A Not-So-Quick Overview of Our Circuit Vacation

On Tuesday, August 15, we set out for a “circuit” vacation to visit friends and family traveling nearly 3500 miles through 7 states (Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Utah) in 18 days. Our trip was structured to make sure we didn’t travel too far in between stops … and to make sure no one asked “are you ever leaving?” The longest we stayed anywhere was 3 days with my brother Larry in Seattle, but he didn’t seem to mind.

Our first stop was at the Riverside National Cemetery to “visit” my mom and dad who are buried there. We spent the night with Dave and Janene Bills (my mother’s former bishop and her visiting teacher) with whom we enjoyed dinner out and breakfast before we headed for Fresno on our second day.

In Fresno (Day 3) we stayed with sister-in-law Charlene Sappington, visited her “kids” Tiffany and Bob Nelson and their family of 7 kids (Bob has been named Superintendent of the Fresno School District, the 4^th largest SD in California); and, Tyson at his place of work and later at his home where we finally met his wife Tanya. The next day we drove to Sequoia National Park where we traveled the Generals’ Highway. (That would be the Generals' Sherman and Grant … in this social climate, it might be destroyed by agitators before we get back down there!) In the afternoon, the three of us enjoyed lunch together then saw “The Glass Castle” at the theater.

On Day 5, we traveled to Sonoma (about 250 miles) arriving in the evening of August 18 – EJ’s birthday (well, Larry and David’s special day, too). On Saturday, we spent the day showing Kris around her community, including a visit to the Petaluma Adobe, the working ranch of General Vallejo of Central California fame; and, Vallejo's Sonoma home which Kris had never seen. It was a really fun day with our daughter. On Sunday, we attended our Sonoma ward then drove to the beach (although we didn’t ever find a beach we could walk to … bummer). We also enjoyed a short visit with Tylre and her adorable little boy Memo, but missed Jaeson who was on call.

On Monday, August 21, we traveled nearly 600 miles on our way to Dallas, OR to visit my cousin Judy McAlpine and to see the first full eclipse in 99 years. Sadly we didn’t make it to the 73-mile ribbon where the eclipse was expected to be 100%. Still we were able to see it at about 91%. Kris didn’t see anything since her skies were filled with smoke from all the fires burning in the American west, including California, Utah, Montana, Oregon and Washington.  The following day, we loaded into Judy’s car and drove to Depoe Bay, OR where we were successful in finding the beach!

On Day 9, we traveled to Olympia, WA where we enjoyed lunch with 6 of my (originally 17) cousins (on my dad's side of the family) and the last remaining of my dad’s brothers and sisters at a nice restaurant. My Aunt Coral is 97-years-old and still beautiful. We had planned to spend the night in Seattle, but my cousin June Wheeler enticed me to travel back to their home in Longview, WA with a notebook filled with family history created by my (deceased) Aunt Leodice (my dad’s oldest sister). It was a delightful visit and she gave me the book to study and make copies “as long as you send it back to me.”

Our two days with Larry in Seattle included a tour of the airplane museum, a visit to the famous “Pike Place Fish Market” - packed to the gills (pardon the pun) on this weekday - and, a ride on the Seattle Wheel (so fun!), dinner at a nice restaurant and lots of good conversation. The following day, we met up with our former missionary companions, Marty and BJ Summers, at a downtown park where he was a member of an Alphorn group promoting their community of Leavenworth, WA before we traveled to their home.

We enjoyed a tour of their delightful little German town / Bavarian village, had dinner then enjoyed getting caught up with these wonderful friends with whom we shared many memories of our time in Guyana. The following day, BJ took Ed up in his airplane followed by a tour of their beautiful scenery.

The second longest day on the road was traveling from Leavenworth, WA to Anaconda, MT to visit KT, Josh and their 3 adorable daughters – Adyn, 9; Skylar, 6 and Thoryn, almost 3 – on the day before the two oldest kids started school. It was fun to see everyone, although “seeing” was a bit of a problem because of the terrible smoke in the air due to numerous wildfires raging in the area.

On our way home, we spent the night with our good friends Stan and Diane Blackett in Logan, UT. Enjoyed dinner and a movie with them, then drove the last 300+ miles home to St. George (feeling bad to have missed seeing Kelly and Gary, Michael and Jessica, and Simeon and Stephanie … all busy elsewhere).

All-in-all, we had a delightful and restful 18 days on the road … enjoyed seeing 2 daughters, my brother, 7 cousins, Charlene's family and some of our favorite friends. Don’t know if we’ll have the stamina to do it again, but who knows!

My Name Sake

It was no secret my mother did not particularly like my father’s family, almost from the beginning of their marriage.  When Dad left for service in World War II just a few short months before I was born my parents had yet to decide on a name.  In their written communications (long before the internet), Mother proposed “Peggy Sue” as my name, but Dad countered with “Linda Carol” which my mother agreed was a good name since Linda was popular at the time and her mother’s middle name was Carol.  

At a Thanksgiving dinner about 40 years later, Mother retold the story of how I was named after her mother, but my father said matter-of-factly, “no, she was named after my mother.”  We all looked blankly at him.  What was he talking about?  His mother’s name was Elsie Werner.  “That’s right,” he responded in his usual quiet voice, “…. LC.”

Needless to say, my mother was furious so their trip was cut short!!!!