Wedding Pics, Part 2: Rehearsal Day (October 16)

All of the images below are enlargeable through clicking.

October 16 was wedding-rehearsal day. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the rehearsal itself. What I do have are some pictures of how we spent our morning and afternoon before the 5:30PM rehearsal. After the large breakfast that was featured in the last round of photos, we broke up into groups. Some of us went to the nearby Lost River National Park.

The park contains some 1800s-era structures, including the Lee House, i.e., the home of Lighthorse (or "Light Horse") Harry Lee, better known as the father of Confederate general Robert E. Lee. The Lee House has an interesting feature: there is no back door.

Below is the Lee Sulfur Springs. Our resort's proprietors had recommended that we give the spot a visit. "You'll smell it before you see it," they warned. We were also told that the sulfurous water was both good for the skin and great for making pure-brewed coffee.

As you see below, a shelter has been built over the spring itself:

Here, we get closer to the spring:

Finally, a look at the water, and at what the sulfur content has done to the stone trough or spout from which the water is issuing. See that raspberry-cream pink? That's from the sulfur.

Below, a pic of yours truly, taken by Jeff's dad, who was part of our group, along with Jeff's sister, Jeff's mom, Jeff's nieces, and Jeff's friend Joanne.

Witness the weird misspelling of "sulfur" in this picture. The "H" and the "P" are reversed, and it should be noted that "sulphur" is primarily a British spelling:

On the seesaw, below, are Jeff's nieces, Ansley (pink) and Lauren (black and gray). Ansley radiated cuteness, but Lauren had her own beautiful dignity... unless she was doing her exaggerated Zsa Zsa Gabor accent. "Oh, dahhhhhling!"

I visited the park's men's room, and this little fellow was shuffling away on the screen door:

The girls were freaked out when someone—Jeff's dad, maybe?—found this spider carcass:

Here's another view of the spider, now in my hand:

A shot of Jeff's dad, Jim, crossing a creek with his granddaughter Lauren:

In the late morning, around 11AM or so, we left the national park because the womenfolk were interested in doing some shopping. There's not much real shopping to be done in this part of West Virginia, but the Lost River Trading Post was there for the asking. Below, you see the Trading Post's claim to fame: a huge orange cow. Do click on this image so you can see all the cow's wacky details: curly hair, a cowgirl hat (cowgirl—get it?), a shirt or jacket knotted at the front (not a bull penis!), a gun belt with gun and bullets and holster, boots, and a bottle of whisky stuck in one of the boots. Do not mess with this cow, ladies and gents.

Across the street from the Trading Post was a cemetery. The tombstones varied in age and style from very modern to very old. Below is one of the more interesting-looking stones:

The Trading Post had its own totem pole:

We next tooled around until we found the Quarter Mile Diner, which had been recommended to us by a local. The food was surprisingly good. I had a taco salad; Joanne had a "white" chili made with white beans and shredded chicken. Others in our group had burgers and dogs.

I had to take the following shot for two reasons. First, as others in our group also noted, it seemed weirdly incongruous for a hick diner like this to be sporting fancy, European-style decor out front. My second reason for taking this shot was that these are supposed to be mermaids... but for some odd reason, these mermaids have buttocks.

Back in my hotel room and sitting on the toilet, I noticed this sign, which stands in marvelous contrast to signs in Korea that say the exact opposite. See, Korea? Civilized people put their used toilet paper in the toilet. That's why it's called goddamn TOILET paper.

In the shot below, I succeeded where my brother David had failed. David had his slick iPhone, but he couldn't get the shot that I got with my Samsung Galaxy S4—a shot in which the foreground and the background are in focus. Score one for Samsung.

The last pic in this cluster of pics shows David doing what he does best. Poor guy is so overworked at his PR job that he falls asleep whenever he's given the opportunity to do so.

More pics coming.


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