Oregon Trail Year Four: 2 Weddings in 2 Days

My friend Abbie and I have known each other since elementary school, when we were both in the same Camp Fire group. We went through the DCA (Day Camp Aide) program together and she organized the party when I earned my WoHeLo (similar to an Eagle Scout). We had a lot of good times together, camping ourselves and then later wrangling unruly younger campers. More recently, she attended my wedding and we’ve been able to hang out a little as she lives nearby in the bay area.

I affectionately called Sarah Steve’s “work girlfriend.” Until graduating with her PhD last year, she worked with Steve in the same lab at UCSC. He would come home and regale me with the latest antics, stories often beginning with “I don’t know how we got on the subject, but…”. Sarah brought a tremendous amount of energy to the Crews lab, and Steve very much enjoyed working with her.

Both Abbie and Sarah had wonderful boyfriends and we were delighted to hear that they were engaged. And when we learned that their weddings were going to be scheduled back-to-back (Abbie on Saturday the 4th and Sarah on Sunday the 5th) we knew we had to go to both, no matter what.

Abbie’s wedding was in Aptos, a city only about 10 minutes south of Santa Cruz. The event was wonderful in its simplicity. The ceremony was short, sweet and heartfelt. It was in a beautiful little park with a delicious picnic-style dinner. It was just lovely in every way.

Abbie and her wonderful man Torrey

Abbie and Me

After Abbie’s wedding, we drove to Redding and stayed the night. The next day we continued on to Myrtle Point, Oregon. On the way we ate at the wonderful Wolf Creek Inn.

We were greeted at our motel with this:

The motel manager in Myrtle Point said that 2/3rds of his business was for the wedding. It was a lovely little motel. It had a quaint retro vibe (since it hadn’t been remodeled since the 50’s or so) and was spotlessly clean. We got changed and headed out to Sarah’s parent’s property for the wedding.

The wedding was held on a bluff and was just gorgeous. The weather was warm, but not too hot, and there was a light breeze. Being wonderfully social and gregarious people, Sarah and Barry had planned for a party atmosphere. We ambled from the dining and dancing area over to the bluff, drinks in hand.

Double-fisting it (Steve’s beer and my soda)

Steve looking sexy in his new suit

Sarah and Barry

Later, all the current and former Crews lab members pose with the happy couple… and the giant bottle of wine sent by Phil (Steve’s boss).

From Myrtle Point, we drove North to Corvallis to have our annual visit with our friend Jack. The only full day we were there, it poured rain, so we scrapped our disc golf plans and just hung out… going out to eat, watching movies and playing some Gears of War. It was shorter than our usual trip, but we still had a great time. Hopefully we’ll have the chance to do it again before next summer.

On the way home, some striking weather: