The Dinosaur Wedding

      I  took another break from writing (been doing that a lot lately) to attend our son's unique dinosaur wedding in Minnesota. I've often said I love long road trips. We elected to drive from Louisiana to Minneapolis for the event, three solid days on the road through Dallas traffic, the bleak central landscapes of Oklahoma and Kansas, and the corn fields of Iowa. Travel differed a little from the pre-Covid years. We wore our masks at every rest stop, often ate outside because the places we stopped had drive-up only service, and discovered that our rooms were not made up every day to limit contact between guests and staff. Soap containers were wall mounted in the showers. I am sure both saved the hotels lots of money, too. Need TP? Make a trip to the desk to ask for more. And sadly, our favorite rest stop on the Iowa border no longer offered pie and coffee. We did find some fine little family restaurants, an Amish-themed rest stop, and one small dinosaur museum along the way to make up for that.

     The wedding took place in a park on a terrace overlooking a beautiful lake. The Officiant arrived in full riding a dinosaur costume. Attendants carried bouquets of tropical leaves with small dinosaurs in the foliage and the centerpieces were planters of succulents and cactus creating a Jurassic landscape for more dinos. The bride made them all. After the bride and groom said their hand-written vows, they demonstrated their union by pouring two ingredients into a science project volcano, causing it to erupt. While pictures were being taken (did I mention the bride looked stunning in a long emerald green gown), the guests were treated to a show with live raptors, hawks and an owl.

     We dined indoors with appropriately spaced tables seating family or friend groups and after eating enjoyed a fabulous cup cake buffet with four choices. I was sorry to limit myself to one, a chocolate and red velvet combo. While pre-recorded music played, guests enjoyed a variety of games from giant Jenga on which they were encouraged to write messages to the bridge and groom, Connect Four, and corn hole on the terrace which also had smore making station. Guests could have their photos take with a charging T-Rex, and several tried on one of the three dinosaur costumes and took to the dance floor. Truly, I haven't had such a great time in years.

     Those invited were limited to fifty, sixty with the wedding party. Masks were available, and the couple called all who attended several days later to make sure no one had contracted Covid. None did in highly vaccinated Minnesota. We'd had our shots. Who would have thunk it? Vaccinations work.

     Took me a week after to settle down and do more work on Edie's Sinner, the next Sinners book. Meanwhile, The Bad Boy Sinner, edits finally finished, joined the publication queue for a release sometime next year. Lion in the Heather, the next Longleigh chronicle is due out in January.