The Hunt for John Wayne's Grave

Jeff amd I decided we would try to find the burial site of John Wayne in Pacific View Memorial Park in Corona del Mar (next to Newport Beach). Jeff had tried previously, but had not been able to find it. After looking it up on www.seeing-stars.com (an excellent source for everything Hollywood stars, including gravesites) we found out that the grave had been unmarked for about 20 years. But now it was marked and we were armed with the first of two pages of directions. After traipsing around in the wrong area, and comparing descriptions and pictures (this is where I think the second page might have helped if I had brought it) we were finally able to locate it. After appropriately documenting the site, and the view (can't imagine how great it would be on a clear day) we were getting ready to leave. We were approached by a tourist from Germany, asking if we knew who John Wayne was, and if we knew there his grave was. I don't know why he approached us, other than we were in the area of the grave with our cameras out, but we informed him that we had just located it, and pointed it out ot him. We also share the website with him in case he wante to locate other final resting places of the stars.

Mini Reunion in Escondido

Friday, May 9, 2008, I joined Mom and Dad; Aunt Lu, Uncle Don, and Cousin Kendall from Portland, Oregon; Cousin Barbara from Henderson, Nevada; and Cousin Lana from Branson, Missouri at the Lawrence Welk timeshares in Escondido. The mini-family reunion began by Lana winning employee of the year recognition at Lawrence Welk in Branson, and winning a week’s stay in Escondido. Her brother Bobby and sister-in-law Fran decided to come down to see her, and the mini-reunion was on. Though I missed Bobby and Fran (they departed on Thursday), a good time was had with the rest of the family. One of the highlights was playing golf with Uncle Don and Dad. However, the top highlight of the time was a concert by an acapella group of four young men singing 50’s and early 60’s music, dressed similarly with one notable exception; the one who forgot to zip up his pants. Unfortunately, I was sitting next to Aunt Lu, who is not a very good influence when it comes to ignoring such items. Needless to say, we were both to the point of crying, we were laughing so hard. Thank goodness for intermissions and wardrobe checks. . .

Mother’s Day brought the departure from Escondido, and breakfast/brunch at Coco’s. We were looking for an IHOP in town that several people had seen, but unfortunately noone could remember where it was. That happens a lot with people who are shall I say a little older and without navigation systems. Afterwards, we all went our separate ways – the Portlanders to the airport, the desert-ers back to Palm Dessert, and me back to Orange County.It was a great time, and everyone was still talking to each other at the end!

Florida! April 28 – May 6

Monday, April 28, 2008, Susan and I boarded Delta flight 1855 at 10:20 p.m. at Los Angeles International for Orlando, Florida. Arriving at 5:50 a.m., we got our Hyundai Sonata rental car and decided to go against traffic and head over to the “space coast”. Susan had made the mistake of telling me about her past trip to it with Annette, not knowing that in the early days of the space program I used to record all the coverage from the television on an open reel tape recorder (no VCR’s then, and no, I don’t still have the tapes). I was ecstatic, and she was not. We came to the compromise that I would go to the space center, and she would go geocaching. The tour was amazing, and actually seeing a Saturn C-5 (the rocket used in the Apollo moon missions, and the one that reportedly did not take off, but rather pushed the earth away) in person was awesome. Susan had a good time geocaching, and found new caching friends.

We returned to Orlando and checked into our Florida home, The Fountains, a growing timeshare that was currently renting suites during the construction.

to be continued . . .

Happy 64th Anniversary Mom and Dad

Well, I don't know if this is going to work, but I thought I would give it a try. So here I am blogging . . .

Robyn flew down on March 14th to surprise Mom and Dad for their 64th wedding anniversary (on March 16th). We had a calm day Saturday, going through model homes, taking pictures of ideas for Robyn in her new educational adventure. On Sunday Robyn and I attended the La Quinta Arts Festival, where Robyn made contacts for the future. The anniversary dinner was at the Cliffhouse Restaurant in La Quinta. Nancy Hislop joined our party for dinner, and a good time was had by all. This last weekend I returned to the desert to help Dad with the tax returns. Of course, I still had yet to do my own, which I took care of today. Signing off for now so I can watch Murder She Wrote on the Hallmark Channel...