Childhood Memories & A Burial Mystery Solved

San Jose, California

Moochdocking

While we were still in San Jose at my friends house, I went with Diana and Jaxon to Happy Hollow.  It's a cute theme park that opened in 1961 charging 10 cents admission for children.  We went there as kids and we took our kids there too.

   

                                Here is Jax and Mama.            This is my Mom with Jax's Dad c. 1989.

While they do have new rides and exhibits, some, like the original police/firetrucks, are still there!

Someone is having fun!

Danny the Dragon is the highlight and still there too.  

It's a cute park with rides, exhibits and a zoo for children.

We raised miniature dairy goats just like these on our ranch.

Oh my, this guy was LOUD!

What a fun day being back and with my grandson this time.  Again, it was 35+ years.

When I was in my teens, one of my first jobs was at the iconic Burger Pit.  This is a picture of the one I worked at in the 80s.  It's been replaced with condos. All locations are closed now except the one we're at.  I really wanted to eat at it before it closes next year and it'll all be history.  We called my niece to meet us there for dinner.

Memorabilia box.

They still cook over fire.  The food was as good as I remember!  Going to have to go back.

Us with our niece, Danielle.

Back to that Arm Story!

If you missed my last post about the buried arm we found you can catch up HERE.

A little recap above.  So... on another day Steve and I went to the Oak Hill Cemetery to find where the rest of Bert was buried.  This is a very large cemetery compared to the tiny one in the middle of no-where that his arm is buried.

After looking through some burial records, viola.  He and his wife are buried together in the large mausoleum at the top of the hill.  It appears he lived a very long life and must've done well for himself as this is quite a fancy resting place.

Mystery solved!

From up here you can look over part of the lower cemetery and the Downtown of San Jose.  While here we did a geocache series of "famous" people buried here and other unique burial/memorial sites.

I'm sure most of you have heard of the Donner Party that died trying to cross over the Sierra Nevada during a severe winter in 1846?  Well, some of them resorted to cannibalism to survive.  Read more about them HERE.

Here is a Memorial to Flight 93 on 9/11.

This is what it looks like viewed from above.

The marker for Charles McKiernan was interesting as there is a bar in nearby Los Gatos we frequented back in the day called Mountain Charlie.  I had no idea he was a real person.  Interesting what you learn at cemeteries.

Mr. Hobson had a successful gristmill in North Carolina in the 1800s.  After his death an old stone was brought back to use as his headstone.  That must've been quite the transport back in the 1800s.

This Chevy truck headstone was pretty big.

Montgomery Maze was a Pony Express Station Keeper and Rider in 1860.

While still in San Jose we got ahold of old friends from Steve's Kodak days.  We have not seen Bob and Patty for about 30 years.  It was great to catch up with them.

Coloma, CA

Ponderosa RV Resort

We enjoyed our city stay but it was time to move back to Placerville.

We're usually here in Nov/Dec so it's nice to see it green and with wildflowers.

   

We also got a chance to do some rig maintenance.  First was replacing the old, yellowing oven/microwave vent.  Pretty easy.  Then Steve replaced the other slide gear. Not too bad.  The toilet took a little more effort but he got the pedestal and seals replaced. Good to have those all done.

Then it was time to see some friends and family.  Cinco de Mayo was spent with Doug & Deanna at our favorite Mexican place!

We had a small get-together for Mother's Day.  Only Shane and Brennan could make it.

Another time we had dinner with Rick & Angie and Rose & Mike. We spent January and February in Arizona with Rick and Angie.  Mike and Rose (and some other friends) rented rigs and joined us in Tucson.

Jim & Jenny who we also camp with came out for dinner and a campfire.

We wanted to spend the end of May in our favorite boondocking spot in Hope Valley so we took a drive to check out how it faired through the big fire and hike my favorite trail nearby if it was undamaged and open.  There is still a lot of snow up there.

Up along Hwy 50 and you see the burn from last years Caldor Fire.

They have done a lot of work clearing out old damaged trees and destroyed cabins.  Some have even been rebuilt already.  Still so sad to see the forest burn again.

Upon arriving at Hope Valley, the gate into the National Forest site is still locked.  We walked in and looked around and it is in great shape.  Very little damage and it looks ready to go! Fingers crossed.

The meadow in front of where we camp was all yellow with wildflowers.

It's such a gorgeous area and I'm so glad it didn't burn most of the valley.

So off we went to Shealor Lake.  Here is Caples Lake.  The fire did burn down to lake level in places.

This is the backside of the forest with  Hwy 50 on the other side. This is taken from the Hwy 88 side.

We are happy that Shealor Lake Trailhead is open and not burned.  There is still a lot of snow up here though.

Not too bad so far but it didn't take long before the snowfields covered the trail and you had to take an alternate way around the deep snow.

I'm very familiar with this trail so I felt comfortable hiking up off-trail.  Up there.  That's where we need to go.  Actually there is a small saddle just to the left of this peak where we'll catch back up to the trail.

A kind-of heart shaped rock surrounded by melting snow.

We're up at the saddle and heading down the back side.  It's sunny and 50 out.

So good to see that nothing burned right at the lake.  However, just beyond is another little lake and the fire burned all around it.  See that tree in the middle by the water?

Those are "my" boulders.  That is where I always have my snack.  

It may be hard to tell but that is a waterfall rolling over the granite from top left to the bottom right.  It's a special treat to see it as it's usually gone by time the snow melts.  When the snow is deep, you cannot get up here.

It's much better in the video.

Heading back down and you see Silver Lake on the other side along Hwy 88.

Peek-a-boo!

It's so beautiful up here.  Even if they don't open our spot up we have some other options.

Will we end up boondocking along Topaz Lake in Nevada or maybe the Walker River?