Day 5 - Estes Park and Janes First Walmart, Loveland - Sat Aug 7 20201

The Van occupants had a very relaxed afternoon/evening, sheltering as the many rainstorms lashed the mountainside. But it was a welcome respite from the earlier heat. However maybe we all wished for too much of a respite, because it got down into the low 40s overnight; something this crew haven't experienced in quite a while - brrr!

In the morning the sky was very murky and the sun nothing but an orange pin prick in the sky - those fires from out west were spreading their smoke all over what shouldn't been a beautiful view of the mountains. As you can see - nothing to be seen from the mountain top on this morning :-( :
We had a slow start and then continued our drive to Estes Park in the Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). It was Jane and Toby's 33rd Wedding Anniversary, and they were married in a meadow just west of the Alluvial Fan in Estes Park - that is where we were headed. The 5 hour journey turned into a 7 hour journey when, 30 miles from their destination, they were told they had to take a 150 mile detour, since the RMNP was so busy they were only allowing people who'd made reservations onto the road. Ugh. 

Still, undaunted, they made it, and here they are, looking very pleased to be in the very same spot where they were married 33 years ago. Jane looking every bit as attractive as she ever did; Toby wearing some goofy grin that'd suddenly betook his visage (and yes, this is the best photo!):

Jane got me confused with the common or garden plant variety, like those pink things she has in her other hand - I am mortified with this picture, but its the only one with Jane and me, so I'll have to go with it. 

Toby though - now he knows how to treat a Pickle. He even treated me to a drop of Champers. Lovely!


Finally, for those of you that weren't there on the day (almost everybody!) then you won't know what's going on here, but I overheard them laughing about how they'd done an homage to the Sound of Music on their wedding day - here's the actual event, with Ray and Julia (best man/woman):



and here they are (less Ray and Julia - best man/woman) trying it again, 33 years older. Sad. Sad.  


 We left Estes Park to drive to Loveland where the Geriatric Wedding Couple celebrated in grand style at ... Wendy's?!!!! Yes, I'm sorry to say, just like they did on their wedding day, they visited a Wendy's. Oh the shame of it - a well-born Pickle like me didn't know where to look. I just hid my face. And the follow up: overnight in a Walmart parking lot. Maybe that's an improvement on the 24 hour drive they did on their wedding night to go windsurfing in the Columbia River Gorge, 33 years ago, but maybe not. All I know is that they're certainly an odd couple, and it shows. 

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