No, not literally. But that is what I felt like I was doing on occasion during our recent trip out to Utah for Jenny's brother's wedding. That feeling stemmed not only from the wedding, which had facets that were unfamiliar in a bizarre way, but also from our subsequent trip to Moab and Arches National Park, a landscape that was unfamiliar in a spectacular, otherworldly way.
Utah is...different than the East Coast, there's no mistaking that. I had been out there three (?) times previously, so I thought I was getting used to the culture. Then we went to this wedding. Foremost, it was a Thursday affair, which is unheard of in the East. I can only assume that the Thursday date was necessary so that Chris and Jen (the newlyweds) could have use of the Salt Lake City temple for the ceremony. It probably saved them a few bucks too, something that I can appreciate since we're still paying off our own wedding that took place last November.
I had never attended a wedding in which I was barred from viewing the actual ceremony, until last week. The Mormons have a closed-door policy for their weddings, evidently. Actually, my understanding is that the closed-door policy is for the temple, but since the wedding takes place within said temple - in nerd-speak, according to the distributive property - it applies to weddings as well. So Catholic heathens like myself waited outside the temple, along with the non-temple-worthy Mormons in attendance, children from Mormon families, and everyone else. That worked out OK; the weather was nice and we played with - and, when necessary, chased down - niece and nephews. The reception was fun, with live band and food, although the absence of a bar or any adult beverages of any kind was striking. I was warned beforehand, but it's still weird to be drinking lemonade (w/o whiskey) at a wedding reception. At least the reception was uneventful, unlike the previous evening's rehearsal dinner. During which the bride's parents both chose to mention that they wished that the bride's previous fiancee (boyfriend?), who was in attendance with his wife, had been the one to join their family. Never mind that Chris is a fabulous guy who's a lot of fun to be around, and that one would be hard-pressed to meet a nicer person, and that he was sitting right next to them hearing this crap! - the parents of the bride should really know better than to be so rude and disrespectful of their daughter and future son-in-law, right?!? I'm not sure I would have believed that it happened, were I not there to hear it myself.
I don't think words can do Arches National Park justice. The hiking was amazing - challenging and beautiful. Sometimes we would stop, not for a rest, but simply to look around for a sec. The weather was pleasant enough too, aside from the wind on the first day. It was what I would imagine the surface of Mars to be like, except with more cacti, shrubbery, and butterflies. Truly an alien landscape, but maybe all too appropriate that it's located in Utah? Don't get me wrong, I like visiting, and Jenny's family is wonderful. But it's still good to be home.
2 comments:
I heart the Arches. It (along with Yosemite and Oak Creek Canyon and San Francisco) is one of my most favourite places on the earth. (Arches beats out all of those, except Oak Creek Canyon, for being first chronologically, and beats out OCC for first place in my heart.) It's the place where I feel like a real desert rat, and why as much as I love rain and fog and mist and trees, I love this part of the world in an insane way. My favourite spots are: a rocky point on the trail to Double O Arch (not to be confused with Double Arch which is easy to get to), Campsite 49 (I think--it's hard to remember the exact spot, but it's near the bathrooms, and has a cleft rock in which you can while away the hottest part of the afternoon playing cards with your siblings), Broken and Sanddune Arches, and the outer rim of Delicate Arch's bowl.
I thought I misheard Jen when she tried to explain the rehearsal dinner debacle to me over the phone, and I thought it sounded weird then, but to see it baldly in writing....WOW. That is some effrontery. Good thing for Chris that his inlaws live in Florida. Could they have said anything more tactless? (When I get married, my parents will probably mention that they like Lee--if it's him--better than my other boyfriends, but just be excited that they get to add ANYBODY to the fam via me.)
BTW, when you are raised Mormon, you get used to the idea of not attending weddings. I've only seen FOUR weddings ever. Oh, wait, five. You guys, my friend Julie, an ex of Adam's, my uncle Ron, and my boss from my last job.
*points up* Comment #2 is mine.
-Lis
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