Catching Up

Several things have happened lately that I wanted to write about, but time has sort of been hard to come by, so I haven't done it. I'm going to put them all in this post as a sort of mishmash!

First, Father's Day weekend. We left here on Thursday and drove across the desert to Vegas to S.'s family's house. His little sister was graduating from high school. Yes, there are a lot of years between the two of them, but the WEIRDER part is that when S. and I first met and we drove to Vegas at the end of the school year, we took her to her PRESCHOOL graduation! Isn't that amazing! We've known each other a long time. I don't know why, but that makes it feel longer than saying we met when I was 19. I guess because I don't admit to myself how long ago age 19 was! She is the baby of the family so all the kids are done with high school!!

It was a great trip! Probably the best one we've ever taken there. Because of the graduation party, we got to see a lot of family all at one time, instead of running around like crazy the whole weekend trying to get everyone. It was REALLY hot--106 degrees everyday, which was difficult for my little Bavarian/Southern Californian children to understand. It was hot when we woke up, it was hot when we went to bed, and the middle of the day was OUTRAGEOUS! We did get to swim a lot though, so that made everything ok!

I tried a long time ago to take pictures of everyone to make a family tree for the boys, but it didn't ever get finished. This summer, it will happen. We went to the graduation, which ended up a "reunion" of sorts, so I got photos of all the aunts and uncles and grandparents there. I'll do the same at both of my family reunions in a couple of weeks! I just have to get a pic of S's grandfather who was out of town, and find a time to hook up with the sisters from "up north" again so I can get their pics! Here are some of the photos from Vegas:

Grandma & Grandpa

Our niece, S.

Uncle R.

Uncle S. (who is famous throughout our culdesac because he came to visit on Spring Break and gave N. a skateboard!!)

Aunt L. after changing out of cap and gown!

Uncle M. (I had a pic of him with his girlfriend, but they both had their eyes closed. . have to redo that one!)

Great Grandma (S's mom's mom)Grandpa R.

When we left, N. suddenly was quite whiny and angry with his brothers. I couldn't figure out what was wrong, until I went in the back of the van to fix something for him, and looked at his face. When I asked him what was wrong he said "I'm just tired!" But I could hear it in his voice. . .I said "You're not tired! You're sad. Are you sad because we are leaving?" Suddenly he burst into tears and said yes. He is such a tenderhearted kid. And he loves people so much. He had a great time when we were there, and really got to know everyone. He already pretty much worshipped Uncle S--perfect age for childhood idol. . .college student, snowboarder, lifeguard, etc. N. also developed a special bond with Uncle R. . .I'm not sure what it was, but he really feels a connection to him.

Anyway--we talked about how it is ALWAYS ok to be sad if you feel sad. I told him that I used to cry every time we left my grandparents' house--and I knew that I would see them again in a couple of weeks! We decided that the drive was NOT too hard to do, and we need to go visit more often while we are still here. So, that made him feel a little better. It again reminded me of how everything in your life happens for a reason. I ALWAYS have a hard time with goodbyes (as some of you know. . .since when we move I just suddenly disappear without saying goodbye!) and I was actually proud of myself that I recognized it in him and (I think) handle it in a way that was constructive for him. I am glad that I didn't just keep saying "Stop yelling at your brothers." Anyway--I don't mean to brag on myself, it's just that sometimes I feel like I can't get anything right, and this time I think I did something positive! So. . .

We left on Sunday and headed back here. Now, on the way there it took us 5 1/2 hours. The way back was NOT the same. Apparently, that's a pretty common route for Southern Californians. I knew a lot of them went to Vegas, but I didn't know that the entire poplulation of this part of the state went every weekend! Even on the traffic reports they would say "It's Sunday, so it's going home day! Lots of traffic on I15. . ." Anyway--we went approximately 1/2 the speed we did on the way there! So. . .that made it take a lot more time. At one point, we were literally sitting in stop and go traffic like you would during rush hour after a work day!

It was at that point that we decided to say yes to the kids' request to go to Calico! They had seen the signs for it on the way to Vegas, and had been begging to go on the way home all weekend. They were asleep when the sign said we were 12 miles from Calico. About 55 minutes later, we got to the exit, and although they were still asleep, I decided that they had napped long enough and that they would be miserable the rest of the trip if we didn't give them some time out of the car.

So--Calico. It is a "ghost town." It was a silver mining town that was abandoned, and eventually bought by Walter Knott (of Knott's Berry Farm) and restored. He thought it was a great way to preserve part of American history. He paid for all the restoration, including an artist to read and study the information and create a design for the town so it would look as close as possible to the real thing. Most of the living conditions were pretty bad, because the miners didn't intend to stay long, so they had some creative ways of making "houses." Some of them just propped boards against a cutout in the mountain! (They mostly didn't bring families with them!!) The stores and stuff like that were more "permanent" since the business people were the "long term" residents!

One of the things that Calico was most proud of was the fact that they didn't have the "Wild West" atmosphere of a lot of the boom towns. They didn't have a lot of trouble, and there were "only two murders in the town's entire history (19 years)." They didn't tolerate trouble--they nipped it in the bud!

There was only 1 resident of Calico still alive when they started the restoration. Her name was Lucy Bell Lane. She was born in Greenville, TX and her family moved to Calico when she was a baby. She married a guy who ran the general store, and they lived across the street from it. Her house is one of the few structures that didn't have to be rebuilt after a big earthquake in 1997, and it is the town's museum now. It was really interesting to see pictures of her that were taken in that house!

It made me pretty sad, though, because you could tell that they don't have as much money as they used to. Almost all of the buildings were locked, with glass windows on the doors so you could see in. I think they used to have people working as role players there, and you could go in and see and touch everything. I love stuff like that. I don't care much for reading about history, but I love to be able to walk around and see it all. It made me sad that you couldn't do that anymore.

The Knott family gave the town to the county, and it is now a park. They have a few caretakers and workers that live there, and there is a "gunfight" several times a day, but those are the only permanent residents of Calico. It has to be hard to get anyone to live there--it is literally in the middle of nowhere in the Mojave Desert! Pretty isolated! R. and J. were scared of the noise of the gunfight, so they didn't stick around. . .they dragged Daddy off to look for a candy store. . .

The sheriff won the gunfight (of course). He is a good sheriff--he has three rules: 1) No spittin' in the streets. 2) No drinkin' whiskey in the streets 3) No firin' yer gun in the streets. This fella broke all 3--and then he tried to fight the sheriff. . . The "bad guy" is actually the head caretaker of Calico (his official title is "Sheriff".) He gave the boys little nuggets of "gold." They are prized possessions now!

They also have the "mystery spot" there. Those of you who remember from Germany the "See ya down the road at the next exit" PSAs with those kids visiting the mystery spot? That's in Calico. Water runs uphill, brooms stand upright, you don't have to use your hands to hold on to a ladder, and it is easier to walk "uphill" in the house than downhill. It is pretty easy to figure out, but not easy to explain to kids, so our boys were quite amazed!!! This particular guide was not very enthusiastic about his job, if you judge by his monotone voice. He was also not very good at getting the broom to stand up. . . The school had to be rebuilt, and was built at approximately 2/3 of its original size. This is it behind us. Mostly the students were children of the merchants, since the miners didn't bring families. Lucy went to school here. It is on a hill up behind the town--across a pretty rickety footbridge! At one point, there were 40 students! The last teacher was buried in the Calico cemetary. (We didn't go to it, as it was getting late, but maybe next time!)
I'm not sure why I felt a need to tell the whole story of the town (actually, I didn't--there was also the mine--some guys LIVED in it for 20 years, and the hotel, and the train, and the way they got water. . .) But, like I said, history is fun for me when I can actually walk around and see stuff. That's one of the things I liked about Europe.

So, we then got back on the road. We were off for about 2 hours, and traffic didn't move much. In about 3o minutes we caught back up with an 18 wheeler that we had been next to before we exited. . .Since the drive was taking longer than we thought, and we stopped--that meant we weren't home for dinner like I expected us to be. So, we had to stop again and have something to eat. That took another 1 1/2 hours. It did break up the trip, though, so it wasn't all that bad. Other than a little crying from J. all the traveling went quite well. It took 10 hours to get home, so hopefully next time we'll do a better job of planning--but all in all--a good trip.

I know I said there were several things I wanted to write about, but I took so much time on Calico, that I've forgotten the other stuff. Which doesn't really matter, because J. is standing next to me crying to get some "peanbutter my bread" so I must go. . . maybe I'll remember the rest while I make the sandwich!