Roses in Jackson Hole

Here we are at a family wedding in Jackson Hole. People are here from the East Coast, the West Coast, the Mid West, the South, Mexico, Hawaii and Paris. At first it seems like "destination weddings" are a lot to ask. But, in fact, any wedding is a destination wedding for some people.

This way, coming to a place that is beautiful, but that none of us is "from" makes it possible for a gigantic family reunion of a modern-day gigantic ground zero nuclear family.

The groom himself has thirteen brothers and sisters ... only one of them a full sister. So parts of the extended family from both sides and all of their "issue" are here. Kids now adults who lived together 40 years ago, and hated each other. Now they are so glad to see each other. All grown up and very okay. The youngest of them has finally gotten married --at age 43 -- so the wedding is sensible in all aspects: friendly and warm, classy but not snobbish, understated but elegant.

And Jackson Hole is very beautiful. Big mountains, big sky, big land. Very different from Hawaii. Even looking out at the most amazing mountain vistas, I would still rather sit in my backyard on the canal in Hawaii. There is nothing that beats the density of color in Hawaii -- when it comes to color, this place pales by comparison.

The flowers are different here -- little purple mountain flowers outside our lanai, the only color dotting a vast stretch of prarie grass (?). At the wedding there were plenty of roses. Beautiful, great smelling roses. Instead of favors, they gave donations to the Nature Conservancy and the Humane Society in each of our honors. We could pick.

I didn't think of bringing favors from Lanikai Bath and Body. Too bad. Our Kamuela Rose smells as pretty as the wedding roses.