Wedding Weekend

Last Friday morning, as soon as the kids headed to school, Dan and I hopped in the car and headed south to Columbus, Georgia!  The son of one of Dan's best army buddies was getting married.  And this son just so happens to be named after Dan!  (The groom is named Patrick which is Dan's middle name.)

It was a sunny and warm day and we made good time.  We arrived in about 7 1/2 hours but that included a leisurely lunch stop and a stop for gas and the bathroom.  (Travel time with no stops is 6 1/2 hours.)

We were really surprised at how cute downtown Columbus is.  Since Columbus, GA is home to Ft. Benning, we were expecting your typical run down little army town.  And while the area near Ft. Benning did live up to that expectation, the rest of Columbus was as cute as a button!

Within just a couple of minutes walk from our hotel were a bunch of restaurants and bars and the downtown is also the home to Columbus State University.

We had dinner at The Cannon. And then headed to The Loft for a drink.

On Saturday morning we had breakfast at the restaurant in the Marriott and then headed to check out the Riverwalk. The Chattahoochee Riverwalk is a 15 mile linear park that runs from the city marina all the way to the Infantry Museum.  

Patrick (the groom) was a whitewater rafting guide for a few years at The Rush South Whitewater Express. This park on the Chattahoochee is the longest urban whitewater rafting spot in the world.  They also have a zip line course that spans the river.  If you do the course you will go from Columbus, Ga into Phoenix City, AL and back again. 

Patrick  had arranged for out-of-town family members to do the zip line course.  We opted out of the zip lining but did head over there to catch up with Doug (Dan's friend and father of the groom) and Tammy (mother of the groom) and watch some of the family zip across the river.

Afterwards Dan and I walked more of the Riverwalk and headed across a pedestrian bridge to Alabama. (This was my first time in Alabama!)

 

After our walk we drove to Ft. Benning.  Dan was stationed there at the very beginning of his time in the Army and completed his infantry training and Ranger school there.  Unfortunately, they weren't letting anyone on the base without a special pass due to COVID.  Dan also really wanted to tour the National Infantry Museum  which, sadly, was also closed due to COVID.

We then headed to lunch at the Dinglewood Pharmacy. It's a full service pharmacy and soda shop that's been in business since 1918 and they are the home of the Scrambled Hotdog.  We read about it in a guidebook and decided we needed to find out what it was.

The pharmacy was closed on Saturday afternoon but the place was packed with people eating lunch.  We ordered a scrambled dog and were not disappointed.

The scrambled dog is served in a banana split dish.  They take a hot dog bun and open it up and lay it in the dish. Then they chop up a couple of hot dogs and sprinkle them over the bun.  Then they ladle on a bunch of their special chili and top it with pickles and oyster crackers.  We got ours "all the way" which meant they added cheese and onions.  It was a delicious mess of food!  We couldn't go to Columbus with out trying this local specialty and I'm glad we did.

After lunch we took another walk through the quaint downtown, found a rooftop bar and enjoyed a drink outside in the beautiful weather.

Then we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the 6:00 pm wedding. The invitation said the wedding was formal so women should be in an evening gown, cocktail dress, or formal pantsuit and men should be in a tux or a solid dark colored suit.

I'm wearing a sleeveless pantsuit with a sheer wrap (to cover the old lady arms) and Dan is wearing a black suit.  I thought we looked pretty good!  My pantsuit felt dressy enough for the occasion (especially with the wrap) and there is a small chance that since it's a pantsuit instead of an evening gown that I might, at some point, be able to wear it again. It also had slits up the side of each leg and when I crossed my legs, I looked like I came to party!  (Which may or may not be a good thing!)  :) It also had pockets which I loved.

The wedding and the reception were across the street in the convention center. The wedding space was lovely with all the chairs spaced apart to allow for social distancing. There were a lot of twinkle lights and it felt very romantic.  They had an artist doing a live painting of the ceremony as it was happening and then she finished it during the reception.  I thought that was a really cool touch.

The wedding ceremony was sweet and simple and before I knew it, we were in another part of the convention center having drinks and appetizers and then dinner.  It was all very lovely and I'm so glad we were able to attend.

Here's a picture of the happy couple.  Aren't they so cute?

 

I regret not getting a picture of Dan and Doug but they were busy talking and catching up and sadly I didn't even think about it until the next morning.

We had a great weekend away celebrating a new marriage and an old friendship and I'm so glad we were able to make the trip.