Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Thirty Years


Amazingly, DH and I have been married thirty years as of yesterday! What's amazing is how quickly those thirty years have run away with us, and thankfully our marriage is still going strong. There are some who had their doubts back in 1979, after all Gary was just 19 (I'm a little older) and the stats aren't great for those who marry young. Through God's grace, and each of us turning a blind eye now and then, our life together has been marked by happiness and laughter.

To celebrate our anniversary we drove to Walla Walla on Saturday to stay at the Green Gables B&B and do a little winery hopping.

This B&B is impeccably kept and certainly caters to their guests every whim complete with a humidor of cigars for smoking on the porch, local wines available in the dining room, a continually full cookie jar, and beautifully decorated rooms in the turn of the twentieth century style. The morning starts with coffee delivered to the upper/guest bedroom level at 7:30 a.m., then breakfast is served at 9:00. We had amazing coddled eggs and sausage, muffins, toast, fruit and cream. What a way to start the day!

L'Ecole is a winery we've driven by for years and never stopped, always thinking that next time we will. So this time we did stop. As the name indicates, the building was a schoolhouse in a former life and now welcomes locals and tourists to taste some wonderful wines. This was the first of I think six wineries we visited on Saturday, with another six on Sunday. That makes a total of twelve with about 70 left for us to return to! (And that's just in the Walla Walla area.)

The wineries range in style from the gorgeous Basel winery. . .

to the more modest Pepper Bridge. . .

to store fronts downtown.

At Saviah, we arrived during a bit of a lull so the server gave us a short tour including the chilly barrel room where we did a little barrel tasting of some upcoming 2007s!

The young gal next to me is Amy from Chicago who was hoofing it around the south end wineries. We gathered her up and enjoyed Saviah, Va Piano, Pepper Bridge, Northstar, and Tertulia together.

To celebrate our thirty years all throughout the summer, we brought home a few bottles of wine to enjoy on our little patio out back. :)

Here's to thirty more wonderful years. Cheers!

21 comments:

Jacqueline Korteland Boller said...

Congratulations, Von!!!! May you share many many more years!!!

Unknown said...

A FEW BOTTLES???? LOL! Glad to hear that you celebrated in style and had a wonderful time! Hard to believe it has actually been 30 years. We had hoped to celebrate large this year, but will probably have to settle for a nice dinner. Happy Anniversary dear friends!

lena-lou said...

Happy Anniversary to you both, great achievement 30 years (not many make it , it seems) and here's to at least 30 years more xx

Great looking time out you both had too !

lena-lou said...

P.S. I forgot to say what a pretty bride you were , love the train on your dress :-))

Kathy A. said...

Congratulations Von. Thirty years is something to be very proud of.
May you have many more wonderful years together.

Cathy B said...

Congratulations Von on 30 years! Wow! That's definitely worth celebrating!

Carolyn NC said...

Congratulations on your 30 yr. anniversary. You certainly don't look like you've been married that long. Beautiful wedding picture. Our 30 yr. is this year, too, in August. Still trying to figure how to celebrate it! :)

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on your Anniversary!!!

Anonymous said...

Happy Anniversary to you and Gary, Von!!
Great way to celebrate! Cheers!

Karin said...

Congratulations!!! Thirty years is a milestone worth celebrating and you did this in style.

Elizabeth Braun said...

Congratulations to you both! You're right, any marriage surviving more than a few years these days is quite a novelty - but a very special and lovely one.=) Lovely photo too.=)

Next Friday is our 10th!

Siobhán said...

Happy anniversary!! It sounds like you had a lovely weekend celebration. May you have many, many more years of wedded bliss. :)

Jeanie said...

Congratulations and Happy Anniversary to you both !! Thirty years of wedded bliss, WOW !! Wish you many many many more wonderful years of togetherness !!

Sherry said...

Congratulations on 30 years! That is definitely something to be proud of. We have 33 coming up in a few months!

Mylene said...

Beautiful picture!!
Happy happy anniversary!

Sharon said...

Happy belated Anniversary! It is truly a blessing!

Brigitte said...

Happy belated anniversary to you both! I enjoyed looking at the nice pictures you shared.

Karoline said...

Happy Anniversary Von

Dianne said...

Happy belated 30th anniversary Vondalee and Gary! We were married 25 yrs in April and have similar wedding photos though I was 24 and Brian was 27. He wore all white too.
I hear ya on the years flying by. You have made yourself quite a legacy with 7 children. Congrats!

viv in TN said...

Congrats on the 30 years...loved all your pics. viv

Kathryn said...

Hi Von,
I've been meaning to post a comment for a while now. What a beautiful bride you were! ... and what a handsome groom. Belated Happy Anniversary to both of you!
So glad you went on a nice celebratory trip and came home with such a great assortment of souvenirs! Dave is jealous!
Kathryn : )