Farewell, Aunt Marlene

The morning after we returned from Jordan, I learned my Aunt Marlene had passed away. She had been ill for a while, but the timing still came as a bit of a shock. So as I fought Jordanian jetlag, I prepared to fly to California for her funeral. By the time she was my age, Aunt Marlene was a widow with four young children, and after such a good, long life it was nice to think of her finally reunited with her husband. Although she passed away in Oregon, the funeral would be in Pacific Grove, California, which is also near where my parents met.

We flew into San Francisco and were met by Brad and Danielle, and on the drive down stopped in San Jose to see the house where Brad and Susie lived before the accident and eat some delicious Mexican food. The drive to Monterrey was through gorgeous hill country and had a dramatic shift in climate as we approached the coast.

Meeting up with everyone in Pacific Grove, we enjoyed sunset over the ocean and a tailgate picnic along with some scrambling over the rocks.

Enjoying Pacific Grove beach with cousin Natalie

The weather Saturday morning was beautiful and the cemetery was serene. The burial service was quite brief, per Aunt Marlene's wishes, and afterward we hunted around for the graves of our relatives. Despite being a small cemetery and their relative proximity, it's always harder than expected. Aunt Marlene's other stipulation was that we had tuna fish sandwiches and potato chips for a family lunch afterward. We also finally got a photo of all the cousins; there's only 9 of us but it's probably the first time in over 20 years we've all been together.

All the cousins

We split up for the afternoon and Devan and I joined our parents for a trip down memory lane. We drove around the remains of Fort Ord, and saw dad's old barracks. A bit sad to see the ghost town it's become.

Dad and Devan in front of his barracks at Fort Ord

Driving further north, we stopped at several farm stands to pick up some of the local produce and goof off with their cutouts..

the Atlas of artichokes

Clowning around in the artichoke capital of the world.

Thanks to some internet searching (thank you, smarty phone), we found a local park in Pacific Grove with BBQ grills where we could gather one last time for dinner. It was great lingering and catching up with cousins until sunset.

I'm not sure if it's appropriate to call it an "after party" if the main event was a funeral, but a few of us capped off the night at a fantastic sushi place in Monterrey. Again it was great family time

Sushi outing with the cousins

Sunday morning we took up a few pews during Sacrament Meeting at a ward in Monterrey before saying our goodbyes. Susie and I got a ride with David and Katie up to San Francisco, and we spent the day before our flight enjoying the city and each other's company. Unfortunately, the motel where David and Katie had planned to stay turned out to be a bad idea, but we still had delicious ramen in Little Toyko and hot fudge sundaes in Ghiradelli Square.

Cousin time in San Francisco