48 and Counting...

On a snowy Friday the 13th in Logan, Utah we started our eternal journey together. I prayed for snow since we didn't get much in Louisiana. I was greatly rewarded with lots of enormous flakes of snow that fell and covered the earth in a wonderful blanket. I considered it a good sign.  

That was 1970. This year we celebrated 48 years together. Claude put together a bit of time for just the two of us. This in itself was a treat. I am usually the one to do all of that. But he took charge and I let go and we had a wonderful time together. 

Claude had a Chamber of Commerce luncheon to attend. He dropped me off at the nursing home to visit Papa while he took care of business. When he picked me up, we were off to Louisville. Over a year ago we participated in a silent auction to raise funds for Bluegrass Tomorrow. We happened to win tickets to the Muhammad Ali Museum and the Frazier Museum, both in Louisville, Kentucky. We had not used those tickets. We were going to use them for our anniversary outing. 

We parked in the garage at the Galt House. Claude made a reservation for us to stay the night there. It was a bit early to check in so we walked through the garage and across the street to the Muhammad Ali Museum. Alas, it was closed on Monday. So we hiked back through the garage and were able to check into our room. Then some quiet time until time for dinner. 

The Galt House is a very large hotel right on the Ohio River. It is really two buildings with a sky walk between them. The larger side is the Suites Tower and the smaller side is the Rivue Tower. I believe that has to be a play on River View. Our room was in the Rivue Tower. We checked in and had dinner on the Suites Tower side. 

Claude made reservations for us to eat at Jeff Ruby's. We could get there without even having to go out on the street. We had a nice table and a nice server. He offered to get us drinks. This is always a cute moment because we don't drink alcohol and one would assume, in today's world, that an anniversary dinner would include alcohol. We had water with lemon wedges. Then he gave us the specials. You know it is very upscale when the servers says to you in a very nonplussed way, "Our special tonight is dinner for two for ONLY $99." We opted to order from the menu. We had appetizers. Mine was a crab cake with tartar sauce with a roasted pepper sauce on the side. Claude had a shrimp cocktail. For dinner I had Scottish salmon. I did ask the server if it came with a kilt on!! Claude chuckled. Claude had a steak. For dessert we each had homemade ice cream. I had vanilla bean and Claude had pistachio. Yum. Very elegant but very relaxed. A pianist was playing music throughout the evening. We just enjoyed this meal very much.

We slept in Tuesday morning. Then drove down to the Frazier Museum. We had no breakfast. Dinner was keeping us full.

The Frazer Museum is a history museum. Several areas are under construction for their next exhibits. We were able to see The Great War exhibit, the Family Gathering exhibit, the Toy Soldier exhibit and up to the third floor to walk through the Lewis and Clark Experience. 

I was fascinated with a unique mandolin in on of the cases in the World War I exhibit. 

I have seen exhibits of how the Appalachian people made musical instruments out of whatever they had on hand. This mandolin ranks right up there with that exhibit. A mandolin made out of a helmet. Wow!!

I really enjoyed the Family Gathering exhibit. It is photographs taken by Linda Bruckheimer of places in Kentucky. She loves to drive around Kentucky and just stop when she sees a photo op. Her photographs all had fun names. Oh, and she is married the Jerry Bruckheimer, a television and film producer you may have heard of. Here are some of her photographs. Please be sure to check the name she has given each one.

The Brown-Forman Theater is situated between the two rooms with Linda's photographs. Through the day they have 'historic interpretations'. A storyteller in costume does a monologue with actions about a person in history. We saw two while in the Frazer. 

The first was Molly Pitcher. She was a heroine in the Battle of Monmouth during the American Revolution who wasn't as lady-like as you might think. 

The second was titled The Steamboat Roustabout. It was inspired by the life of steamboat steward and New Albany resident William Harding. This interpretation showed what it might have been like for a slave to attempt an escape across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky to New Albany, Indiana in the 1850's.

Both interpretations were excellent. 

It was a fun afternoon at the Frazier Museum. 

Now it was time for lunch. Dinner from the night before was definitely gone and it was time to refuel. What to do, what to do. I asked the young man in the gift shop if he had any recommendations. He shared his local favorites within walking distance. We stood outside and talked and decided Claude would take me to the intersecton of Hwy 60 and The Snyder to the Yang Kee Noodle restaurant. Bailey took him there for his birthday present. He loved it and thought I would also. Claude had noodles and I had a fried rice dish. They were excellent as well. They were having repairs done on their ice machine on top of their soda machine. The soda part worked but not the ice part. The repairman had a ladder in front of it and was standing on the top leaning over to work on the ice machine portion. He would bring big containers of water and perch on top of the ladder and slowly pour that water into the ice machine. I assured him he was Cirque du Soleil worthy!

After lunch we walked through Hobby Lobby. Claude needed to purchase bird houses for the Young Women at Church to paint. They will be hung outside the residents windows along the front of the nursing home. We found exactly what we needed. Nice use of the extra time we had.

We would end our evening at the Louisville Kentucky Temple. What a lovely way to celebrate our 48 years. We started at the temple and we would end this anniversary at the temple. I loved that. 

This was a lovely anniversary celebration. I shall cherish this time with my hubby for years to come.