50th Wedding Anniversary Party

On Saturday, we headed out to Wickenburg, AZ (in the pounding rain, passing two wrecks) to help celebrate Katie and Jer's 50th Wedding Anniversary. They met in Las Cruces, New Mexico and after only 5 weeks of courtship, they married.
It was a wonderful evening with all their friends and lots of family. It was held at Charley's Steakhouse, the nicest place in town. The next morning when we went to Denny's for breakfast, we heard the staff all talking about the big party for Katie and Jer the night before and what a great turnout they had!

They had this wonderful photo from 50 years ago. Beautiful!

Jer welcomed everyone and introduced all the family members sitting at the head table.
Then a little story and background and "Jack the Knife" was played and Katie and Jer danced for us all. They were having a great time and you could see the happiness and love between them.


Jer made a little speech, reminiscing and telling his children and grandchildren how proud of them he was. Then he got a little choked up as he told us all how much he loved Katie and how she was his best friend.
The next morning, bright and early, we hit the open road. There was a beautiful sunrise (unfortunately, we didn't get out the camera until it was too late). The desert was alive with light and shadow, and beautiful colors and smells.


I had to get a shot of the saguaro cactus. They are amazing. As soon as you cross the border from California into Arizona, you see them. They seem to like certain places and will grown in their own little neighborhoods. You won't see any for miles and then you'll come across a whole patch of them filling acres and acres. They are native and I believe only grow naturally in Arizona.