Rob and I have met only once before, exactly 30 years ago in June, 1980. We went on a road trip together with Spud's Great Grandmother, travelling across California. We went to Yosemite National Park, saw a Giants double-header at Candlestick Park, walked among the giant redwoods, saw Mt. Whitney, met our Uncle Cook (my grandmother's brother) and Aunt Wilma, went to our first rock concert (Pablo Cruise, NOT Santana as I has incorrectly recalled all this time), saw burrowing owls in the desert, learned to juggle from another uncle (Dan? John?), discussed the lyrics in a Cars song and debated the existence of God, washed our grandmother's boyfriend's cars, ate at Denny's for nearly every meal, met a 75-year-old who taught us how to balance salt shakers in a pile of salt, rode the roller coasters at Disney Land, and boogie-boarded in the Pacific Ocean. For a couple of barely-teenagers, this was quite an adventure.
Oh, and I stayed out of the bathrooms in the San Francisco airport per my mother's instructions. Apparently there were gay predators lurking there, just waiting for impressionable young teens to wander in so they could teach them to dress flamboyantly.
While we were talking and catching up, some guy kept making funny faces at Spud. That's who he's looking at in the photo, off to the right. Dude: get your own kid!
Great that you two were able to get together! Used to be, cousins were on the next section of land, or, at worst, in the next small down down the road. Now, yours are flung all over the world - literally. The "Grandma Trip" was one of Mom's greatest pleasures. She really enjoyed doing it for you.
ReplyDelete(Spud's) Grandpa Chadwick
This is really cool...now you guys need to get out to CA and visit all the same places with SPUD...and teach him to balance the salt shaker...Grandma Shea was really special.
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