Our first date… or should I say Marathon.

We made our way into the Tamastslikt Cultural Center Institute. In the lobby we looked at the exhibits and chatted with the attendant on duty. Jeff asked him to take a photo of us together – the first of many over the course of our relationship. Being a journalist, Jeff in well accustomed to documenting events, gatherings, journeys and our first date was no exception.

As with our letters and phone calls, our in-person visit was quite involved too. We chatted all the way through the Tamastslikt Museum, the art gallery and the gift shop. These venues were each of great interest to us, but apparently no match for our wish to communicate and share with each other. While in the gift shop, Jeff made sure that I chose something so that I would have ‘a souvenir of our first date’ – I chose a beautiful coffee/tea cup. Every time I use that cup I remember that wonderful time, and I am so glad that my journalist urged me to allow him to get me something.

After the museum, gallery and gift shop, we went to brunch. This, my friends was no ordinary brunch… oh, I am not talking about the grand selection of food or the delightful surroundings and views we had – oh, no, I am talking about the conversation. Can you believe; we still had more things to communicate and share – one topic lead to another and another. We finally decided we had better leave, after we got another photo taken, of course. After all, we had been there for about three/three and one-half hours.

And… we were not done yet. Since we live 90 miles apart and had such great weather, Jeff suggested we go into town and go on the River Walk. We each drove our own cars to Pendleton and I followed Jeff to a parking lot near the Umatilla River. We walked down the river a ways, walked up the hill to a residential part of town to see one of the homes he live in while in college and to get another view of the city. Then we walked back down the hill and resumed our River Walk. There we shared a beautiful afternoon. The sound of the river, the gentle breeze, the beautiful trees and birds… and the Great Blue Heron that flew along the river, then circled back – Jeff describes this better than I, but I do remember this and hopefully always will. We’d walk for a while, sit on one of the many benches or on some rocks closer to the river, we took more photos (duh, that should be expected of two photographers.) The sun was then going down and the air bringing on a chill. We got back to our cars and decided we needed some tea, coffee or hot chocolate to warm ourselves up… so we took off for a nearby restaurant……….yes, more of this marathon!