Redwood City, CA

On Friday, we drove to Palo Alto to attend the Friday evening reunion dinner party, the first of the planned activities for the Sequoia High School 50th Reunion. It has been 10 years since the last reunion and it was so nice to see so many of my old classmates again.

On Saturday morning, a bunch of us took a walking tour of downtown Redwood City (where I was born and raised). As we toured the area, we reminisced about the stores that were there 50 years ago and about some of the more interesting things that we did back then. We paused for a group picture in front of the old county courthouse. After the tour, we visited the Sequoia HS Memorial Gardens where a Sequoia Tree and plaque were planted/placed by my sister and me several years ago to honor our mother (Class of 1937) and grandmother (Class of 1914) - yes, Sequoia HS has been around for a long time! Then we drove around the area, visited our family homes, Susan's high school (Carlmont - one of Sequoia's rivals ;-) ) and paid our respects to Susan's parents. That evening, we attended the formal reunion dinner with over 250 classmates in attendance!


On Sunday morning, we went on a guided tour of the Sequoia High School campus, then wandered around the "Horses to Horsepower" car show held on campus annually (several cars were owned by my classmates). We then went back to my family home (which my parents bought in 1945 and lived in for over 56 years) and found the current owners at home. They graciously invited us in and showed us the nice renovations they have done to the house.

On Monday, we spent the day in Pleasanton, CA with Susan's cousins, Paul & Michael and Paul's wife, Kathy. Paul is into woodcarving and showed us some of his award winning work. Lots of reminiscing and a delicious lunch filled the day.

On Tuesday, we decided to take a scenic drive along the Pacific Coast Highway. Our first stop was the Pulgas Water Temple that denotes where the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct terminates into the San Francisco water reservoir known as Crystal Springs. Then we visited Half Moon Bay and drove south to Santa Cruz with numerous stops along the way to visit such sites as Pescadero and the Pigeon Point Light Station. What beauty! After a late lunch in Santa Cruz, we headed back to pack for tomorrow's flight home. All good things must come to an end...

Sacramento, CA

You may be wondering how we got to California without any blog entries along the way. Well, we didn't drive the RV. . .we flew out on Tuesday, 9/29. This coming weekend is my high school class' 50th reunion on the San Francisco Peninsula. Before we go there though, we're spending a few days visiting with my sister, Pat, and her partner, Keith, who are both talented artists. We enjoyed seeing their studio in the downtown Sacramento area, consuming good food and all that goes with it. We also had an interesting experience while visiting one of the local stores. While talking with the sales lady, I mentioned the reunion and her eyes lit up. She asked me to wait a minute while she got the store's owner. Come to find out that she was a classmate of mine and was also going to the reunion. Small world indeed! We left Friday to drive to the reunion.

Pleasant Garden, NC

Last Thursday, we drove to Hagen-Stone Park near Greensboro, NC for the annual High Lonesome Strings Camp-N-Pick. We spent the whole weekend visiting with musician friends from the Triad area and playing a wide variety of music from old-time to bluegrass. For the first time in ages, I played all of my instruments - bass, fiddle, banjo and mandolin - over the course of the weekend. What fun!

On Saturday evening, we were treated to a covered dish supper featuring some delicious pork barbecue prepared by our resident chef, Kent, with help from his cut-up friend, Brent. I nicknamed them the "Ent" brothers. ;-) After we all pigged out, we were entertained by the Snyder Family Band featuring 10-year old Samantha on fiddle and 14-year old Zeb on guitar. Talk about young talent - wow! Then the picking sessions resumed until the wee hours of the night. . .

Boone, NC

We spent this weekend at about 3,500 feet in elevation in the NC mountains with our RV club - the Sams-O-Wake.

On Friday, we took some friends up to Blowing Rock, North Carolina's oldest tourist attraction (it's over 250 million year old). It is called Blowing Rock because the rocky walls of the gorge form a flume through which the northwest wind sweeps up the mountain with such force that it returns light objects cast into the gorge. I didn't try it though. The scenery was nice, too. From there, we drove to Valle Crucis, NC to visit (and shop) at the original Mast General Store. This place is like going back in time. They even had an old-time band playing on the back porch.

On Saturday, our main goal was to show our RV friends the famous Grandfather Mountain. This place has a mile-high swinging bridge that takes you over to the rocky summit of the mountain. We all crossed over the bridge but I was the only one who was brave (or stupid) enough to walk out on the rocks but the view from there was totally awesome! Then we traveled north along the Blue Ridge Parkway, walked under then drove across the Linn Cove Viaduct, and finally visited the Moses Cone House/Memorial Park before returning to the campground for dinner with the club. A fun weekend indeed!

Knightdale, NC (Home)

After a marathon drive from Gettysburg through work areas and traffic jams, we're home again - a month earlier than planned, but home we are. Get ready, Dr. Moore, I'll see you on Monday to hopefully fix my sciatica!

Gettysburg, PA - Day 3

Most of today was spent driving around the self-guiding auto tour of the Gettysfield Battlefield. While we covered a lot of it on our Segway tour yesterday, this time we saw the whole thing. We started at Oak Ridge where we walked to the top of a viewing tower, then on to the Eternal Light Peace Memorial. From there, we went to the North Carolina Memorial, McPherson Ridge, past Pitzer Woods down to Warfield Ridge, Devil's Den, Little Round Top, the Wheatfield, Plum Ridge, and many other historic battle sites. It never ceased to amaze us at how people were so willing to give their lives for what they believed in.









Our last stop of the day was back at the RV park where they have the country's largest diorama. This is a miniature display of the entire area showing every battle that occurred during those three days in history. There was a 35 minute long narrated light show using the diarama to document the major battles and their impact on the outcome of the war. Quite impressive for an RV park.

Gettysburg, PA - Day 2

We're doing it again - taking another Segway tour. We spent about 3 hours touring the old community of Gettysburg and most of the Gettysburg National Military Park by Segway instead of by automobile. What an amazing way to see the area! We were the only two on this tour, so we had our own personal guide for the whole 9+ mile trip. We saw many monuments - including one dedicated to the soldiers from North Carolina - and numerous cannons spread out over the enormous park. All along the way, we listened to a recorded explanation of the various battles and heroes of the battles that took place there.

After a late lunch, we walked through the Soldier's National Cemetery and got there just in time to become part of a tour guided by a Park Ranger. One of the things he pointed out was the actual site where Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863 (which, at the time, was viewed as one of the worst speeches ever given). The Lincoln Address Memorial monument shown here is about 300 yards from the actual site.