We have just returned from our annual whirlwind trip to the Bay Area for an early Thanksgiving holiday with our California kids and grands.
Our first stop (after a quick scrapbook stop at Archiver's in Orem) was in Salt Lake City where we attended their second annual Marine Corps Birthday Ball at the Marriott Downtown. There were approximately 525 people in attendance, including General John Kelly who was the guest speaker. (Two days later, General Kelly lost one of his two Marine sons who were in Afghanistan.) We saw many people we knew (Ray Bachiller had invited us) and met more new friends. We stayed at that hotel overnight. Here is a Shutterfly link to our photos from that evening. (Copy and Paste)
http://2010slcball.shutterfly.com/
Our overall auto trip consisted of close to 1700 miles. Needless to say, I still have white center lines running through my head. We stopped overnight in Winnemucca, NV the day after the ball which was half way to Auburn, California where my daughter lives. It was very chilly, raining and threatening snow. After leaving Winnemucca for our drive across Utah and Nevada, we did run into snow. The roads were scary slushy, but fortunately it didn't last too long before we were out of it. We made a quick stop in Wendover where Bill "toured" the Historic Wendover Airfield.
A stop in Auburn for three nights is always a pleasure with two precious grand girls. Grammy got a scrapbooking trip at Green Tangerines and a fun time at the Roseville Galleria (which had recently had an unfortunate arson incident). Lots of yummy food is always on the agenda in Auburn.
The sixth day was a trip to San Rafael, CA for a visit to my thyroid specialist who, much to my delight, is increasing my meds so one of these days I may actually be feeling good again!! We drove to Mill Valley for dinner with Bill's son Mark and his family (and my son Jay from Alameda joined us). It's always so much fun to hear our children talking about their children's antics - sounds somehow familiar.
That night we "moved" to my son's home in Alameda. They live in a restored Victoria (in my daughter-in-law's family for years) on which my son is the chief contractor. He's done such a marvelous job with the house, which is still a work in progress. This home was the home in which our Thanksgiving dinner was held this year (the kids rotate that duty). We had 10 adults and 8 children so it was a lively time, with tons of food and laughter. We are blessed with such a great family.
Sunday morning was a trip to Danville for church services at our former church and breakfast at the Rising Loafer, a favorite Sunday breakfast haunt for us "back then." Then we headed down to Los Altos to visit with referred clients of Bill's whom we had not yet met in person. What a lovely gracious couple. Interestingly, their name is Park - a name I am researching for my maternal line.
The 5th stop was our usual "half way home" stop in Bakersfield. After Bakersfield, we stopped in Las Vegas to check out an errant headlight glitch on the car - turned out to be nothing (supposedly), but we took the chance for a light supper at Claim Jumper at Town Square in Vegas and got home at 9:20 p.m. Utah time.
So now you know why we call it a whirlwind - 5 different beds in 10 days and 1600+ miles. We're still zombies and hope that our colds are short lived.
http://2010slcball.shutterfly.com/
The sixth day was a trip to San Rafael, CA for a visit to my thyroid specialist who, much to my delight, is increasing my meds so one of these days I may actually be feeling good again!! We drove to Mill Valley for dinner with Bill's son Mark and his family (and my son Jay from Alameda joined us). It's always so much fun to hear our children talking about their children's antics - sounds somehow familiar.
So now you know why we call it a whirlwind - 5 different beds in 10 days and 1600+ miles. We're still zombies and hope that our colds are short lived.
