Rehabilitation and Family Genealogy

July 1-8, 2002

After Yosemite we planned to head for the Big Sur area on the California coast before visiting cousin Pat. But another unplanned change of schedule intervened; I slipped getting out of the Roadtrek and banged up my leg pretty good. A trip to the emergency room left me with a splint on the leg and trying to walk using crutches. Nothing broken, but I was still pretty immobile. I wish I could say I injured the leg doing some exotic thing like hang gliding off Half Dome in Yosemite, but no such luck; it was just plain clumsiness at an ordinary everyday activity. So we laid around Dave and Sara's for a couple of days and then went straight to Pat's place so Nancy and Pat could work on the family genealogy and a genealogy article on the origins of our family in Germany. Last winter, on a trip to Salt Lake City, we discovered where our  Emmert family came from in Germany. In May Pat visited the area and brought back some books (in German of course) on the history of the area. Trying to read them was a challenge since my German has been largely unused for at least 15 years. Even worse, Pat kept handing me copies of old German church records written in the authentic German handwriting of the late 17th and early 18th centuries (otherwise known as "chicken scratch") and expected me to translate them. I am paying the price for having let my German go dormant.

While at Pat's I met a cousin on my mother's side of the family. It was great fun discussing various family stories about whether or not we are related to Cornelius Vanderbilt. Perhaps this will be my next genealogical challenge.

Once the July 4 weekend was over the splint came off, the crutches went back to Walgreens, and we headed north. This time to visit Crater Lake National Park in Oregon, Nancy's uncle Chuck in Shasta Lake, and the nearby Lassen Volcanic National Park. Then back to Dave and Sara's in time for grandson Alex's big birthday party.