The first day of the reunion
wouldn’t start until about 5:30 p.m. on Friday, so we had the morning to
ourselves.
I had taken my Mickey Mouse
jacket—my favorite piece of clothing. However, the zipper had been giving me a
bad time, and it finally broke. The weather reports I had looked at a couple of
weeks earlier had said it would be hot. By the time we arrived, the prediction
was for cool weather with a chance of rain. So, I needed a warm replacement for
Mickey.
We also needed to take a salad
or dessert for Saturday’s meal, and I had discovered there was a Costco in
Lethbridge, where we were staying.
After breakfast, we headed out
to shop. We had free wi-fi at the hotel, so I programmed the address on my
phone. While we drove to Costco, it rained. However, it had pretty well stopped
by the time we arrived. We decided on a large fruit tray since it could be
either a salad or dessert.
Then we went on to Walmart. It
drizzled on the way, so in addition to some toiletries and a hooded sweatshirt
with “Canada” on the front, we picked up a small travel umbrella. Larry had
intended to throw one of ours into his suitcase, but he forgot. Of course, by
the time we walked out, the umbrella was no longer needed. (We never used it…)
Since by then it was two
o’clock, we were hungry and decided to find somewhere for lunch. We drove
around until we spotted a breakfast/lunch place. What a find!
Cora had a terrific menu.
Everything looked good. I ordered their veggie skillet: vegetables (with no
mushrooms) covered with melted cheese and a bechamel sauce. Larry had the fruit
crepe—a HUGE crepe! It was served on a platter, and the crepe hung over the ends.
The fruit was covered in warm custard, and three huge mounds of whipped cream
perched on top. He was a really happy camper. So was I. We had hoped to get
back there before we left, but we never made it. Wish they had locations here
in California.
We put the fruit tray in the
mini-refrigerator in our room, and then headed out for the reunion at
Centennial Reunion Park in Sterling.
Through the years, traditions
had been established. The first was dinner on Friday night: hot dogs and
watermelon, followed by “flap jacks.” I have always used this term to refer to
pancakes, but the family also calls these “Navajo Fry Bread.” More about them
later.
One of the first people I
spotted was Marilynn, who had invited us. It was nice to see a friendly face.
She showed us where to go. Even though the event was held in a park, it had a
great building with large kitchen, dining area, and restrooms.
Several of the attendees and
their families camped, and the park had facilities both for tents and RVs. I
don’t camp. Last year, I even wrote a blog about
why.
Larry helped set up the tables
while I signed us in and introduced myself. Everyone wore nametags (thank
goodness). Each of the members of DeLoss’s family also indicated which of his
children they were descended from. I wrote my grandfather’s name, and had to
explain the relationship several times. Larry just wrote “Lorna’s husband.”
The hot dogs were grilled, served with all the trimmings, and dinner began amid lots of visiting.
Later on, the bread dough was
brought out and torn into pieces about the size of small pancakes, thinner in
the middle and thicker around the edges. They were fried in lard. (The gals all
swore this was the secret.) Several sauces were available: maple syrup, honey, golden
syrup (the best), corn syrup with cinnamon, and several others. Of course,
Larry had to try them all.
The ladies kept making these until all of the dough was
cooked. They decided not to bring as much dough to the next one! However, I
think all of these treats were eaten.
Then a fire was built in the fire ring. Of course,
marshmallows and toasting forks came out, and everyone ended up sticky.
Since the sun doesn’t set until around ten at night, the
group didn’t start to break up until about then.
We returned to the hotel to rest and anticipate meeting
even more of the relatives on Saturday.
To be continued…
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