Sedona 2005 (the Wedding)
Audrey Slator and Mitch Omar were marriedon December 28, 2005 at 3:30 PM
in Sedona, Arizona.
This is their story.
The Events Beforehand
The travel part of the story actually begins at Thanksgiving. We had dinner at our house and invited (for us) a big group. Besides Brian, Rita and Megan, we had Audrey and Mitch, plus Ree Seminole, and his mother and sister, Lynette and Prairie Seminole.Later, Lynette invited us over for Christmas dinner at her house (in part because we were traveling the next day). We worked a jigsaw puzzle together, and Lynette gave us a ride to the airport at oh-my-gawd 4:30 AM on December 26th.
Image borrowed from Roadside Peak at
http://www.roadsidepeek.com/roadusa/
rockymtn/rmeats/rmsitdown/
The Javelina is more correctly known as the Collared Peccary. They are the only wild pig native to the Americas.
Image borrowed from Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javelina
Up to and Including Monday, December 26, 2005
Audrey and Mitch flew to Sedona on Christmas Eve. Rita gave them a ride to the airport at about 4:30 AM.We followed on the day after Christmas. Lynette Seminole turned up at 4:30 AM and gave us a ride to the airport. We crossed the country and landed in Arizona at 9:30 AM. Then we spent the morning assembling. Grandma Slator was already in a motel in Phoenix, Adam was flying in from Chicago, and we needed to get the Dodge Caravan and collect everyone.
We got a shuttle from the airport to the motel where the van was waiting, then loaded our stuff, and went to find Grandma Slator. After a little while in her motel room, we loaded up and went to find Adam. He was on the pavement waiting for us at the airport, so we scooped him up and headed to Sedona.
But hunger prevailed, and we elected to stop for lunch before leaving town.
We sailed past a Denny's while on the freeway, and then went back down the service roads, into a neighborhood, and then back on a service road, until finally we came back to the Denny's we saw.
Then we waited, and waited, and waited ... until we finally got seated and waited, and waited, and waited.
A word to the Arizona traveller. There is a Dennys on the way out of Phoenix to the north. DO NOT STOP THERE. You might never get served. They are nice but they are slow...really, really, slow.
We trundled up the road, stopping at a wayside rest for some awesome scenery.
We finally checked into our motel, sometime before dark.
Later that night, as the sun was going down, my Mom was using my cell phone to call Aunty Gwen, and I saw a herd of four Javelina in an empty parking lot. My mother and Ree saw them too. I went to get my camera, but they were gone before I got back.
They had moved into the garbage bin, and I briefly thought about running down there and taking some nature shots.
But then I thought about surprising wild pigs with my camera flash, them cornered in an enclosed area and in the dark, and how they might react to that. So I decided against it.
I spent the rest of the trip looking for Javelina (Collared Peccaries, to be precise), but never saw another one.
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Not much happened on Tuesday. We drove around a bit and decompressed. The college-aged kids went with me to a Vegan restaurant, where we ate on the patio and watched very young unsupervised children play in a puddle of dog urine.Later, Ree tried valiantly to get his kite in the air (no photos, sorry), and the college-aged youth helped me learn about XBox gaming.
I also learned a little more about the zoom capabilities on my camera.
I went down to check for Javelina, but there were none.
Before the Wedding, Wednesday, December 28, 2005
The wedding was scheduled for 3:30 PM. In the morning the ladies went to have their hair done. Then we hung around the motel, playing games and waiting for the big moment.Audrey had her veil permanently implanted into her hair-do, so she spent the first part of the day wearing jeans, a tank top, and her veil.
The Wedding, Wednesday, December 28, 2005
The wedding was in a gorgeous spot and, after a little bit of churn, was over in half an hour.Click the image at left to see a metric ton of beautiful photographs.
After the Wedding, Wednesday, December 28, 2005
After the wedding there were about two trillion photos taken.Click on the image at left to see a selection of these.
Late that night, I went down to check for Javelina, but there were none.
Thursday, December 29, 2005
The next day we drove from Sedona, through Flagstaff, to the Grand Canyon.Along the way we stopped at a scenic overlook.
The plan was to drive up to the Grand Canyon and coordinate with cell phones. The trouble is, there is no cell phone service up there.
But we found each other, nonetheless.
The Grand Canyon is awesome, by the way.
Late that night, I went down to check for Javelina, but, again, there were none.
Friday, December 30, 2005
Friday we explored Sedona some more, walking through the tourist sections of town and taking a bus tour. To the left you will see Adam has found a Javelina - but alas, it is fake.Later we went to a 'fun and games' store.
After that, Rita and I slipped away to do some 'off-road' exploring, while the college-aged kids took a long hike and then tried out the motel pool.
Late that night, I went down to check for Javelina -- no go.
The airport in Phoenix, as the Ukranian kids arrive.
Saturday, December 31, 2005
As we left Sedona, we stopped at Montezuma's Castle on Grandma Slator's suggestion. This is an ancient cliff-dweller site. Very interesting, very cool.Although, as they make clear in their literature, it is not a castle, and Montezuma was never there.
Then we assembled in the Phoenix airport while a news story unfolded.
Rita was worried about getting together in the airport, since we were in three different terminals. I said, "Honey, we found each other in the frigging Grand Canyon, I think we can do this."
And we did - easy-peasy.
Then we flew from Phoenix to Minneapolis on New Years Eve, and got jacked around by Northwest Airlines, running us from gate to gate. So when we arrived in Fargo, finally, about 11:30 PM, we stood in line for our luggage, which never came.
As the ball dropped, and we entered the new year, I was in line to report our missing luggage.
Lynette Seminole was there to pick us up and take us home (book-ending the trip), and that is what we did ... staggered home, exhausted and without luggage ... to sleep until the New Year.
p.s. one of the nice things about living in a town as small as Fargo, is the luggage, when it finally arrives, is delivered to your house by taxi drivers. This is good, and fine ending to this story.
Two families were joined on Wednesday, December 28, 2005,
for better or worse, in sickness and in health, 'til death do us part.
That's the story.
Contact: slator@cs.ndsu.edu; Modified: 5Feb06