2 weeks since the last post! While I want to add more as I go, when I'm visiting friends and family, I often don't get back until late and so have those visits as a priority. But let's talk about what's happened since I last posted ...
After a wonderful few days with Shelley and Steve, and Candy and Keith, Shelley and I drove to Denver together. We left later than planned (shock!), and then stopped in Oakley, KS where there is a huge statue of Buffalo Bill (Jones). That's important because he was very influential in my hometown of Garden City, but also because of his efforts to save the buffalo (a herd he had in Garden City), he was able to give a lot of them to parks, including Yellowstone, and is responsible in large part for increasing herds across the country.
While we were in Denver, we had lunch with my cousin Treva and her husband Homer and their son Steve. Lady pulled her "Cujo" with their dog, but after a few minutes wanted to play, and was so "enthusiastic" that their dog, Bailey, finally found a place to hide from her! Treva and I caught up on some family memories of reunions in Adams, Ok. My grandmother (Lona Belle) and Treva's mother (Nellie) were sisters - in a family of 16 children, 13 of whom lived to adulthood. We used to have family reunions every summer around my great-Grandmother (Florida Jane's) birthday. Often there were over 100 people there ranging in age from newborn to 80's or 90's. A favorite activity each year was the auction where people brought anything and everything from sandhill plum jelly to costume jewelry to sell. A great uncle and a couple of cousins were auctioneers for a living, so made for a lively evening. Those were a very special part of my childhood, and it was great to share those memories.
I got Shelley to the airport on time on Monday morning, though the light for low tires kept coming on and I couldn't figure out how to get them aired up (I know how, but the machines they have everywhere were a mystery to me). As it turned out, I had a screw in one of the tires, and I'm not sure why the 6 tire places nearby all had a 2 - 3 hour wait for a fix, but it delayed my leaving. The nice thing is that there was no charge (but I tipped Veronica who fixed it), and Lady and I set off for a night in Rock Springs, WY. From there, on Tuesday, we headed to Elko, NV and on Wed evening we got to the Bay Area near San Francisco. They were 3 long days of travel, and each night we were exhausted - then had to get up and do it again. But it was the only way to get to San Francisco!
Because all of the friends I wanted to visit lived in Oakland or nearby, we stayed at the Double Tree at the Berkeley Marina. Very nice - but the road to get there was in such disrepair that it made the road into camp seem like a paved highway!! I'm posting a picture below of the marina. We had a view of the parking lot, but it didn't bother us. Two funny stories from there: My room had a small patio where I went out. One morning I saw a woman leaving out of the room a couple patios down - carrying an overnight bag and her shoes, and climbing over the patio wall. Hmmm ... Then the following evening a young man was out on the patio next to mine looking very frustrated. Apparently, when he closed the sliding glass door, the security bar accidentally fell and he couldn't get back in. He had the room key, but had bolted the door before he went out to the patio! The maintenance guy was there for about a half hour before he gave up - the person who had the tool to get the bolt unlatched wasn't on duty until the next day, so they had to give the poor kid another room for the night - with none of his stuff with him. Better to have observed than have it happen to me!
Next post(s) will be my California visits in Oakland (San Francisco), Los Angeles (Orange County) and San Diego. After that will be Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and current. Hope to get those done sooner than this one!
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