A Redwood Wedding

The Trip – Day 11

The Wedding, Sanborn County Park, Saratoga, California

20 miles

and

The Trip – Day 12

Cupertino, California – Mariposa, California

159 miles

The Redwood Grove

Day 11 was the midpoint of our trip. This day was the only true fixed point in our travels when we had started our planning. This was the day of the wedding. The mid-west groom had been a friend of the bride's brother and had met his friend's west coast sister while visiting his friend in the California area. He had gone hiking in Yosemite National Park with his friend's family, sister included, and this was followed by other visits and other hiking trips to national parks as the two got to know each other. It was fitting, then, that the wedding take place outdoors in a park-like setting.

Our oldest daughter had been married several years before at an outdoor wedding in Minneapolis in September. In that area of the country, a day in September could be sunny, could be stormy or could be snowy. The day turned out to be beautiful, so we never had to use Plan B, but we definitely had a Plan B. This outdoor wedding in California had far less need for a Plan B. The weather we had experienced most of our trip so far – non-stop sun – continued in central California, tempered by the less deserty climate and the pleasant addition of trees – lots of shady redwoods. This wedding was to take place in a county park in the wooded hills outside of San Jose. The ceremony itself would take place in a redwood grove, the reception in a slightly more open area next to the grove, with a large picnic shelter next to that (Plan B?). This area within the park had obviously been set aside for weddings, with a large deck-like platform big enough to hold about 80 folding chairs within the redwood grove. The grove was more church-like than many churches. The cluster of redwood trees were cathedral-like and ….awe...some... in an entirely different way than the red stone of Zion, but holy none-the-less, just the kind of place God would show up for a wedding of two people who loved Him. 

Cool drone shot of the bride and groom dancing in the redwood grove

The reception had a Yosemite theme, in honor of the park where the couple first got to know each other. Each table was named for a location in the park. The story of their relationship, told in their own words, was burned into the wooden slices of a tree and put on a table with accompanying pictures. The cake was decorated to look like the bark of a tree. Even the wildlife played their part to provide the appropriate atmosphere with Stellar Jays perched on the fence surrounding the eating area and a deer making a late appearance at the reception. The afternoon reception was bug-less, despite being in a forest, with the mosquitoes coming out to greet the last few lingering guests only after the sun set. A perfect day for the marriage of a special couple...

The cake

The reception area with the grove beyond

The reception

Our Yosemite table

Uninvited guests...

...but not unwelcome...

 

Day 12 was an uneventful and wonderfully relaxing day. We went out to breakfast with the brother of the bride, also a friend of ours, and caught up on each other's lives, and then had a relatively short drive to the small town of Mariposa about 40 miles from Yosemite, our destination for the next day.  We checked into the Mariposa Inn, a simple hotel whose distinguishing feature was that the proprietor had managed to train a number of golden pothos plants to grow across the entire lobby ceiling, giving the effect of being under a jungle canopy for anyone who came to eat the continental breakfast in the morning. Unlike Valle, the sparse, tiny town near the Grand Canyon, Mariposa was small but full of shops, places to eat, a gallery and a museum. We wandered around the outside exhibits of the closed Museum and History Center when we went in search of a place to eat and regretted we didn't have time the next day to go back and explore it thoroughly. For dinner, we found The Happy Burger Diner, a small eating establishment with an extensive menu - “Proudly serving the largest restaurant menu in the Sierra.” The food was great – lots of gluten-free selections – and there was a collection of Trivial Pursuit cards at each table for those who got bored waiting for the excellent but somewhat slow food to show up. The walls and ceiling were decorated with old record album covers, many of which my husband, myself or our siblings had owned. We passed the time waiting for our food playing Trivial Pursuit and seeing if we could remember what songs were on what record albums on the ceiling above us. A pleasant way for POACA to pass the time...

There is no more lovely, friendly or charming relationship, communion or company, than a good marriage. - Martin Luther

Next:

“Sit by the Merced River and Cry”

The Trip – Day 13

Yosemite Valley

86 miles