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05-31-22 Tuesday Pismo State Beach, Oceano Campground

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05-31-22 Tuesday Pismo State Beach, Oceano Campground Jeeps in Parking Lot: 5 Drive Time: 0 Miles: 0 Arrived: 0 We had cereal for breakfast this morning. Jan brought over watermelon after so I’m going to have some as a snack later. I love really cold watermelon. Barry is not a melon person so I get to eat it all myself....YUMMY!.  Barry had to install the AC cover on top of the coach this morning. Last week when he was bringing it home from the service place in San Jose it blew off. Thank goodness it didn’t hit anyone. While he did the installation, I drove down to the beach to get our day pass. It’s like driving from our house to Safeway. If I didn’t have to show our vehicle and license plate, I would have walked. It was a quick trip. I could see some of the flags on the beach and it was crazy windy.  Barry had the installation almost done when I returned. We decided to walk around the pond and do a little exploring. There is a concrete path and some wooden walkways. Nice trail that l

May 2022 Pismo Beach Trip

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05-30-22 Monday Memorial Day Pismo State Beach, Oceano Campground Jeeps in Parking Lot: 3 Drive Time: 4 hours Miles: 232 miles Arrived: 3:00pm We headed out this morning about 9:30am to Pismo Beach. Hooking up with our friends Jan and Ken. We've had this trip planned for a year. Traffic was light. We stopped at this place in Gilroy, The Garlic Farm, to top off our propane tank. We couldn’t find it so drove around a bit and finely did. It was so crowded we just decided to get back on the freeway. Nice drive the rest of the way.  We pulled into our spot, talked to Jan and Ken, then finished setting up camp. Ken and Barry drove next door to buy firewood. The next thing we see is Barry pushing a wheelbarrow of wood to our campsite. Not something Jan and I expected to see. The guy at the store just told them to bring it on over and return the wheelbarrow. Ken came driving up in the jeep, and he took the wheelbarrow back. I was so shocked by the him pushing a wheelbarrow I didn't get

05-23-22 to 05-28-22 First Live Genealogy Conference Since Covid - NGS Conference, Sacramento, CA

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California Genealogical Society (CGS) was the host society for this year’s National Genealogical Society Conference (NGS) in Sacramento, CA. This year’s conference was live, the first one since the pandemic hit. We had over 100 volunteers from our society including me. My friend Lisa and I drove to Sacramento after our writing class on Monday. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency right across from the SAFE Credit Union Conference center. Our accommodations at the Hyatt were nice, and the beds comfy. Our room was on the ninth floor, and we had a great view of the IMAX Theatre across the walkway. Parking was expensive at $25 a day. Conference attendees were either staying at the Hyatt or across the walkway at the Sheraton.  NGS was covid safe in that all attendees had to show proof of vaccinations the first time you enter the conference center and receive a lime green band that was worn all week. In addition, you had to wear a mask at all times when indoors. I didn’t see one person without the

May 9, 2022 Weekly Recap

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JAUNTS Reserved the Lake McSwain Pavilion on July 23rd for our family picnic. It's been 2 years due to Covid.  Hopefully we are able to this year.  Thursday Barry and I had eye appointments and I had a hair cut. In the afternoon I went to Renee's to see Gillan her new bull mastiff puppy. She is adorable and fiesty. I forgot how sharp puppy teeth are and the smell of puppy breath. She got me a few times with her teeth. Later we dropped off the jeep wrangler in Walnut Creek. The back right tire was making this awful noise.  Friday picked up the jeep. All good with it.  Saturday morning attended the CGS board meeting in person. I forgot to turn in my report but no one asked me about it. I'll turn it in April and May next month. We tested the hybrid setup for the meeting and it went well. After I went to visit Gillan again. I brought her a toy peacock and some soft treats. Renee feed me a burrito for lunch.  CLASSES I attended Acalanes Adult Education Writing class, a four week

Week 16 – Theme "Negatives" – 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Conversation with My Aunt Ruby (Archer) Threet

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My 95-year-old Aunt Ruby is in a rehab center after breaking her hip in the past few months. She then broke her femur not long after that. She also developed a hematoma after a nurse accidently knocked her side against a wheelchair. On Friday, 22 April 2022 I saw a photo my cousin Lisa (Aunt Ruby’s youngest daughter) posted on Facebook. She was visiting Aunt Ruby in a rehab center. I saw the photo a few minutes after Lisa posted it and immediately texted her. I wanted to see if we could facetime so I could say hello to Aunt Ruby and ask a few questions about the photo.  The weird thing about this is I was struggling with what to write about this week. The theme, Negatives, was giving me a tough time. I couldn’t come up with anything I wanted to share. This conversation ended up solving my problem. In the genealogy world we call this serendipity. The following reflects the conversation I had with Aunt Ruby. She was in great spirits and instead of dwelling on the negatives that happened

03-21-22 Cloverdale/Healdsburg to Home

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03-21-22 Monday  Cloverdale/Healdsburg KOA to Castro Valley, California Jeeps in Parking Lot: 2 Drive Time: 2.25 Miles: 111.1  Arrived: ~ 2:00 pm Last travel day for our Oregon trip. Of course, the weather on our last day would be beautiful. We didn’t have much to get ready and we were on our way around 11:00 am. We headed up the hill toward the office to use the air compressor for that darn tire. Barry thinks it’s the tire pressure sensor he installed. He installed one on all the tires. He will check when we get home.  Ride was fine down 101 through Santa Rosa. We didn’t hit that much traffic going across the Richmond/San Rafael Bridge, but we did hit rough road all the way home. We say this every time we get into the Bay Area back from a trip, the roads are horrible. Potholes, patches, ridges, uneven pavement, and whatever else. Just don’t know why our roads can’t be fixed.  Made it home and the unpacking process began. Checked all my indoor plants and everyone seemed fine. My orchid

03-20-22 Sunday Cloverdale/Healdsburg Francis Ford Coppola Winery

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03-20-22 Sunday  Cloverdale/Healdsburg KOA, Cloverdale, California Jeeps in Parking Lot: 2 Drive Time: 0 Miles: 0 Arrived: 0 This morning was cold and breezy in the mid 40’s. Both up and showered. Breakfast and planning our day. We decided to start our day at Francis Ford Coppola’s Winery and see what direction we ended up after that. We didn’t make reservations and since there were only two of us, we decided to take our chances.  We were able to get into the restaurant and thank goodness because I was STARVING and about to get hangry! Lil’ Debbie’s and tea for breakfast was not cutting it. George was our waiter and he never wrote anything down. Wine was fabulous and he brought us a small bag that contained two bread donuts, deep fried and sprinkled with salt. We did our best not to order more, so yummy.  I ordered the ½ chicken brick baked with veggies and Barry ordered meatballs + penne in tomato sauce. Both meals were excellent and of course the wine was excellent. I couldn’t eat al