The Chuck + Lois Wedding Story

Let’s see. What did Chuck and Lois do when they got married in November of 2007? Well, we did things a little backwards you might say, in order to take advantage of Lois’s extra days off between November 10th and November 15th and do some sightseeing in eastern Washington BEFORE our wedding. And we figured we’d “leave the best part for last” and get married... yes married... on November 14th; exactly one year after the day we met. In fact, we decided that we’d go hang out in the very same book store, where we met, on the morning of the 14th... just like we did one year before. But we digress.

Saturday night, November 10th, 2007...

We got home from down town Vancouver, B.C. after spending the day with Cathy and Ralph at the Georgia O’Keeffe exhibit which was showing at the Vancouver Art Gallery. We had a nice dinner, as always, and packed for our trip.

Sunday, November 11th, 2007...

We got up before the sea gulls for once, had a quick breakfast, loaded the car and took off heading south to Bellingham at 7:30 a.m. Thanking our lucky stars for the NEXUS lane as the regular lanes were backed up from the Peace Arch crossing to the duty free shop. Lois got to explain her life history to the U.S. Customs agent at the border. But he let her cross the border anyway, luckily for Chuck.

After a quick pit stop for gas we trucked on south to the Sedro-Woolley exit and made a hard left onto Highway 20. We took highway 20 east into the mountains. On our way up, we spotted a herd of elk near Rockport, Washington and soon found ourselves crossing Washington Pass with about six inches of fresh snow all over the North Cascades National Park peaks around us. The sight of freshly covered snowy peaks was awesome and quite beautiful!!

But, it wasn’t long before the road was covered in a thin layer of SLICK snow and Chuck managed to get the rear end of the CTS-V a little loose. “Hang on Lois!” THAT was fun! Imagine going down a 5% grade on an ice rink in a $40,000 to $50,000 car. We were wondering why we didn’t bring the blood pressure gauge with us so we could monitor Chuck’s vitals.

Well, we must have made it to the other side of the mountains OK. At least we think we did. We stopped for lunch at Sun Mountain Resort near Winthrop, Washington.

We took some photos... and then had a good lunch...

Next, we headed back down the mountain into the valley and across the river to Winthrop for some country western type sight seeing.

While driving back from Sun Mountain Resort to Winthrop we saw a sorry sight. A doe crossed the road in front of us with a broken left hind leg. The poor thing could hardly hobble along. We found the “Marshall” and had him go back and see if he could do something for the poor animal.

Once we arrived back in Winthrop, Chuck started taking more photos as we walked up one side of Main Street and back down the other side...

Chuck also got a nice kiss from Lois in the coffee shop. She had a chocolate chip cookie for dessert and was looking pretty sweet to Chuck.

At about 1:30 p.m. we saddled up and headed south for St. Mary Mission which is just a few miles south east of Omak, Washington off Highway 155.

After leaving St. Mary Mission we wound our way onward to the Grand Coulee Dam area for the night.

We checked into the Columbia River Inn...

...after shopping for a few bottles of wine and bubbly and some food for a picnic supper in our room. But first we took a dip in the hot tub. We leave the rest to your imagination.

Monday, November 12th, 2007...

We woke up to some serious weather this morning. The wind was really blowing with gusts, we later found out, in the 50 and 60 mph range… and it had rained during the night. After Chuck checked the stock market (and cried for a bit), we had a picnic breakfast in the room and checked out.

It was time for some more fun and exercise!

First stop was the Grand Coulee Dam visitor center where we learned about the dam, its functions and its construction through many interesting exhibits. When we left the visitor’s center, it wasn’t raining very hard. So, we decided to continue with the morning’s program… a hike up Steamboat Rock.

The wind was quite strong still when we parked the car at the campground near the Steamboat Rock trailhead, but we forged ahead. After about 40 minutes and an elevation gain of 800 feet and 1.5 miles later, we were on top of Steamboat Rock. The wind was BLOWING much harder up there, especially near the eastern rim. Lois just about blew away!! Still, we walked around admiring the view until it looked like some DARK rain clouds were coming. Then we high-tailed it down and back to the car for some snacks.

It was a 3 to 4 mile round-trip hike. We were glad to make it back to the car before the rain hit and we took off down the road.

In Waterville we got a latte from a drive-through trailer which would get us to Wenatchee where we got the car washed, Chuck had lunch at a Wendy’s and we shopped at the local Wal-Mart.

The gardens that Lois was hoping to see were closed. So, we drove on to Cashmere and the next item on the itinerary, Liberty Orchards, home of Aplets and Cotlets.

After a happy half hour of sampling and shopping we drove the final leg of our journey for the day, to Leavenworth, where we checked in to the Evergreen Inn.

It was COLD. And it had been raining quite hard since we got to Wenatchee and we were concerned about the highway conditions through the passes on Tuesday. We checked the weather forecast... SNOW! Not good.

The rain stopped about 5:00 p.m. So, we drove downtown to look for a place for dinner. We walked around the downtown area, having a good look as we wanted some Bavarian food. We found a reasonably priced restaurant in a basement. Down we went.

To our surprise, they had live music (an accordionist) which was terrific. But, even better, a two year old little girl was dancing to the accordion music. She was so cute. We passed on dessert because we had chocolate covered peanuts from Liberty Orchards to help us finish off our evening back at the inn... were Lois crashed and burned. She is pretty cute herself when she is sleeping, if you ask Chuck.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007...

Chuck could not sleep and had to get up at 4:00 a.m. to see what was going on in the “before hours” trading on the market. He was going to sell everything and start over after the past few days of major losses. But, as it turned out, things seemed to be turning around. He sold 95 shares of his RIMM and decided it was OK to return to bed with Lois, who warmed him up with a few hugs.

We got up around 8:00 a.m., got dressed and took a walk to see the Leavenworth sights in the daylight. Chuck took some photos of Leavenworth and the Cascades with fresh snow on the peaks.

There’s Lois waving way over there on the steps and having fun again...

Then we had breakfast and walked back to the room to find the stock market was really going up for a change. Chuck was a happy camper again.

We checked the road reports and packed our bags and decided to take the long way around from Leavenworth to Wenatchee and Quincy. Then we headed south through George to I-90 and took off west bound for Snoqualmie Pass via Ellensburg, Washington. The other passes were snow bound, but Snoqualmie Pass was nearly dry all the way. That turned out to be a good plan, even though it added an extra hour or so to our trip that day.

Once we got over the pass we pulled into North Bend for fuel at Safeway ($0.10 off per gallon) and grabbed a cookie and some high octane coffee at Starbucks. What else?

Then from North Bend we headed northwest to Snoqualmie Falls for some more photos and a look around the fancy lodge and grounds there. Very nice!

In order to bypass the Seattle rush hour we took the back roads through Fall City, Carnation, Duvall and Monroe to Highway 2. Then we took Highway 2 west again to Highway 9 and shot north on Highway 9 past Lake Stevens to Arlington and McMurray and from there to Cedardale via Highway 534. Lois got carsick on this part of the trip as Chuck got in a bit too much of a hurry trying to make up for some lost time while passing slow pokes at 90 mph and racing through some of the farm land and curves.

After about 60 more minutes we finally arrived at The Chrysalis Inn and Spa at the Pier in the Fairhaven neighborhood of south Bellingham, Washington.

The room was to die for!

We grabbed a great meal at the Colophon Café and met Gary for a movie; “Lambs for Lions”. We had a nightcap at his and Marilyn’s place and then retired to a bath in our suite.

“One more sleep”, as Lois would say!!

Wednesday, November 14, 2007... (exactly 1 year after we first met)

Well the BIG DAY is finally here. Got up late anyway, rushed down for breakfast, dressed and got to Gary’s and Marilyn’s just after 10:30 a.m.

Gary took several before and after the ceremony photos for us (but we did not have anyone to take photos for us all during the actual ceremony itself... oh, well)...

Eventually we decided where the best place in the living room would be to stand while taking our wedding vows and our hired helper, a retired Commissioner/Judge who’s name was Ed Ross, arrived. First, we filled out and signed all the official paperwork and then it was time for the main event.

Ed had prepared a very nice ceremony for us, including a poem. Here’s the poem he read to us while he carried out the ceremony right before we shared our wedding vows. We just had to have a copy...

Art of Marriage

The little things are the big things.
It is never being too old to hold hands.
It is remembering to say "I love you" at least once a day.

It is never going to sleep angry.
It is at no time taking the other for granted;
the courtship should not end with the honeymoon,
it should continue through all the years.

It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives.
It is standing together facing the world.
It is forming a circle of love that gathers in the whole family.
It is doing things for each other, not in the attitude of duty or sacrifice, but in the spirit of joy.

It is speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.
It is not expecting the husband to wear a halo or the wife to have wings of an angel.
It is not looking for perfection in each other.

It is cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding and a sense of humor.
It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.
It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow.

It is finding room for the things of the spirit.
It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.
It is establishing a relationship in which the independence is equal,
dependence is mutual and the obligation is reciprocal.
It is not only marrying the right partner, it is being the right partner.

As we said our vows, Chuck was very calm and serious but Lois was nervous and got the giggles and couldn’t stop. Chuck loves it when Lois giggles and gave her a big hug so she would relax. Then we both managed to say all the vows as directed. Not too bad considering we had no practice at all. Plus, we actually both put the wedding bands on each other’s fingers OK too...

...and finally we were allowed to give each other the BIG KISS!

Afterwards, Gary took more photos of us in front of the lovely flowers that Marilyn had ordered for the occasion.

We brought along some bottles of wine and a pair of nice glasses for to thank Gary and Marilyn with. They also bought a cake for us. We gave them our gifts and they gave us theirs, a beautiful pair of matching watches!

We guess doing things a bit backwards is OK with us all, because, we then cut the cake and all sat down to eat, drink and get merry. It was hard to pass on the cake and spirits after the seriousness of doing our vows.

Not long after that, at 1:00 p.m., we all went out to The Oyster Bar on Chuckanut Drive for a fabulous lunch with a view.

Ed, the Judge, had told us that it was now taking a month to process the marriage licenses when he dropped them off. So after lunch we dropped off Gary and Marilyn at their place and went back to the Chrysalis to change. Then we took the license over to the courthouse ourselves to get it certified which only took about 10 minutes!

Then it was off to Bellis Fair Mall to do some shopping. There were lots of sales on. Chuck bought Lois a ring with her birth stone for Christmas (just in case we somehow were prevented from joining each other for Christmas by the border guards later). Lois bought Chuck a nice shirt and fancy jacket. After shopping, we returned to the hotel for a bath and a “nap”. Then it was back to Gary’s and Marilyn’s to pick up the leftover cake and one of the flower arrangements that we were going to try to bring across the border.

We went back to the Colophon Café for dinner again because that was where we had our first meal together and it is in the Village Book Store where we first met.

Finally, we returned to our room, sipped plenty of champagne and took in our wonderful view.

We had a very romantic day and evening, to say the least!!

Thursday, November 15, 2007...

We woke up and began to realize just how much in love we are. We then finished off the last of the champagne and cake for breakfast and drove home (but not without having to answer a bunch of questions about Lois once we crossed back over the border again). But, we made it back safe and sound. So we are now very HAPPY CAMPERS!!

We wonder what we will do for our next great adventure...

THE END.

Email us... Chuck Jessup and Lois Lindgaard