Of Wagon Wheels and a Western Wedding

Double rainbow over newlyweds. Priceless.

Hi, loyal readers! I'm terribly behind in my blogging. Shocking. However, I plead mucho busy-ness in the last two weeks. I'll get into what all we Olson's have been up to in this post and several others in the next week.

First of all! This mega-blog-post all has to do with a Big Event. On Saturday, September 17, we were so happy and thrilled to witness the marriage of Papa's sister J (you can follow her new blog here) to the awesome E! And yes, for those of you who pay attention, or for those of you who already know us all well, Papa and I also sport the initials J & E. Kinda cute--two sets of J & Es now in the same family! Totally God-coincidence, not planning on any of our parts.

Anyway, we had a great long weekend trekking out to western Nebraska for the big event. Papa and I had never driven west of Sioux Falls before, and we realized pretty quickly that, um, there really isn't anything much out in central South Dakota...or northern Nebraska...or central Nebraska...or southwestern Nebraska. We now have new found appreciation for living in "settled" country--those of you who've been here to visit can stop laughing. Because I'm serious. Even looking at the maps can tell you that there's a heckuva lot more little dots in Minnesota, even southwestern Minnesota, than in 98% of everywhere west of central Nebraska. Just little thoughts about our comparative geographic observations.

Not much to see... guess I'll sleep.

These crowds are killer.

 We drove to North Platte, Nebraska on Thursday. We had fun hitting up some kitschy places along the way, like the Star Restaurant in Murdo, South Dakota. We felt like we'd gone Back to the Future and landed in 1955.

Me: P, who is that? P: RAMONE!

And a completely random sighting of this church sign. You just never know where you're going to see 'em.

P and S did great on the trip. They loved seeing the trains--and they liked this picture best of all the ones we took, go figure, so I had to include it here.

Our two little goofballs. They are SO fun!

Lest you think we didn't enjoy the scenery, the countryside, the people, or anything else we encountered on our trip--okay, the twelve-hour car trip on our Sunday return was a little long--hold your horses! We loved it. I totally got psyched to review my mid-19th century American pioneer history after what we saw and witnessed. The land in Nebraska is vast and eerily barren because there are so few trees, but the sky is endless, truly endless. I'm one of those weirdos that love big sky. Yes, I've been told I'd love Montana. But Papa, who's been there, said Nebraska could definitely rival the sky factor.

Papa, driving by a few of the trees in western Nebraska.

 

Self-portrait, by a few other trees in western Nebraska.

And this gem in Ogallala, Nebraska. Yes, yes, they do like their fishing and hunting.

And, of course, the wedding! J and E are super, wonderful people. They really knocked themselves out making a homey, rustic-themed wedding in the middle of nowhere western Nebraska a fun, warm affair. The friends and family we met were fantastic, including Papa's parents, who had quite the travel experience. It was great to meet other loved ones of J and E, too--great friends and family really say something about people, don't they?

Despite some clouds and a little rain over the weekend, everything came off wonderfully. We loved the church--St. Paul's Lutheran in Bridgeport--and Pastor Strawn is, as Papa put it, "like talking into a mirror." They hit it off right away, and we were so glad to finally meet him and visit. The rehearsal went well. P and S had fun finding toys and exploring a different church. And there were lots of places to explore. :)

 

 

P & S also loved--as did we--the awesome rehearsal dinner at the chuck wagon place a few miles from Chimney Rock. We got to ride on a duplicate Conestoga wagon behind some docile chestnut horses and a grizzled, toothless guide who deserved every cent of his wage just for the way he looked. S freaked out a little when the guy first started yelling about pioneer history, but once the horses started pulling, S calmed down. And we enjoyed the ride! And the steaks that followed.

 

And yes, the guide is holding a cigarette. You could hear about fifty-five years worth of tobacco gravel in his voice, too.

  ;



The next day, Papa and I took a quick drive back out to Chimney Rock so that certain little boys would get much-needed naps before the big service. Well, P succumbed, but S didn't. So he got to be in the pictures at this well-documented place of pioneer history while P snored in the car. Fun!

The service was Christ-centered simplicity, just as it should be. Papa got to the cross-bearer, which meant all P had to do was follow Daddy with the pillow. For P did superb as the ring bearer--even if he did do a little dance inside the hollowed-out part of the pulpit during the first hymn instead of following Daddy to the first pew. Only Daddy saw that. And he loved it. One of those "always remember" moments! I spent the ceremony in the huge, sound-proof cry room with S, who vacillated between super happy and affectionate and, well, super tired and screeching. Hence my stay in the cry room. It worked out terrifically, though, because S decided to spontaneously wave to Uncle E and Aunt J as they recessed down the aisle, and they saw his little hand and big smile through the window. Very special. He also decided to start a new game during the wedding, which was completely new to me. I was holding him with his head over my shoulder, and he reached his arm around my neck and said, "Hug." Then he pulled his head back, smiled at me, and put his head on the other shoulder and said, "Hug." He did this four or five times. It was extremely sweet. And yes, I just spent the paragraph that was supposed to be about the wedding ceremony talking about the antics of my children. That says a lot, doesn't it?

Yay for family! Uncle E's not in this pic because it was taken before the wedding--boo. 

The reception was great. Friends of J and E had been up since dawn prepared smoked pork and chicken. It was divine. And between putting our exhausted boys to bed, Papa and I got to visit with Mom and Dad O. and lots of others--and even do a few turns on the dance floor, which was on a patio outside the lodge. The Lodge! Such a comfortable, new, warmly-decorated and kept place. The website doesn't do it justice. It was a pleasant shock every time we stepped out of our clean, nicely-amenitied room or out of the Lodge/reception area and realized that there was nothing around us except for vast prairie and the nearby North Platte river. If you're ever traveling through Lisco, be sure you stop and say hi to Gwen at the Lodge, as she will likely remember us--and all of the guests--for years, because that's her way. And you'll find the lodge south through the one block of "town" onto the dirt road, over the single-lane bridge, and about a mile southwest past cattle pastures and other dirt roads.

Our view outside our room at the Lodge. Other than the tower, I think it looked pretty much the same when wagon trains came through.

I've been blessed to attend many happy weddings, truly happy occasions--marriages begun with God's good guidance, thoughtful pastoral counseling, joyful and blissful brides and grooms and thus really great parties. Because who can have a rotten time at the dance when the marriage gets a Christ-centered send-off? Even if the groom and a few pals decide to sing "Da Turdy Point Buck" all by their lonesomes. Actually, that was a highlight, too! That E is a keeper! :)

 

 

Side story: When Papa and Dan were cutting the rest of the cake to put away at the end of the reception, they couldn't get through it. Then they figured out the ingenious cake maker used PVC as central support. Dad E, I knew you'd find that impressive. So you can barely see it under the "trunk" here, but I couldn't resist the guys' facial expressions.

After a lovely breakfast with family and friends at the Lodge on Sunday, we headed back east, going north first. That's how we ended up passing Carhenge, which I'm sure should be on every foreign tourist's top ten list of sites not to miss in the Central-West flyover country. P loved it.

 

And to top off our trek home? In the midst of prairie lonely-loveliness, we got to hear the Pack put away the Panthers with an 84-yard touchdown return. The boys clapped unencouraged. It was a great, great weekend.