![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Scan_20171003-218x300.jpg\")
<\/a>Until the age of 10 I thought Marilyn Monroe was my aunt.<\/strong>\u00a0 Our Uncle Dick had a deep and abiding love for Marilyn.\u00a0 So much so that he bought a life-size poster<\/strong> of her to hang in the cabin at Lake Tahoe.\u00a0 As a way to explain why we had a picture of a blonde bombshell in a bikini so prominently displayed, Uncle Dick and my parents tried to sell us kids on the notion that she was our aunt – therefore, it was a family<\/em> picture.\u00a0 They didn’t try very hard to sell the idea and my brothers weren’t buying it<\/strong> at all but I wasn’t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed.\u00a0 I was mesmerized by her and, as you can see from the photo, I tried to emulate her when I could.\u00a0 When she died in 1962 I was on my way to Girl Scout camp for two weeks in the Sierras.\u00a0 The morning paper’s headline screamed “MARILYN MONROE DEAD!”.\u00a0 So while other girls were shrieking with joy about escaping parental supervision for a week, I was bawling my eyes out<\/strong> over the death of my “aunt”. \u00a0\u00a0 Of course, with time, I better understood all of her problems and sexual peccadilloes\u00a0 with the Kennedys but I still admired her glamour and her intelligence (her IQ was 168).\u00a0 Today I channel her every December when I sing the “Happy Birthday” song to my brother in my best Marilyn-to-JFK impression.\u00a0 And, truth being stranger than imagination, I discovered a few years ago that Marilyn Monroe is also a descendant<\/strong> of Mayflower passengers John Alden and Priscilla Mullins.\u00a0 So, she actually IS my aunt – just 15 times removed!<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
But our common ancestry is not the only thing that Marilyn and I have in common.\u00a0 She filmed the movie\u00a0Bus Stop\u00a0<\/em>in <\/p>\n All I know is – I’m sure glad Aunt Marilyn isn’t alive to see this<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Suzanne Sparrow Watson Until the age of 10 I thought Marilyn Monroe was my aunt.\u00a0 Our Uncle Dick had a deep and abiding love for Marilyn.\u00a0 So much so that he bought a life-size poster of her to hang … read more![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Marilyn-at-the-Ram-202x300.jpg\")
<\/a> and around Sun Valley, Idaho during the winter of 1956 and frequented The Ram restaurant<\/strong>.\u00a0 The Ram is our favorite place to hang out and is the oldest operating restaurant in Sun Valley.\u00a0 Over the years stars from Gary Cooper<\/strong> and Clark Gable<\/strong> to modern media titans Oprah<\/strong> and Mark Zuckerberg <\/strong>have dined there. The photo (right) was taken of Marilyn on the night before the\u00a0Bus Stop<\/em> company left Idaho to return to Los Angeles.\u00a0 As you can see, Marilyn wasn’t<\/strong> afraid to partake<\/strong> in the local cuisine.\u00a0 No rabbit food for her – she tucked into a steak and baked potato like a truck driver.\u00a0 Apparently she loved to eat, which is just another reason to adore her.\u00a0 At the time she was criticized for wearing such a “manly” sweater, as if Marilyn could look “manly” in anything.\u00a0 But there may have been a good reason for her bundling up – shortly after her return to Los Angeles she was hospitalized for 12 days with pneumonia.\u00a0 She blamed her illness on having to wear skimpy clothing in the heart of an Idaho winter.\u00a0 Still, Bus Stop <\/em>turned out to be one of her best performances. \u00a0<\/strong>Today one can drive a bit north of Sun Valley to visit the North Fork Store<\/strong> (named Grace’s Diner for the film) where Marilyn performed her magic.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/2017-09-21-10.35.31-300x169.jpg\")
For the past 29 years, we have traveled to Sun Valley in September and have had dinner at The Ram.\u00a0 In fact, because our anniversary is at the end of August, we usually save our special celebration dinner<\/strong> for The Ram.\u00a0 The photo (left) was taken on our 25th anniversary.\u00a0 The food is always good and they even have a cocktail named after Marilyn.\u00a0 Whether sitting inside in the old-fashioned booths with the antler chandeliers<\/strong> or outside on the beautiful terrace overlooking the duck pond, The Ram has always provided great atmosphere and a feeling of history. \u00a0Larry Harshbarger, who has been playing the piano at The Ram since 1979 always accommodates our requests<\/strong>.\u00a0 It is an evening we anticipate with joy each year.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/2017-09-27-14.56.29-e1507134064597-225x300.jpg\")
<\/a>This year we marked 30 years of marriage<\/strong> in August so for this special occasion we planned on a romantic dinner at The Ram, listening to Larry and enjoying a Marilyn cocktail.\u00a0 On our first day in Sun Valley we walked up to the restaurant and were greeted with a boarded up fa\u00e7ade<\/strong>. The Ram and the adjacent areas are being renovated for the next three months.\u00a0 According to the information posted on the fence, The Ram’s interior will be gutted and modernized.\u00a0 The only remnant of the past will be the antler chandeliers.\u00a0 The “new and improved” Ram will feature an open kitchen<\/strong>.\u00a0 I hate open kitchens.\u00a0 Isn’t the whole reason for going out to dinner is so you DON’T see a kitchen?\u00a0 I want my meal to appear as if by magic, in the arms of a waiter who bursts through swinging doors carrying a tray filled with plated food.\u00a0 Open kitchens, in my experience, render conversation with your table mates nearly impossible.\u00a0 The clanging of pans, shouting of sous chefs and the occasional dropped silverware all conspire to make a cacophony of sound with decibel levels near that of a jackhammer.\u00a0 So I don’t know what I hate more – that The Ram is being renovated or that it will now feature an open kitchen.<\/p>\n