Reality Is Better Than My Dreams

You know how when you are planning a trip somewhere, you kind of already go on the trip in your mind? After you arrive though, you realize that it was different than you thought it would be, even though you can't remember what you thought it would be originally. Ok now I'm confusing myself. I have faith though that most of you know what in the world I'm talking about.

I arrived on Friday night at SEA-TAC airport and waited for the menfolk to arrive. After all, this was going to be a "Stephanie and the Boys" weekend. After Clark announced his pregnancy, we got on our way to Silverdale, Washington and arrived by midnight. The occasion for us all meeting up in Washington was that our dear friend Bruce was getting hitched.

Bruce has been mentioned several times before on this blog as he's been one of my closest friends over the past 3 years. {To see some fun times we've had, click here, here, here, here, or here.} At least those are some times that I have pictures of. Anyway - I'm not even sure how we became such good friends - maybe its because two of my former roommates have been on dates with either Bruce or his former roommates and maybe I can include myself in that as well.

Here's Clark, Bruce, Me, and Jeff just a few minutes before the ceremony started.

I would be nervous to plan an outdoor wedding in a place where it rains so much. Lucky for all of us, it was a beautiful day and it didn't rain at all. The ceremony took place right in front of the gazebo as pictured below. I wish I would have taken a picture while the chairs were still set up, but as soon as we left the area, the chairs were taken down.

Here's a picture of our table - composed of Bruce's friends who have at one time or another lived in Palo Alto. Granted, I haven't ever lived there, but would you really be surprised if I moved there? I didn't think so.

In true Bruce Edwards fashion, we toasted Bruce & Christie's marriage with a bottle of Henry Weinhard's. And "Rootbeer Jeff" may have even taken this picture. Obviously not to be confused with "Lawyer Jeff".

The wedding and festivities were over by 3:00 pm. How's that for getting out early? To make the most of the rest of the day, Jeff and I decided to go for a drive and check out some of the local tourist attractions; which, as I've already mentioned, weren't plentiful. We found a sign that pointed to a Scenic Beach State Park, so we headed out there to see the sights. I guess that one of the major things that I hadn't realized about Washington was how beautiful it would be. The water was crystal clear and there were some little fishing boats out in the water - and holy orca - Shamu even came to say hello.

Spending a weekend in the country was just what I needed. I found out while chatting with my parents afterwards that they used to live in Silverdale, Washington in the 70's. Random! I can't say that it would be horrible to live there - it is a beautiful place and very very serene.

The last few weekends for me have been so great - and really, exactly what I needed emotionally. And I didn't even post about the weekend before this one. Seriously - maybe I'll get to that by the end of the week, eh?