💗 50th Anniversary 💗

💗 Yesterday my dear husband and I celebrated 50 years since we were married in Louisiana in 1970.  He picked me up from Multnomah Falls where I'd spent the afternoon volunteering in the Visitors Center with my lifelong friend Shirley.  Then we drove on to the Columbia Gorge Hotel for dinner, which is our tradition for many years.

This is a photo from when we were there a few years ago.

There is a garden in the front of the building with a neat bronze sculpture.

Our reservation was for 5:30 pm and this is the main dining room.

We always ask for a table by the windows overlooking the Columbia River.  

Perfect!  That is Washington State across the river.

The table is laid with these pretty plates, funny thing is they whisk them away before you are served your meal on a white plate.

Here is the love of my life, trying to figure out whether he should order the prime rib or a seafood pasta dish.  I knew right away I wanted the bacon wrapped filet mignon.  :-)

Mine was served with Bordelaise sauce, fingerling potatoes, broccolini and a carrot.  Yum!

Here we are 50 years ago.  I told the waiter that it was our 50th anniversary - when it came time to give us our bill he said - "I'm happy to tell you that someone has picked up your tab for dinner!".  We were amazed!  We figured out that it was the younger couple sitting at the table next to us.  He wouldn't tell us who, he said it was secret.  :-)

Dayle and I met in high school, I was a freshman, 14 and he was a junior, 16.  We went steady through high school and then he enlisted in the Army and headed off to boot camp and then flight school to fly helicopters in the Vietnam war.  I was talked into flying to Hawaii to live by one of my best friends.  I became a hippie while there, advocating for peace.  Poor Dayle was in 'Nam fighting a war.  He got shot while flying scout helicopters and ended up in traction in Seattle at an Army hospital.  When he returned home, I also returned home and we re-connected.  After he healed from his surgery he went back to Texas and sat on the flight school elimination board until he was retired from the service.  He then got a job flying for Petroleum Helicopters, Inc. in Louisiana.  After he visited me in Oregon we decided I'd fly down and see him where we decided to get married.  And the rest, as they say, is history.  :-)

I made that dress by buying a few yards of ivory satin fabric, then freehand, I cut out a big huge circle, cut the neck out, hand sewing the lace around the neck and sleeves and hem, then put some lace around the back to the front and pinned it on with a cameo pin.  I went to a florist and ordered the circlet and bouquet.  Dayle rented a tuxedo and we went off to a photographer to commemorate the occasion.

We went to a Justice of the Peace in Scott, LA where he married us.  We had no one to serve as witnesses so he had his son come out of the garage to sign and his DIL, too.  No big huge expensive wedding for us!  :-) 

Our daughter was born 2 years later, then a son 15 months after that and 3 years later our youngest son was born after we moved back to Oregon.

This painting was on our way out the door, isn't it neat?

Behind the hotel there is "Wah Gwin Gwin Falls", also known as Lullaby Falls, a waterfall of Phelps Creek located in the property of the historic Columbia Gorge Hotel, in Hood River County.  This is a photo I took a few years ago.

You can stand at the very top of the falls and look down as they fall 200 feet below.

I thought I'd share a few photos from earlier in the day.  This is Zev, the USFS Site Manager for MF.  He brought in his dog to show us.  She's a 6 month old Golden Retriever.

One of our visitors was this young girl who was in town to participate is a big regional spelling bee.  We gave her a Junior Ranger book which she filled out so we gave her a patch and bracelet.  If she wins this contest she'll go on to Washington DC for the big spelling bee!

I got more done on the border of my blanket while chatting with visitors.  But I have one and a half more rows to go to finish.  This photo shows the blanket way more yellow than it is.  

We have one of our grandsons here for the night, Hayden.  Caleb is off to a big math team competition with his school in Vancouver, WA.  We hope he wins!  Have a wonderful weekend.. any special plans?

((hugs)), Teresa :-)