Trip Reports - A Wedding in the Great Pacific Northwest

The much anticipated, although mostly given up on, wedding between my wife's brother and his girlfriend Kelley takes place this weekend at Salish Lodge, the place made famous by the T.V. show, Twin Peaks.

My wife, two daughters and I booked our ex-favorite airline, Alaska, for the standard trip, this time staying at the Four Points near LAX for the "$99 stay one night and park a week for free" deal. My eleven-year-old was a little under-whelmed by the Four Points (see related story, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum74/HTML/003501.html ), but for six nights of free parking and bagging two free Fridays, it is the way to go.

Abby is just about two, and so this is her last free flight, and to celebrate I got her her own Alaska number in anticipation of her July Northwest reservation to go to the farm in Chelsea, MI. We also practiced saying "Admirals Club" while waiting in terminal 3 for our flight.

I have never, ever seen so many children and babies on a plane, both with parents and unescorted. Spring break, I guess.

Picking up our van, we made our way to the W, with a view of the Space Needle from the 22nd floor and a thrown in connected room for the kiddies. I love the W.

With relatives coming in at various times we were shuttling people back and forth and spending time at the soon to be newlywed's house helping with last minute plans. My brother-in-law, Dave, is marrying a much younger version of Martha Stewart (in both looks and taste, but not mean-spirited). Dave grimaced when he explained that name cards were too declasse and that table arrangements were designated by cards with hand painted (by a professional artist) flowers, and each family would receive a envelope with a matching hand-painted flower to get them to their table. Kelley was out of the room, so I howled with delight at Dave's soon to be impoverished state, thinking that this was even more over the top then the French silk custom made dresses for each of the 6 young flower girls.

As the next task was putting together goody bags for the children, I decided to go for a run. Dave and Kelley live in Magnolia, and for my money and lack of endurance, the 2.8 mile loop in adjacent Discovery Park, with its vistas of the Pacific and of the mountains, is the best running in Seattle.

As an aside, getting back from my run I found my office was trying to get a hold of me. I merely quote from an official at the Dept. of Justice, "The Chairperson of your task force has died, and we are sad and everything, but could you..." I could hope for no better for my epitaph.

Back to the airport, and then to Wild Ginger, the restaurant in Seattle that has long eluded me. Completely lived up to reputation, and they managed to serve 15 of us with complete elegance. Dave mentioned that before the dot-bomb one could not get a seat. Last night: only about 80% full.

I'm off to pick up sushi for the pre-rehearsal dinner and a special teapot for the ceremonial tea ceremony that takes place after the wedding (my wife's family is Chinese--her father, who died over 20 years ago, insisted that all his children date only Chinese, and so of course all three of the kids have married/will marry Caucasians).

Reading over this I can only pray that my eleven-year-old isn't getting any ideas for her wedding.


(edited to correct format)

[This message has been edited by Jailer (edited 04-05-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Jailer (edited 04-07-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Jailer (edited 04-07-2002).]

So can we expect you at Kells after dinner??

If you like running or dislike it I guess it doesn't matter but try Seward Park on Lake Washington.

Thanks for bringing some humour to this gray morning. No flight report or too mundane?

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her father .... insisted that all his children date only Chinese, and so of course all three of the kids have married/will marry Caucasians)</font>

Being of your wife's ethnicity, I'd say she and her siblings could have done worse in their late father's perhaps less-than-enlightened/open/tolerant/accepting attitude towards breeding within the same race.

Starting Friday afternoon, I started to sense an ever-increasing disturbance in The Force. By Friday evening, my Jedi training enabled me to sense thousands, nay millions, of nearby brain cells crying in the agony of their final, alcohol induced death rattle. I pulled out my Elfin sword—the one given to me by the Lady of the Lake to celebrate the rescuing of the Holy Grail which contained the Dead Sea Scrolls and D.B. Cooper’s lost loot—I say, I pulled out my Elfin sword and it glowed blue signifying the presence of Flyertalkers in the Seattle area. Caution would be required for all holders of AA Chips.


Every so often life throws you such an unexpected delectable little gift; a sight of such beauty that even in one’s middleagedom one inwardly gasps: On the way to the rehearsal dinner we stopped off at the University of Washington. The main quad was festooned with cherry trees, their blossoms in full glory. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, so I hesitate making comparisons, but for sheer volume and concentration, and for lack of hype and crowds, my vote is for UW over Washington D.C.

These trees were moved and replanted at UW to make way for some development. I’m told that these trees are nearing the end of their lives (60 years). So, dear reader(s), take this side trip if you are ever in Seattle in spring.


The Salish Lodge sits atop of Snoqualmie Falls. While there has been an explosion of new housing in the general area since my last visit 10 years ago, the Lodge continues to be isolated except for the day-trippers going to overlook the falls.

As soon as we arrived the girls all went directly to the ready room to get prettified, leaving me to check in.

Naked I stood before the desk clerk without status or clout. Says check-in Tim, “you look like you could use an upgrade, so I’ve placed you in one of our best river view rooms.” (I swear that I don’t make this stuff up). Is this FT aura a wonderful thing, or what? In the final analysis, naked I came into the world, but naked I shall not depart.

I’ve not actually stayed at the Salish before, but it appears that the rooms have recently been redone, adding a Jacuzzi to go along with the fireplace. From the balcony I watched what looked like a historic tourist train, the Spokane-Portland-Seattle, lazily follow the river. The passengers happily waved which confirmed that they had nowhere really to go.

Two hours of picture taking preceded the ceremony, and as you all know it is like marshalling an army. Tempers remained pretty calm as we transitioned to be seated in a room overlooking the river for the ceremony.

Dave and Kelley were married by close friends who became matchbook ministers specifically for the ceremony. It was a very personal and touching moment, as on might expect for a couple that had been together for a decade.

I realize that when I counted the flower girls I committed a horrible oversight: I omitted Dave and Kelly’s 18-month-old daughter.

Sidney was decked out in formal black and white fur, with yards of French silk around her neck. She stood almost at attention, stealing sideway glances at her parents. Although the youngest participant, at over 80 pounds Sid was the largest flower girl. And, while people can still call this pure bred Burmese Mountain dog a B I T C H, after the wedding nobody will ever be able to call her a B A S T A R D.


[This message has been edited by Jailer (edited 04-08-2002).]