And when the serious photos were over, Cathy and Caroline did the fun photos. I don't know how many times we said, "1, 2, 3, GO!" and the two of them jumped up on "Go!" We didn't catch them in the air very often, but it was a lot of fun to watch the two of them jumping around.
After all that good food (Cathy and Steve spent years finding the best barbecue in the DC metropolitan area and had their reception catered by their favorite) and great music and great fun, the party really was over. But we did stop to take unofficial family photos. Here are Steve and Cathy with their 3 children.
And here's that mother/daughter, bride/maid of honor pair:
The official band for the reception was the Buck Creek Jazz Band. They were fabulous! During their very long break (as requested by the bride and groom), Cathy and Steve's musician friends performed, including their own Jazz Band that they co-founded "Jefferson Street Strutters"
And Steve is in a Russian balailaka band, The Washington Balalika Society, and some of those folks came and performed.
At one point in the evening, The Buck Creek Band and the Jefferson Street Strutters joined forces and played together. Here's Cathy on tuba with her bouquet, jamming with the bands. At the end of their wedding ceremony, the trumpet, keyboardist, and banjo player played "When the Saints Go Marching In" while Steve and Cathy walked down the aisle. Much to everyone's surprise, they walked down the aisle and straight over to the band where Steve picked up his clarinet and Cathy picked up her tuba and they joined in the music. It was very appropriate for the two of them. This is what Cathy looked like at the wedding as well as at the reception.
Dad Stieff and Mom Stieff! Cathy's parents are still as fun and as vivacious as they were when I first met them 30 years ago!
Hollins women were the first on the dance floor (thanks to Betsey) and got things rolling.
The wedding was wonderful! And now we're at the reception which was held at the Arlington Arts Center. At 4:30 there was a power outage and the wedding started at 5:00. We were among the first to arrive at the reception and the power was still out, but very soon thereafter, it came back on and there were no problems after that.
Here's Cathy's dad giving a toast.
Here's Caroline, Cathy's daughter, giving a toast.
Steve's two sons gave toasts as well. That's them to the right of Caroline. Both boys said how happy their dad has been since he's met Cathy.
Ah, the parade! This is a Reunion tradition that I love. Each class marches together behind their banner and usually wearing something that is fitting to their year or to their reunion. Our banner is the best, but then it was designed by Judy Wild, so of course it would be great.
Here are our classmates gathering. We're donning our beanies. After much discussion, we all agreed that we started that tradition our freshman year . . . on purpose! We ordered these beanies for our first Tinker Day. At the 5 year reunion, Alexandria ordered a new, replacement batch so that we can always match at the parade. Additionally, the white sunglasses are part of our parade attire. They say "Hollins College" on one ear piece and "Class of 1978" on the other.
Alexandria brought her niece and a friend of her niece to reunion so they agreed to carry our banner.
What kind of parade would it be without a marching band? The local high school sends over a small contingent to play "When the Saints Go Marching In" and head up the parade.
Here's the 65th Reunion gang:
The 60th Reunion Class:
These group was the 50th Reunion class when we were the 25th Reunion class. They are still partying hardy at their 55th reunion.
Here's the 50th Reunion Class. Their aprons say, "50th...and still stirring" and yes those are wooden spoons in their hands.
Class of 1963. They had those banners with their yearbook photos made themselves. None of the other classes have that. ;=_
Tie-Dye shirts are certainly appropriate for the class of 1968 celebrating their 40th Reunion.
This is the class of 1998. Each class stands on the sidelines until the parade passes them and then they join it. That way everyone sees all the classes. This 10 year reunion class had t-shirts made with a string of pearls imprinted right on it. How clever! This is the class that at their 5 year reunion, they all wore bridesmaids dresses because that was all they had been doing for 5 years and they couldn't afford anything else.
And the parade ends at the chapel where we all gather for remarks from the 25th and 50th reunion classes, announcements, and awards. It's a great kickoff to reunion, or in our case, the 6 of us leaving immediately after to get to Cathy's wedding, it was a great ending to reunion.
Back in the day, we were the early breakfast crowd. Add Kennan and a few others to the mix but there was a group of us that were at breakfast when the doors opened. The mailmen knew which ones we were, too, and would make sure our mail was always in the boxes first. We'd stop and get our mail on the way to breakfast and then read it and usually share it with each other over breakfast. And here we are, 30 years later, among the first for breakfast.
After the picnic and bluegrass concert, we all headed up to Faculty Road to Jan's house (our classmate is the chaplain at Hollins and she lives on campus) for "a reception". I can't say it enough, "Some are good but we are great! We're the class of 78!" Good friends, good times.
How great is it to come back to reunion and get to see one of the bookstore ladies or dining services folks that you remember? Hollins is the kind of community where you literally knew everyone. This is Bertie Mayes who worked in the bookstore. We had an additional bond, her son Jimmy was in the class where I did my student teaching. We reminisced about Mrs. Allen, my supervising teacher, who was waiting for an adoption and got a baby girl when I'd only been there two or three weeks. So I was thrust into the full-time teaching gig earlier than expected. Bertie told me the story of how Jimmy woke up her and her husband at 2:00 in the morning all upset because "today is Miss Overall's last day and I have to get her a present." Bertie called her boss, Mrs. Pillow that morning and explained why she would be late, and then she and Jimmy went to Kroger, the only store open at that hour, and picked out a rose for Jimmy to give to me. She said that for years to come after that, he always compared his other teachers to Miss Overall. Wow. Pretty cool story to hear 30 years later!
It's not the official one, but it's even better because everyone is in it. 19 of us made it back for Reunion. Lynn Anne had to leave on a 6am flight Saturday morning to get a niece's graduation, Cathy was leaving in the morning for her wedding, and 6 others were leaving after the parade to get to Cathy's wedding, so Friday night was the only time we were all together. This is on the back quad where the big picnic with live bluegrass music was held.
Frontish Row, L to R: Happy, Holly, Dot, Melissa, Betsy, Anne
Sitting on right wall, L to R: Lynn Ann, Cathy, Margaret
Backish Row, L to R: Me, Jan, Sherri, Judy, Alexandria, Judy, Robin, Betsey, Sarah (purple dress), Susanne (orange blouse)
Though the golf carts are probably intended for older alumnae than us, Cathy, Betsey, and I took advantage of the service to get from Tinker (on the far end of Back Quad) to Beale Garden (behind the Admin. Building on the far end of Front Quad) for the first event of the evening. There was only room for 1 passenger per cart, so Cathy is riding in the seat, Betsey is standing on the back, and I'm riding in the cart behind them.
We showered and changed and almost felt human, though Judy took a nap which was probably wiser than going to a wine tasting event. Oh well. You only get to your 30th reunion once.
Jan dropped us off at The Alumnae House when you first enter campus where we checked in for Reunion. Then we had one last hike to make and that was across the Front Quadrangle. In this picture, East Dormitory is behind us and we are facing West Dorm. Are we having fun yet? Yes, this is what it was all about.
And then, as if we had choreographed it, three of our classmates, Judy D., Sherri, and Alexandria, came walking out of Main Building, spotted us, and came running across campus. They had heard we were going to do this but couldn't believe we really did it. What great timing!
L to R: Judy D., Alexandria, Cathy, Betsy, Judy W., Me, Sherri
Here we are in the Green Drawing Room. Miss Mattie is either smiling or turning over in her grave. A young woman certainly wouldn't have been backpacking in her day nor would she have been seen in public in this attire. But we did!
Our class was assigned to Tinker 2A . . . here we are in our dorm hallway. For sentimental reasons, it would've been nice to have been assigned East or West dorms but for nice showers and air conditioning (and an elevator to the second floor), Tinker was probably just the right assignment for this year's reunion.
At 3:26 we left Tinker Creek and we all walked at my pace to stay together for the last bit. At 3:46 we arrived at the end of our journey. Here we are at the gas station waiting for Jan to come pick us up. While waiting, we saw many of our hiking friends, including Fizz and Hoot, who had already arrived in Danville, checked into their hotels, and were either going or coming to the grocery store. It was a great reunion and a great celebration.
That's Fizz in the middle. She's going to call me when she gets to Maine, too!
The book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek was published in 1974, the year before we arrived at Hollins. Its author, Annie Dillard, was a Hollins graduate and the book went on to win a Pulitzer Prize. Though we are less than a mile from the end of our journey, we stop at Tinker Creek to refill our water bottles and soak our tired feet in the cool waters of Tinker Creek.
Notice in this picture that I am not wearing a pack and Cathy has on my pack. She and Betsey got to the creek and then she came back to "be my Sherpa" to help me get to the end (and to help all of us get to Reunion before it was over...or so it felt).
Wow. It's 9.6 miles behind us since we stopped at Tinker Cliffs yesterday.
This is Cathy, the bride, with a bouquet of mountain laurel.
A little while ago we were up where that top power line pole is!
Though this welcome sign and map are pointed towards southbound hikers and we're about to get off, it's nice to be officially welcomed and to see where we've been.
We've been across the top of those mountains! On the far right is the uphill slope that we walked for a mile the first night, then you see the dip and a bigger mountain top--that's where McAfee Knob is. Then keep going to the left and you can't see how we got here, but see that little bit of water in the lower left corner of the picture? That's Carvin's Cove that we've been walking around the whole time. It's unbelievable that we've actually walked across those mountain tops!
Here's how GORP describes where we've walked from the beginning to McAfee Knob:
From the parking lot, cross VA 311 and pick up the AT at a stone stairwell. This road is a main thoroughfare between Roanoke and Blacksburg. Use extreme caution. The AT begins an immediate, steep ascent, leaving the highway behind as it crosses up a wide old woods road. In early spring, the area is abloom with a variety of wildflowers including violets, dwarf iris, buttercups, and lady's-slipper. In April, the trees are dotted with the bright red blooms of the redbuds. Rhododendron, dogwood, and blueberry bushes also make the area green and colorful.
A series of switchbacks brings the trail to the crest of a narrow ridge. As the AT passes over the top of the ridge, there are steep drop-offs to the left and the right. To the north, Catawba Valley sprawls below, scattered with rustic farmhouses and open green pastures. To the right, mountains rise in the distance.
Continuing its climb through a forest of young Virginia pine and hickory, the trail gets narrower and rockier as it leaves the old woods road and follows the ridge. After 0.25 mi. of steep, uphill hiking, the AT dips slightly, reaching an AT bulletin board and registration post. A scan of some of the comments in the registry from hikers returning from the knob will increase your anticipation of the sights ahead. Beyond this checkpoint, the trail cuts to the right and begins a slight descent. Don't get used to the easy gait—you're in for some mighty steep uphill climbs ahead.
We had gorgeous views all over the place today. Here's one of many views we had of Carvin's Cove:
Betsey says this is her favorite photo of the whole trip. It's definitely not mine. ;-)
This is mountain laurel. We must've been hiking on THE peak day for mountain laurel to be in bloom. It was everywhere and it was spectacular.
