Last night a groups of over 25 friends gathered together to celebrate the birthday of one our favorite people and hiking companions, Barbara Allen. Will Skelton hosted drink, appetizer and dessert affair and I must say, the food was delicious! We last celebrated Barbara’s birthday in 2006 (click on link)
https://smithposts.com/2006/01/can-you-believe-it-our-longtime-friend.html
with several of the same people. The 2006 affair was a surprise party. Unfortunately, we did not think we could pull another one over on Barbara so we didn’t try.
I think I have everyone pictured below. If not, I apologize, the rest of my photos will be on Picasa soon.
Host Will Skelton and the birthday girl. They have been hiking together over 20 years!
Ron Shrieves arriving at the party, followed by his wife, Ginger and hiker extraordinaire, Steve Harvey
BJ Perlack and Priscilla Watts
Ron setting up the slide presentation that he and Will had pulled together….20 years of hiking with Barbara!
The photos started another round of story telling, which resulted in lots of laughter! Even the dangerous and risky stuff becomes a funny tale when looking back.
From the left: John, Steve Harvey, Bill Adams, Silke Hecht
Lighting the candles on the cupcakes
From left: Ron Shrieves, Robin Ferguson, Kim Robinetter (almost hidden), Will Skelton and Barbara
At this point, the cupcakes are lite and Will is making the first of a number of birthday wishes and toasts to Barbara. Everyone is keeping one eye on the cupcakes and one eye on the group. In the back of everyone’s mind? Can we get through the speeches before the cupcakes catch on fire???!!!
From left: Gary Cox, Steve Dyer, Terri Cox, Kim Robinette, Bob Hill, Ron Shrieves, Robin Ferguson
Barbara opening a present with BJ to her left. Behind them is Bob Perlack. Sitting on the couch between John and Robin is Linda Morrison.
The Smith-Dunlap family
As I looked over the group in the room last night, all talking, laughing and celebrating, it occurred to me that our lives are forever bound together by so many shared adventures on the trail. Among this diverse group is a lawyer, a couple of veterinarians, several small business owners, several scientists, a professor, a retired military officer (female no less!), a nutritionist, a retired nurse (early retired :-), a retired school teacher, a retired engineer, a secretary or two and a couple of stay at home moms Some of us have traveled around the globe together, even more have traveled to the far reaches of the North American continent together. All of us have scrambled up mountains or backpacked deep in the forest together and lived to re-hash the stories together, over and over and over…I could have listened all night! Happy Birthday Barbara! It is an honor to call you friend. I hope this year will be your best yet!
