Before their wedding last Friday, Kari and I were talking about how much I wished I could be there in person. "I'll be with you in spirit", I said. "And I have a bottle of Korbel Brut Rose* Champagne I've been saving for a special occasion. I'll open that and drink a toast to you."
Which I did. This was a champagne I'd never had before, so as I sipped, I read the label: "In 1882, three brothers, Francis, Joseph and Anton Korbel established the Korbel winery in California's Russian River Valley." Wait a minute. We drove through the Russian River Valley on the way to Mark's wedding six years ago. We must have driven past the Korbel Winery, though I had no memory of it. Out came my pictures of that trip in July, 2006, along with the map of the route we took, and the memories came back.......
As long as we were going to drive to Healdsburg, California anyway, we might as well take our time and see as much as possible on the way. First I wanted to see Nebraska's waterfalls. YES, Nebraska does have waterfalls - almost all of them on the Niobrara river around Valentine in Cherry County. We saw Fort Falls on the Fort Niobrara Refuge, Berry Falls and the above Smith Falls, which at 65 feet is Nebraska's tallest waterfall. Smith Falls is located in Smith Falls State Park which is east of Valentine - a popular camping and canoeing area of the scenic Niobrara.
Bud always says he is "just the wheel man". He pretty much lets me plan the route and navigate. Second destination stop: Wounded Knee Massacre National Historic Landmark. The Wounded Knee Massacre was committed on December 29, 1890. About 150 men, women and children of the Lakota Sioux were killed by a detachment of the 7th Cavalry. They were buried here in a mass grave. A church was built on the hill behind the grave site. This monument lists the names of many of those killed in the massacre. It was erected in 1903 by the descendants of the fallen.
This is no highly developed, commercialized landmark. It is a cemetery; a quiet, peaceful, moving memorial which marks an atrocious time in our country's history. The final words on the monument are: "Many innocent women and children who knew no wrong died here". If you quietly reflect, listen to the wind and open your mind, you can feel their presence.
I am not a big science fiction fan, but after seeing Close Encounters of the Third Kind in the late '70s, I always wanted to see Devil's Tower in Wyoming. It is the first declared National Monument, established in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt. We arrived early in the morning and hiked all the way around the base. Seeing rock climbers high up on the Tower's walls was impressively scary. I kept hearing those famous five tones from the movie theme and imagining a pile of mashed potatoes.
When I was in school, we learned the history of "Custer's Last Stand". Now it is known as The Battle of the Little Bighorn". This photo is of the cemetery and the 7th Cavalry Monument above it at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana. Montana is a big state and I would like to have seen more of it, but we were on a schedule to be in California by July 14. So across Montana we drove.
After spending the night in the charming town of Red Lodge, MT and a perilous drive on the Beartooth Highway across Beartooth Pass the next morning, we entered Yellowstone National Park via the North gate. Charles Kuralt once called this "the most beautiful drive in America". I called it the highway to heaven or hell - take your pick. Before our trip began, I had a horrifyingly real nightmare of driving off a cliff on our way to the west coast. All the way up to Beartooth Pass, I kept remembering that horrible dream. I expected to go off the road into an abyss on every curve.
Thank goodness coming down was much more gentle than going up. There were pretty alpine lakes surrounded by wildflowers. The sun shone and I relaxed. We drove straight through the park, headed for the lodge and Old Faithful, stopping only to take a few pictures of the Yellowstone Falls and The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (River). Probably the most surprising thing that happened in the most populous area of the park as we waited for the hourly geyser show was that among all those hundreds of tourists we ran into Bud's cousin and husband from our hometown in Iowa.
Many will recognize these arches made from elk antlers in Jackson, WY. They form entrances on all four corners of the city square. I always want to call this Jackson Hole, but the town is Jackson, the area is Jackson Hole Valley. There is also the nearby Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and ski area.
After the rush through Yellowstone and Jackson, we were ready to slow down for a day. Soda Springs, Idaho was a surprising stop. We visited Hooper Springs where weary Oregon Trail travelers once camped and where I sampled soda water right out of the spring. It wasn't quite the soda water I was used to, but at one time soda water from this spring was bottled and marketed all across the country.
Geyser Park is in the downtown area. It was discovered in 1937 during an attempt to find a hot water source for a swimming pool. The drill went down 315 feet and unleashed a geyser. It is now capped and controlled by a timer. It erupts every hour on the hour.
When we got to Crater Lake in Oregon, there was still snow on the ground. Bud remembered the story of how I had made Kari and Preston stand in the snow atop Loveland Pass in Colorado when they were little kids just so I could take their picture. So, he made me do the same as a 'get-even' for them.
This isn't the picture of Preston and Kari in the snow, but it is the one with the snow balls they made atop Loveland Pass in the mid-1970's. They were so cold. They just wanted to get back in the car while their Mom wanted just one more picture.
Crater Lake was just as beautiful and magical as Kari had said it was. It is the deepest (1,943 ft.) lake in the United States. It is the result of the eruption of Mount Mazama 7700 years ago. Crater Lake Lodge is one of the oldest national park lodges. It was opened in 1915.
From Crater Lake on the way to Northern California we drove along the wild and beautiful Rogue River. I think I took this picture in the Natural Bridge area.
Eventually we made our way to the Russian River Valley - the scenic shortcut from Highway 1 back over to Hwy 101 via Hwy 116. The drive along the Russian River was beautiful with small towns and resorts along the way. I still don't know how I missed seeing the Korbel Winery. I must have been looking for a spot to wade in the river when we passed by it.
We made it to Santa Rosa in time to check into our hotel and meet up with Kari and Ken before heading up to the home of the bride's parents in the hills outside Healdsburg for the rehearsal/get-acquainted dinner. Long tables covered in white paper were aligned beneath the roof of the patio. Most of the guests were already seated when the ones on the side next to the house were asked by the servers to move "so we can pour". Well, yes, there were wine glasses on the table, but why would filling them necessitate having half the guests get up and move?
Then the servers came in with huge pots and began pouring food right on the table. Honestly, it reminded me of when we used to slop the hogs - pouring a mixture of milk and feed all along the trough. I don't think I'd ever even heard of a sea-food boil before, let alone see and eat one. It seems to me the Californians may have called it simply a "boil".
Everyone returned to their seats. There were no plates, no cutlery, just napkins, butter, salt and pepper, wine glasses and claw crackers. It was probably the most fun meal I've ever had which is ironic as one of my biggest pet peeves is "playing with your food". We finally caught on that whatever you wanted to eat you just picked off the table and ate with your hands. There was lobster, shrimp, corn-on-the-cob, artichokes and potatoes.
The next day was spent shopping and relaxing around the hotel pool until time to return for the wedding. After the ceremony, a formal dinner was served under twinkle lighted trees, followed by speeches and dancing. I don't know if Kari and Ken danced after their own wedding Friday night, but I did get this picture of them dancing at Mark's wedding. Aah the memories.....I even remember Bud dancing with me that night - something that has only happened three times in thirty years.
*Korbel Brut Rose - "the excellent champagne to toast all of life's great moments".
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