Day 20: Big Day in Big Bear

My first Joshua trees!

(260 to 266 = 6 miles)

It was a nero (near zero miles) in Big Bear Lake today.  Which is always pretty wonderful.  Showers, laundry, out for lunch, random shopping, and reconnecting with fellow hikers.

But today's highlight wasn't any of those.  No, it was meeting my mom's Aunt Jo and Uncle Flarry.  Long lost Brown family relatives that I've never met.  They live "close" to Big Bear (an hour and a half!) and came all the way over here to have dinner with us.

BLT on sourdough with fries and two Cokes.
We were there for two hours. :)

See, I grew up in Michigan with the Kwaiser families all relatively nearby -- Grandma and Grandpa were right next door.  But the Browns were spread out all over the country, and we only saw "Brown Grandma and Brown Grandpa" about once a year.  Brown Grandma passed when I was fairly young, and I never had the chance to know her as an adult.  But, when we moved to the small town in Iowa where my Brown aunts and uncles grew up and my grandmother had been the school nurse, I did start to hear the stories.  Arlene Brown was a strong woman and had quite a presence.  I knew that even as a child.  Women like her earn stories, and everyone has one.  I waited tables at the local mom-and-pop restaurant, and so I would catch bits and pieces from the regulars who had known the Brown family.  I loved those stories and always wished I had been around her for more.  To meet my grandmother's sister and her sister's husband today was an unexpected treat.  Better than any other trail town pleasure. 

And so I have my food for thought for the next couple of days.  Thanks for making the trip, Great Aunt Jo and Uncle Flarry!