Journey Days 9 to 11 - 30 Apr to 2 May 2010

Well, as I wearily stumbled into the lobby of the Albuquerque Marriott hotel, here is what greeted me before I even checked in:

Next, I received a call from Maureen, the only cousin that I'd been in contact with and she along with 2 other cousins came and joined me in my room as I had my much-delayed lunch and supper (grin). We of course shared some wine as well and arranged to meet the following morning to head over to the house where the Reunion was all happening.

I followed them to the house and began the process of meeting dozens of cousins (grin), literally, while struggling to recall at least a few of the names. We definitely needed name tags!!! Not only that but the tags should also identify with whom one belongs...... By the time we were all heading out on Sunday and Monday, I was just starting to figure out who belonged with whom and, sometimes even knew their name!!

Over the next few days, there were times when 45+ of our family members were shoehorned into this home....

All on the main floor only as the upstairs is a separate apartment.

There were attendees from the states of Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Tennessee, Texas and Washington as well as me from British Columbia, Canada. It was most interesting to discover definite family resemblances between 'cousins' as remote as 5th cousins once or twice removed or even 6th cousins and clearly, many of us had the same 'twisted' senses of humour (grin). Meals were shared, both the eating, prepping and supplying not to mention the cleaning up afterward and attendees included both kids and dogs.

It was a lovely break not to have to pack up each morning to drive another day and find oneself in another hotel that night. Although I'm enjoying the adventure, it was definitely a treat to have the break as well as a great deal of fun! Did I mention there was a wee bit of drinking and late nights going on? Seems most odd given our Scotch Irish ancestry (lol).....

Although we were all tired when it was time to leave, it was also sad to say goodbye to everyone.

Now I'm back to my daily travels for a few more days till I have a break while in Salt Lake City at the end of this week. Must get packed up & do yesterday's blog (grin)

Joan