BIG NEWS FROM MARATHON, TEXAS

A slight delay of 6 days since our last blog....but we have a very good reason....you see, we had to attend to very important 'business' at the Gage Hotel Gardens on Friday, the 4th.  

Yup, as the photo shows, our very important business was the business of GETTING MARRIED.   We love the Hill Country and the Western Plains of Texas and last year discovered the Gage Hotel in Marathon.  It is a wonderful, first class hotel nearby to "the middle of nowhere".   Pam and I were engaged last Christmas and we set our sights on the Gage this Spring for the wedding.  

The day before the big day, we were "blown away"....and I mean really blown away when we returned to the RV Park in Marathon to find a note on the door to the motorhome.  The note said to "come to room 11 for a surprise package".  So we did just that and when the door opened we were shocked to see Pam's cousin, John Currah, and his lovely wife, Alison, standing in the doorway shouting "SURPRISE".   And what a surprise it was....all the way from the Cornish coast of England to Houston and then Midland TX....and then driving the two + hours to Marathon to be with us for the wedding.   So, just like that we found we had a best man and a matron of honor.....and a better couple for the job we couldn't hope for.

Here is Pam with cousin John and Alison Currah.  What a special treat to have them come all this way....AND to be able to spend a couple of days with us after the wedding day for lots of fun, laughter and good food.   A future blog will entail our special venture on 6 April...to Mexico!

       And now it was my turn to embrace these special friends. 

  

Here we are outside Casa Jardin (garden house), part of the Gage Hotel's accommodations adjacent to the Gage Gardens, where the ceremony took place.  A Texas wedding called for Tex-Mex garb, so here we are living up to that billing as best we can.

Pam and I on the bridge in the gardens just after "tying the knot" as they say.

    Pam and Alison with their flowers just before the ceremony.

Here I am shaking my best man's hand just after the ceremony, while in the background Pam gives Alison a big hug.  Ali was her usual calm self during the festivities.....she just had to be there with us.

Here the "three of us" walk back to Casa Jardin after the wedding ceremony.  A bit later we joined Alison and John for a wonderful celebratory dinner at the Gage Hotel restaurant....and we were all in for still another surprise when the waitress presented the folder with the bill, but instead of the bill was a note saying "Congratulations!!   Dinner is on me!!  All my love, Amy".   Yes, Pam's daughter, Amy, had made arrangements with the hotel for her to pay for dinner for the four of us.  What a wonderful (not to mention Grand) present.  Amy was with us in spirit that day, and the day was capped off with her generous gift.   A wonderful day with wonderful people.