No Friday

[Originally intendend to be posted on Friday afternoon (7/25)]

The days leading up to wedding weekend have been a blast.

The fun started on Tuesday night when I left Seattle after a furious packing effort (packing for both a wedding and an Africa trip is a bit challenging). One minor glitch was, of course, leaving my suit in the living room when the cab arrived. 1/3 of the way to the airport I realized my gaffe, had the cab turn around, retrieved the bag, then sweated for 20 minutes hoping I’d make the flight I was already cutting a little close. $72 and, fortunately, a slightly delayed flight later, I made it.

I arrived in Boston Wednesday morning. Meagan and I relaxed at her parents’ place and made an afternoon departure for Vermont. We checked into the Inn and settled in. In the evening, we drove through the pouring rain to St. Johnsbury, where we met most of the Valerios - my parents, brother, grandmother, and several aunts and uncles at Elements. The food was fantastic, but even better was spending time with family in the middle of Vermont. It promised to be the start of a great weekend.

Yesterday, we fought through jet lag and had breakfast at the Inn - we had a great kale and spinach omelet with a sweet potato hash and a cinnamon bun. Fred wouldn’t tell me how to make the sweet potato hash, but it’s something I’ll be trying to recreate. More of the Valerios dropped by the Inn on Thursday afternoon. Afterwards, Meagan, her mom, and I headed into town to run some errands, the first of which was to get our marriage license - it was good to get that minor detail out of the way. Afterwards, we loaded up on food, beer, wine, and liquor. When Meagan and her mom were pushing two shopping carts full of supplies from the liquor store, they prompted several “where are you guys going?” comments. Awesome.

After that, we headed to the recently reopened River Garden Cafe in East Burke for dinner. They were closed due to a flood several months ago. The food was delicious - Brian and I were both loving the sweet maple syrup balsamic vinaigrette. Last night’s dinner was just with our immediate families, and it was good to have a smaller gathering before the festivities start in earnest. After dinner, the rest of the Valerio crew joined us at our room, and we had some fun post-dinner festivities.

Today is Friday, we had another great breakfast (waffles with lemon butter and stewed apples today). Meagan and the mothers are off to have their nails done, and I am waiting for my brother, dad, and uncles to pick me up for a bike ride. The weather is finally clearing - it’s been raining since we arrived. Hopefully the sunshine will stay, but if not, I am sure it will be a good time…

[Continued...]

This entry was posted Monday, July 28th, 2008 at 6:41 am and is filed under wedding. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.