August 11, 2001
Can't say I didn't warn you early on. This whole page will be devoted to mostly family stuff, and not much RV stuff.
Well, that is unless you're interested in a good place to park near my mother. Hear that brother Ken? We're at Beals Point Folsom State Park. At least that's what one of the signs says. "Folsom Lake Recreational Area" is all that my GPS programs recognize. Granite Bay is actually where we are, about 3 miles north of Folsom, on the west side of the lake. There are about 50 tent sites across the road, and 20 "full hookup" sites here. The place is so new it's not on the www.parks.ca.gov website yet, so every day between 8 AM and noon, we have to trot our $18 up to the Ranger Station.
Actually, we don't "trot" our $18 anywhere. That's the entrance road you see in the picture on the left, and it's uphill. And it's hot. Really hot. At least to us. The overflow parking lot is to the right, and while we're supposed to park the car we borrowed from daughter-in-law Kerry up there, as you can see above, we cheat. There's room for another car or two in our space, it's so nice and big, but the rules say two "vehicles" per site (the fifth wheel is considered a vehicle by itself). Another advantage to being here is that we get to spend a little time with son Rick and his wife Lynn. We're having dinner in the caboose at the Spaghetti Factory. In a previous life, Lynn worked at the franchise in another city in CA. They were the reason we were here in the heat last summer. They got married on Sept.16th. It was hot then too. Maybe next summer we'll be able to avoid the heat altogether. Maybe.
Checking out some stuff with mom, and here's Garfield. He's a resident, and shares his time with people he likes in this wing of the facility. There are 4 wings, and there used to be a little dog that lived on one of the other wings. One day I came in to visit, and Mikey, the dog, was in Garfield's territory. Well, much to my surprise, this laid back ball of fluff hunkered down with his belly almost touching the ground and took off in an orange streak toward the dog. Mikey saw him coming, and got out of there just as fast as his short legs could carry him. I nearly split a side laughing. Garfield simply sat down and began to groom himself when he saw Mikey had hit the road.
Genny, a neighbor of Mom's is a frequent visitor. They were friends before either of them moved into FountainWood. And in the picture on the right, it's party time. Lower left of the picture in the multi-colored top is Dottie, who wanted to get together and enjoy the "family dining room" with some of the close friends. Pizza was the main course, because it's mom's favorite food, and Dottie and the "girls" had a salad, then brownies & ice cream for dessert. From left to right, Suzie (Genny's daughter) Roy, Mom, Genny, Barb (peeking), Judy (also peeking), and John, the cause of the peeking.
Suzie obviously enjoying something and there's the late-comers, Rick and Lynn.
Dottie cutting the brownies. And it's noteworthy that she's an expert at brownie making. She does it from scratch, and while I've enjoyed a lot of brownies in my time, I can't say as I've ever had any better than Dottie's brownies. The dining room of this place easily accommodated us, and could have if there were twice as many of us.
Ah, my mother lied to me again. Can't recall the last time she did, but she must have at some time or other. But tonight she'd asked me to take her back to her room because she was tired and wanted to go to bed. As I was leaving her room, Judy and John came in for a quick goodbye as well. That's them sitting on the end of the bed. Well, in the course of their conversation, Mom mentioned how it would be easier for her to get into and out of bed if it was facing the other direction. In a flash, John came back to the party and asked me if I'd help him move the bed and chair. Well, to make a long story shorter, we rearranged Mom's room, and the whole crowd, including Garfield, came in to check it out when we were done.
And there sits the Queen with grins for everybody. Somebody mentioned her pink blouse and the pink flowers in the picture, as complementing each other. My taste is in my mouth, what there is of it, so I just took the picture.
Good time had by all.