I have been busy this past week looking up family and tracing my roots. A person can get lost in the search. One name leads to another and another and so on. What a treasure to find some of these people. It is so very good to know where we came from and the kind of people from all walks of life. Early on, so many farmers, mechanics, soldiers, doctors, carpenters and being able to read through a lot of old letters from before 1900 that I consider myself very fortunate to have. Using websites like

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/
http://www.genealogy.com/
http://www.ancestry.com/
http://www.findagrave.com/
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hallhistory/mchenry_county_history.htm

Just mind blowing if anyone is interested in the history of family or the community we grew up in.

Finding old pictures and documents to let us know what a family had to do to survive. Just looking at the diversity of origins of who they were, going back to Germany, Ireland, France, England and that's just scratching the surface. I have added almost two thousand names to my family tree, covering  a time span from the 17th century to the present, including the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Spanish American War, the Civil War,WWI and WWII.

Beautiful bird in my backyard.

You never really know why things happen. The bad news is, my sewer clogged and backed up. The good news is, I had to pull an old box of pictures out before they were destroyed. I found some real treasures in that box. A lot of memories in here and some great pictures of my Mom and Dad.

 Fine group of gentlemen

 8th Grade

 Brothers

 Still pals

I played the tuba, I can only name about 5 of these kids anymore.
 1955 Jefferson School, Harvard, IL 

Band director Carl Huffman

 Great Grandfather Pliny W. Blanchard

Junior Varsity 
Football Walworth High School

 He still has that coat. Guess he really loves it.

Black Hair, Brown eyes and beautiful

She was adorable (Mom)

 Our beautiful sister Peggy abt 1952

 I was a twinkle in this man's eye

I was adorable

Just finished a couple of dvd's with commentary and descriptions. Such a task. I have several programs that I use. Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 11, Arc soft Showbiz and the standard windows movie maker.
Not totally satisfied with these programs but they get the job done. They both run a little less than an hour. One is from Elgin to Albany, Oregon and the other is Oregon to Elgin. The trip home was different because I traveled South and took in a few more sights.

I was mulling things over in my mind as I created these. I realize there were so many things that I did not see. Mine was basically a visual tour and mostly landscapes and any wildlife that I might be lucky enough to capture.

It would have been easy to spend at least a week in each of the places I visited or passed through.
Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, The Badlands, The Oregon and California coasts, Crater Lake and Yosemite, Los Angeles, Palm Springs and Hollywood, Route 66 and The Grand Canyon or my sister in laws ranch in Colorado.

This trip was totally on the cheap and still was quite expensive for my budget. But now I know what to look for when I go back. I was three weeks on the road and I had a ball just viewing God's handiwork. 

These are a few of my favorite pictures.

 Above Silver Falls (Oregon)

Below Silver Falls (Oregon)

As I was speeding past

Grand Tetons in the evening

 

Grand Tetons in the morning

 Memaloose - Island of the dead (Columbia River, Oregon)

 Columbia River

  Columbia River

  Along the Columbia River

  Crater Lake Oregon

 Rocky Mountains from the Berthoud Ranch

 Grand Canyon Arizona

  Grand Canyon Arizona

  Up the Pacific Coast Highway Malibu, CA

It's amazing when we think of the thoughts that run through our minds. Today we could be thinking of getting into politics, building a house, mowing the yard, getting the snow blower out and setting it up. Or as I was thinking a moment ago, "you don't have to take the top off the International Delight French Vanilla creamer anymore." They have improved the cap so it doesn't leak down the sides and get all sticky. Just thought you would like to know that.
After my recent journey, I thought it might be appropriate to get out and take some pictures around here.
Let me share with you one of my interesting discoveries about the area where I live. Just a few blocks away you will find the Fox River, and just South of the I-90 overpass is a small park area on the river. Trout Lake Park has been a part of this community for a long time. Looking back about a century, you would have found a thriving amusement park. Here are a couple of shots of the historical markers and the area.

Trout Lake Park

Can't believe I didn't post pictures on here of The Santa Monica Pier and the Pacific Coast Highway.
Spent a couple of days with a friend in Palm Springs. I would have to call the road over to Palm Springs the wind generator capital of the world. Thousands of them as I traveled to Bob Hope Drive.

 

There were literally thousands

 Still there from old 66

 

A shot of LA

My friend Susan, who I have known since I was about 16 and who is a mutual friend with my classmate Christie, was gracious enough to show me the sights around Santa Monica and up the highway. We passed through San Bernardino on old Route 66 and picked up a few shots of the old road.

And now down to Santa Monica Pier

Took a couple of cool videos