicago. We walked from B terminal to C terminal for our next flight to D.C.  This leg was in a much smaller United Express jet, with single seat large 1st class seats. Deb enjoyed a glass of wine with her bag of goodies this time before dozing off for an hour of rest. Mark read, forgoing the wine as there was a long drive coming up. We landed on time at National Airport (I refuse to add the name Reagan to this terminal) and we collected our mid-sized Toyota Camry for the drive to Charlottesville.

On the road, fighting the D.C. megapolis traffic, we only managed two wrong turns in the first half hour. About par for the course whenever we arrive in this city. Every time we have visited in the past, we have managed to mess up our first few turns away from the airport. We eventually sorted out and headed south and west towards our destination of Ruckersville Virginia. It was a lovely and scenic drive. We eventually left the freeway traffic and used two-lane highways so we could enjoy the countryside. The redbuds and dogwood trees were in full blush. The azaleas and rhododendrons were at full bloom and the greenery was at its best. A great drive.

We arrived at our Holiday Inn Express in Ruckersville shortly after 5:00 PM and moved our seven pieces of luggage into the room and made contact with Glenda Pierce and Jeff Kirkpatrick. We received directions to our dinner site, The 3 Notches Bar and Restaurant in downtown Charlottesville, another 35 minutes away. We met Glenda and Jeff, and claimed our table in the outside seating area just as the rest of the party arrived.  This included, Ryan Kirkpatrick (the Groom), Isabelle Duerr (the Bride), Tom and Gloria Duerr (parents of the bride), and Gloria’s sister Karen and her son Sam.

The 3 Notches is a beer garden; we had a table for 10 in the outside beer garden area, but we were not the only large party in the space. The noise level was such that hearing each other talk was difficult and there was a lot of shouting going on. The food was good, hamburgers and fries, the beer was very acceptable, and the house red wine seemed most drinkable. The place was closing up by 9:00, which seemed awfully early to our midwestern senses, but locals didn’t seem to mind.

We headed back to our hotel, arriving about 9:45 and headed directly to bed, the end of a very long day.  No real problems encountered and lots of new things to see and do in the days to come.